My knee has been bothering me for a long time and I first saw an orthopedic doctor over a year ago. He prescribed physical therapy. I never followed through on it for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the construction going on at my house at time. Terrible, I know! The knee got better for a while, then worse, then better, then worse… so I finally went back to the doctor about a month ago. The doctor decided he wanted to see an MRI this time so I went and did that.
Let me just say that, despite not being claustrophobic, that being in the MRI machine wigged me out. I had a really hard time with it and really felt sort of an impending doom. Maybe I was just really tired or something.
In addition to having problems with me knee, my foot and lower leg keep going numb. I was attributing this problem to my knee but the doctor, after determing there isn’t much really wrong with my knee, decided he wanted an MRI on my lower back.
I was not looking forward to going through that again but it wasn’t as bad the second time even though more of my body was inside the machine.
A week later, late on a Friday afternoon, the doctor finally called me on my cell phone. Mel was driving me out to the auto repair place to pick up my car. During the rather choppy call, I managed to understand that I have some lumbar arthritis and something called calcification stenosis. The doctor mentioned epidural steroid injections but said he wanted to get a second opinion first so he referred me to a spinal neurosurgeon.
This Friday, I’ll go see the spine guy. I’ve heard he’s conservative which is good. It’s time to step up with some physical therapy – exercise – and to take off some weight. I’ve gotta do it. I don’t like needles and knives, and I sure don’t want to end up crippled some years down the road.