Annihilated Knees- Part 2

It's a really twisted part of human nature to instantly want to do something that you're told you absolutely must not do. Sometimes it's not even a conscious choice.

I went for an MRI scan on my knees this morning, not really knowing what to expect apart from making sure not to wear metal before being pushed into the middle of a giant high-powered magnet. I also knew before they told me that I'd have to hold myself completely still for an extended amount of time.

No big deal- I can sit still for  long periods of time engrossed in a book or watching a film. It's the same thing, right?

Wrong.

We're always shifting, twitching, moving every so slightly. No-one's really like a statue.

Each knee took 20 minutes to be scanned, and because I wasn't used to the terrible din of the machine and the weird feeling of pressure during some of the cycles, the muscles in my legs involuntarily tensed up. Try as I might, I just couldn't get into a zen mode. Halfway through one of my legs very suddenly twitched, and the radiographer switched intercom system on. I heard him sigh a little.

"Okay, we're going to have to do that one again, you moved a little."

"Okay, sorry!"

The poor radiographer had to buzz in a few more times to remind me to keep still. It was all very well telling my brain this, but my leg muscles had other plans.

I was also given a panic button to press if I went into shock in the machine (I can see how this would happen to some people- you're very enclosed and the noises and sensations are enough to freak anyone out). Of course I knew I mustn't press it for no reason, and I certainly didn't need to- but the entire time my hands got a twitching feeling, as if to tell me "Go on, the button's right there, you know you want to!"

Annihilated Knees

"Okay. What about if I move your knee like this?" My doctor twisted my leg this way and that way.

Cra-a-a-a-ck-k-k! My knee made a sound like a small bundle of twigs being snapped in two. The doctor looked visibly horrified.

"Yep, that one hurt," I confirmed as I lay on the examination table.

I'd been doing relatively well, fitness-wise, up until this week: running, gym-ing, dance classes, and a morning exercise routine involving press ups, tricep dips, crunches and squats. Unfortunately I decided to take on the 30 day squat challenge: a challenge in which you do a certain amount of squats almost every day, building up the number of squats each time. Squats are really bad news for knees, but I mistakenly believed that since I'm in relatively good shape, it would be okay.

What I'd forgotten about is that time during a judo session years and years ago when my sparring partner botched a throw and resulted in my left knee being twisted and crushed.

It's easy to forget about a weakness or illness when you're feeling fine, and my knee hadn't given me much trouble in a few years, even through all the exercise I've been doing. However a couple of weeks ago, two thirds of the way through the 30 day squat challenge, my knees- both of them- started to creak. And a couple of days ago, the left kneecap decided it wanted a change of scenery, which resulted in my knee locking every time I bent it for any reason (especially sitting down), and then having to endure a horrible crunching,, grinding sensation to straighten my leg.

Suspecting chondromalacia (the wearing away of the cartilage under the kneecap) and perhaps a torn ligament or two by the nasty way my kneecap was moving, I took myself to the doctor's yesterday morning, who promptly told me to put my left knee in a support for all waking hours, and sent me straight to hospital to get X-rays done on both knees.

I won't get the results back for another week or so- in the meantime my knee's bound up so I feel like I'm walking like a robot (which I'm trying but failing not to find kind of cool), and I'm taking supplement tablets designed for healthy joints, just in case it helps. Whatever's going on with my knees I know it's not good, and I certainly won't be able to do certain types of exercise for at very least a few months. If I'm unlucky, years- if I'm very unlucky, ever again. I can still do low impact exercise with my brace, and be careful when dancing- but no more squats, no more bounding up and down the stairs like a goat, and- alas- no more distance running for a while.

I'm a really active person, so it kills me not to be able to tear around like I'm use to doing. However, if I don't slow down, I risk never recovering and a lifetime of crippling pain, and I'll completely incapacitate my future self (aka Old Lady Tash). So, Old Lady Tash, I'm doing this for you.

RE Possibly Having a Bona Fide Heart Attack...

My results came back today. Tissue damage to my heart and chemicals in my blood indicate that:

a) I probably have pneumonia

b) I actually may have had a blood clot after all

c) I definitely have had a severe allergic reaction to a medication my GP insisted I couldn't possibly be allergic to

and

d) I definitely have/ had a, b or even both, as well as c.

As you can imagine, I'm not to thrilled about the less than concrete diagnosis, and even less thrilled that the options are, well, potentially deadly.

In any case, I'm not dead, and although I'm still suffering some symptoms I'm far from those couple of nights when I felt like I was actually dying (the 'joke' is that I was closer than I or the doctors thought).

So. I am now being treated for pneumonia, and I'm having another X-ray done- but in a week's time. The potential blood clot is being ignored and labled as 'probably unlikely', and the allergy is not being officially tested for- despite it being a common type of antibiotic that I may need to be aware of in the future.

The reason why I'm being treated in such a blasé manner? It' s because I'm young and (otherwise) fit. Long story short, I actually went to hospital over a week ago (you know, when I thought I might be dying) and suggested tests for both pneumonia and heart failure. I more or less got laughed at. I was refused an X-ray, and it took another trip to convince my doctor that I needed one. And whadayaknow, it turns out I was- very unfortunately- correct.

In any case... not a great start to 2014. However in a few days I am off to Reykjavik with a friend and I can't wait! I just have to remember to take it easy. My doctor said I should be fine to go.

Then again, my doctor has said a lot of stuff...