Same Knee Same Issues

If you know me, you know I have knee issues.  I've been having them since high school.  Had my first knee draining when I was a senior in high school, and stuff has been going on since.  It's always bothering me, always hurting, always swollen, it's just always having issues.  Actually they both are not great, but one (the left one) is definitely worse then the other.  I have asked on more then one occasion to get a knee replacement but my Dr always says no, I'm too young and they supposedly only last about 10 years.  But to me I think it would be great to not have to put up with it for 10 years, and then get another new one.  I mean that makes sense to me, doesn't it make sense to you?  Yeah but not the Dr.  I told him years ago, that I was getting a new knee before my husband retired and we didn't have the good insurance we have now.  Well, Kev is really on his way out the door.  He has two years or even a little less to do, so now is my time to get this taken care of.  

I've been trying to reach the Dr to make an appointment to talk about this and get it checked out.  It is so hard to reach him and then it usually takes weeks, or even months to get in to see him.  In my mind, I am trying to get the ball rolling in case it actually does take that long.  Since I haven't been able to reach him I decided to drive by and just talk to them.   I went in to make the appointment and the girl gave me a couple days next week to choose from and in my mind I was thinking....Awesome no month long wait.  Then while I was standing there, I said could he see me today?  And the girl said well if you want to wait maybe 45 minutes he could.  Wait 45 minutes????  I have waited in the waiting room up to 2 hours to see this doctor and that's with an appointment.  Hell Yeah I'll wait only 45 minutes!!!!

It's my turn and he comes in and says, why are you here?  Really you're having problems again?  So I explain how it always hurts, blah blah blah.  Plus this appointment is just in time cause somehow Tuesday I did something and my knee has been hurting worse since.  In fact at the gym last night I couldn't do the boot camp class cause with all the running and impact it was just killing me.  Anyway, so we talk about a few different options but it really comes down to the fact that he wants a better look at what all is in there which means I have to go have an MRI done.  For today and to get me through for a while he gave me a cortisone shot.  Have you ever had a cortisone shot?  They hurt like a bitch, but usually within a day or two I can feel a difference so it's worth the pain for a little while.  

So that's where I am at for now until I get the MRI done, which I will do within the next week.  After that he will decide if we are going replacement or some other way.  He did try to throw out the whole knee replacement idea with the usual it only lasts 10 years etc etc and I said but I can't handle it like this for another 10 years.  So we compromised and said we'd talk about it once he sees the MRI.  

And if you're wondering why I would be doing some jogging and the runs I have done these last couple of months if my knee hurts you need to understand it hurts no matter what I do.  Sometimes it is just worse then others.  I'm sure, like I have said before that my weight is a contributor too but I haven't always been this heavy and still had knee problems. And at this point I am working to get that down so I do know that will help a little, but I'm sure only a little.  Hopefully I'll have some good news with good results soon.