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Weak in the Knees
I had a follow-up appointment with the orthopedic guy this week and they burned a CD for me with my X-rays on it. I managed to get screencaps of them after fiddling with it for a while (the files were in a weird proprietary format and software came on the disc that was supposed to load automatically but didn't).
So now I submit for your viewing pleasure (?) my poor arthritic knee.
We'll start with the left (good) one. Notice the nice comfortable gap between the bones. That's where the cartilage is:
Notice also how smooth all the bones are, around the joint.
OK, now we'll look at my right knee:
Notice how there isn't much space at all between the bones. That's the part deep inside that hurts when I spend too much time on my feet. It's almost, but not quite bone grinding on bone. Notice also how rough and uneven the bones are in that vicinity. There's pitting and spurs forming.
OK, this is something I didn't know about. My kneecap is also having problems. Here's the left one:
See how it nestles nicely in its little spot? That's what it should look like.
Here's the right kneecap:
Yikes. That doesn't look good, at all!
Yessir, deep water aerobics and no-impact exercise is a Very Good Idea, at this point.
The surgeon said that at some point I might want him to go in there arthroscopically and shave off any rough or degraded cartilage. Eventually I'll probably have to replace the joint entirely.
Posted by origamifreak at 9:16 am |
