A couple of weeks ago I finally conquered my fear that I will have to have knee surgery and went to a sports doctor.
Let's back up a bit. Ten years ago I was a music theatre student - triple threat: acting, singing and dancing. Prior to that I had been taking ballet since the age of 5 and also did some tap, jazz and modern, just to be well-rounded. In the 3rd year of my degree my body stopped doing what my brain told it to. Never mind Fosse, simple jetes were agony. I went to my doctor and she told me that if I wanted it to stop hurting, I should stop dancing, and that in about 10 years, I might need surgery.
Back to the present: I'm heavier than I should be by about 50 lbs. and I am spending 3-plus hours a day in stop-and-go traffic, then wearing heels at the office. I've been in some pretty serious pain, and other people can hear my right knee click when I climb stairs. So I bit the bullet and got a referral, mentally calculating whether we could manage to pay the bills if I had to go on short term disability for a while.
Happily, the hot young doctor (man, I wish I had shaved my legs that morning...) said that we'd give physiotherapy a shot for 4-6 weeks first. Yay for alternatives!
Now, once or twice a week I go to see Evangelia (Yes, that is her real name! I love it!) and she does funky things to my legs. The funkiest thing thus far has been to hook each of my thighs up to electrodes that shoot 10 milliamperes each into the muscles on the insides of my legs. I do this for 10 minutes, while also doing knee bends. And it works! It doesn't hurt to drive anymore, or to climb stairs. I still can't crouch, but it's getting there.
So the next time someone offers to electrocute you, don't dismiss them out of hand.
;-)
2 comments:
That's great. Glad it's working. :D
I really like your doctor (and not just because he is hot). Too many are too quick to recommend surgery or just give up on you. When I injured my back, I saw a specialist for an MRI. We discovered nothing that required any extreme measures like surgery, which turned out to be the only option he had in his toolkit. I asked him what I could do to get better and how long he thought I would be in pain.
"You'll probably be in pain for the rest of your life" he responded.
Well, I respect most doctors, so I didn't actually voice the thought that instantly sprang to mind--"Fuck that shit!"
I started an aqua-robic class that week. About six months later, I realized that I had had an entire day with absolutely no pain. I rarely have any residual pain from my injury and I now know what I need to do to heal if I do.
Stupid doctor.
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