Thursday, October 13, 2011

MRI Results and Finishing This Thing Off

The MRI results finally came in. I won't get started on what it took to get them. Ok, I lied, here is one thing:

But I got them. The short of it is this:

1) No evidence of an articular meniscal tear.
2) solitary small focus of chondromalacia patella
3) mild distal insertional quadriceps tendinitis/tendinosis
4) distal insertional semimembranosus tendinitis/tendinosis
5) minimal left knee joint effusion

First reaction? Well, duh! Only surprise is #4, the semimembranosus. Well, actually, that is where it all started so actually, its not much of a surprise but more of a relief that that IS what started it all.

Big thanks to Amy @ Welcome to Boston's other half, The Tall Girl, for giving me quick feedback and an anatomy lesson via gmail chat. This was a huge help that immediately calmed my anxieties over whether amputation was necessary or not. ;) So thanks Lauren!!!

But I wish I had gotten this done at the very start. I know MRI's are expensive, but I have learned that an orthopedist who takes 5 minutes to diagnose you based upon an X-Ray for tendonitis is NOT the way to make a proper diagnosis. Lesson learned again not to pick an orthopedist who has 50,000 patients. I am sure he is a great orthopedist, but man, the attention I got was NOT enough. And no, I am not some whiny little bitch. Waiting in the waiting room for 2 hours for a 2 min visit is, quite frankly, stupid.

Anyways, one thing that I have NOT blogged about very much around here is WORKING OUT and TRAINING, the entire point of this blog! I have been active, running in fact! Since the last horrible flare up 2-3 weeks ago, I have ran every other day, just 30-40 minutes at a time. No knee pain has shown up before, during, or after.

I have even gotten back to the pool! After taking a full 8 weeks out of the water, swimming 1500 yards is a LOT harder than I remember. Its ok, it will come back, it always does, and I always find a way to get even faster than the year before. Not saying this out of cockiness, its just my history with the pool.

After a discussion with my PT about the MRI results and where I currently am, we have agreed that next week, week #6, will be my "graduation" from PT. This is good, because while its a decent 60 minutes leg strengthening routine, I'd rather spend the time focusing on the bike or running or swimming. But I won't be going cold turkey with it. I have already discussed with my coach that we will be continuing with it for some time, just on my time.

Ok! Enough of the deeeeeeep thoughts. How bout this? (Thanks to my dad for sending me these!)


19 comments:

  1. Well, if I'm hearing you right, the MRI came back with no terrible news. It sounds like it's not giving you terrible pain if you're able to run every other day.

    Those comics were pretty funny...the last one especially.

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  2. I would shoot myself if I were out of the pool for 2 weeks, much less 8. BUT you'll get that swim groove back in no time.

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  3. Dude - great news!

    The last image explains everything about the 20-mi mark of a marathon. Better start studying up!

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  4. That's a lot of words I've never seen before. I'm glad that it is good news, though!

    Welcome to the ask Lauren about your injury club. We meet regularly down in DC :)

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  5. Yay for no more PT!

    I love the comics!

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  6. Happy graduation! Hooray for a good MRI? I got lost in the big words... Blame it on my SC education ;)

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  7. I'm so glad that you FINALLY got the MRI results. I think it's totally crappy that it took so long. And of course I don't understand any of the "findings" but I hope everything continues to improve without the PT!! :)

    Love the comics...

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  8. If there is one thing I've learned this year, it's that I am not a fan of the doctor's office and how long it takes to get things done! I'm glad you got the results and answers you've been looking for! Now it's on like donkey kong to get back at it.

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  9. I love it when you say distal insertional semimembranosus tendinitis. say it again, bitch.

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  10. Good to hear that the MRI results went pretty well! Seems like you are doing okay now. I would still try to do the rehab exercises occasionally, to build strength in those areas that need building up. Your problems sound way minor than what I was dealing with, so you seem like you are basically back to normal now.

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  11. The big question is do you get a cap and gown for graduating? If not, this whole thing has been a rip off. haha

    Congrats on the good news and pain free runs!

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  12. I had to skip the beginning of this post. Too many really long words. Glad you're graduating from PT!

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  13. soooo... good news then? I think?

    Glad you finally got the results and understand them!

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  14. 1/3rd of the reason I decided NOT to go the MD route - I didn't want to just do the diagnosing. I love my sports med doc and bless his heart I know he's busy, but I didn't want to spend 15 minutes with my patients and then hand them off to someone else!!

    ANYWAYS.

    Glad to hear you're up and running. Not glad to hear that swimming is hard after 8 weeks off, because that pretty much sounds like my streak of absenteeism in the pool. Must. Drop. My. @ss. In. The. Water!!

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  15. Congrats on the graduation.

    Great jokes.

    Seriously what are the words in the beginning. I took out my chinese to english dictionary but it is not helping.

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  16. Happy Graduation !!!

    runnning !!!

    lol@20mile test haha

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  17. I have a slight meniscal tear that I never had surgery for, I dont have knee pain. I hope the self diagnosis is correct and your good to go

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  18. I'm happy to offer up the tall girl's diagnosing-by-gchat services any time. At some point I'm going to have to figure out a referral fee.

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