Update On My Knee Boo-Boo

This is an update on my "Aww Crap!" post. Since Sunday, I have been getting around without crutches and I ditched the knee brace. My knee actually feels pretty good, but "twingy", meaning I feel as though I am one wrong move, twist, or hard landing away from being back where I was last Friday afternoon. Initially I was OK on flat ground, but struggling with stairs and inclines. Now I can do those too, but slowly and with caution.

Getting the Workman's Comp paperwork filed has been a cluster fuck, with conflicting information and instructions. It finally got filed, getting me the all important claim number, but I believe it is still not right. At this point, I don't care. I got a claim number and was able to get right in to the orthopedist office for an exam yesterday morning at 11:00.

I saw a real nice young and handsome (I can recognize a handsome man without being gay!) physicians assistant. He listened to my story of what happened and then did a physical exam of my knee, by manipulating it in all different directions, and some other joint tests where he sat on my foot while I lay on my back. It was when he tried to bend it straight back as far as it would go that I howled and came off the table. He then did the same manipulations to my my other knee for comparison. He said my joints felt pretty good and strong, and is suspecting a meniscus tear in my right knee, requiring minor surgery to go in and "clean it up." He explained that there is no blood flow to the meniscus, therefore it will never heal. Instead they go in and just remove the damaged cartilage causing pain. An M.R.I. will be required to confirm, which of course, has to be authorized by Workman's Comp before I can even get an appointment. That should be early next week. The P.A. told me that when most people come in for the ten day post-op to get stitches removed after surgery, they are mostly recovered. THAT is good news compared to something that would sideline me for a couple of months like a total knee reconstruction or replacement. I would be out of my mind!

In the meantime, I am getting stuff done around the homestead. I have a Honda self-propelled walk behind mulching mower so I have been able to keep the grass cut without causing myself pain or further injury, although at a much slower pace than normal. Taking care of the chickens is trickier, carrying a 5 gallon waterer or their full feeder down the hill to the chicken coop every couple of days. I just take it slow and cautious. I have a minor exhaust repair to do on my truck that will be tricky. My FIL is around so he can get me tools and stuff while I stay down on the creeper, instead of getting up and down myself.

I had an terse discussion with my wife, who is upset that I am not working and that we are taking a temporary hit on our income. I say temporary because I will receive back pay for lost time. I had to explain that there is only two day time positions at the FD and there is no "light duty." I am a Firefighter/EMT and have to be able to fully perform my duties. Now if I had my old job in I.T. that was mostly a desk job, this would be a no brainer. I probably wouldn't have even filed a claim. Can you imagine me trying to be part of a 2-man team bringing a patient down a flight of stairs in a stair chair? Or being up on a roof trying to cut a vent hole? Trying to remove a victim from a house fire? Or operate the hydraulic rescue tools to open a crashed car? The list is endless. While I am certainly not a top notch physical specimen like the guy on the left and more like the guy on the right, as long as everything works on my body I can effectively do my job. BTW, the guy on the right is actor Kevin Heffernan portraying Chief Terry McConky in Tacoma FD. That show is one of the most accurate depictions of a small fire department on TV, and a favorite at our station.

Another friend asked if I could just sit at a desk and file reports. Nope. Our incident reports, patient care reports, maintenance records, etc. are done as soon as the incident or maintenance is concluded. Reports do not pile up for a clerk to do or for us to do later. Our department call volume is such that we have plenty of time between incidents to get reports done.