Bow-legged Day

Mike the MRI Guy made cheese for 10 years before he started as a tech. "A friend of mine got me into it. He was going to X-ray school and said I should go with him. I applied for MRI school just to see if I could get in. Only two out of 150 make it. A couple weeks later I got a letter in the mail saying I made it."

We cruised through the intake form, while we rode the lift up the outside of the semi that housed the machine. He had me lay down on the narrow tray and strapped my right leg secure in a precise position. He put the headphones on me and stepped to the control section of the trailer. With tiny jerks and roaring buzzes, my knee passed under the gaze of the magnetic eye. After 30 minutes he released me with a worried look.

"You must have a metal screw in your knee that's throwing a shadow. Does the doctor know about that?"

"Yes. I told him."

"Well, I hope they don't send it back." He led me off for the full leg x-rays with a warning not to move.

Once in x-ray, the tech had me change into hospital pants, while she taped up the quarters. When I returned from the changing room, she began to tape the coins to different parts of my leg.

"This procedure is so new that the company hasn't sent us the markers yet, but the coins work fine. Now climb that stool and set your foot on that line. I'm going to take 3 pictures of your leg. If you move, or even shift your during one we have to start over." No pressure? By picture 3 I feel like my leg is vibrating. The tech is happy with them anyway. I'm not. My leg has started to bow. I arrived at 7am and I left at 8:20am.

Total knee Replacement

On April 9 th I will have a total knee replacement of my right knee. This installment is written on the night before my full-leg MRI. I am getting this MRI, so that my measurements can be sent out to create custom cutting guides for my right knee. These guides mean no measurements will need to be taken once my leg is opened up.

I would like to acquaint you with how I reached this point. I am a 48 year old male who has had multiple knee surgeries over the last 30 years. When I was 17 and chasing a friend, I stepped in a hole in the yard. My left leg stopped and my knee popped out and came back, a subluxation. Weeks later I was playing tennis in gym and the knee subluxed again. The pop was so loud my gym teacher could hear it a couple courts away. That fall I went to see my first orthopedic surgeon. He told me that my kneecap was riding high on the outside of the knee joint. He said that my muscles were pulling it like a bone string, patellar tracking syndrome. He gave me exercises to do, straight leg lifts. He then scheduled me for arthroscopic surgery on my left knee in about a months time. He went into the knee took out several pieces of floating cartilage and tried to clean up the joint.

By the next fall I was back to see him again. My knee had subluxed another four times. The exercises failed. The plan was to disconnect the bottom of my patellar tendon move it over on the tibia and screw it back in, the Hauser procedure. This worked. After months of rehab and almost a year of recovery my knee was better than new.

My rights knee also had patellar tracking syndrome, and subluxed several times. I went to see the surgeon and this time we cut right to the Hauser Procedure. Another success. The knee felt very strong.

For the next 20 years I played hours and hours of basketball,volleyball lifted weights, ran and enjoyed life. About seven years ago my knees started aching and swelling. Getting up after sitting was extremely painful. A new surgeon scoped both knees twice, removing much damaged cartilage, bone spurs and about 3/4s of an inch of height. He then moved me Euflexxa injections into the joint. No relief. 18 months ago I took my first cortisone injections. After 4 series they stopped providing relief, so here I am.