Water on the Knee
I remember hearing this medical term – Water on the knee – when my foster sister Liz had a swollen knee in high school. It was so big – it was amazing. I remember hearing the doctors were going to stick a needle in her knee and drain the fluid. It sounded horrible.
And now it’s my turn. I have messed up my knee to the point I need to get it drained. It’s been bothering me for over a month. It was getting worse, then The Hubby rubbed it for about a week and it seemed to get better. Then – nothing… it didn’t get better and it didn’t get worse. Then… the dog strikes! I was out walking the dogs and Pansy pulled at the leash pretty hard. I could feel the jerk and twisting in my knee. That was on Monday. I tried to elevate it and rest, but it was apparent to me on Monday night that waiting to see the doctor was no longer an option. So I stopped by the office Tuesday morning and got an appointment for Wednesday at noon.
One look at my knee, and the doctor was impressed… very impressed. She said she was disappointed her resident had just left – it would have been great to show her this very swollen, fluid filled knee. She hadn’t seen one that bad for a long time, in fact. She wrote me a prescription for some pain medication (as my tries with Advil, Aleve and Tynelol had not seemed to have much of an effect) and referred me to an orthopedic doctor around the corner. I drove over to the office and now have an appointment tomorrow with the doctor who repaired my broken ankle when I was 15.
So after setting up the appointment, I ran to CVS to get the prescription, updated my medical/insurance information and headed off to run a few errands while waiting for the script. Since my appointment was at noon, it was now 1:00 and I was starving. But the medication has to be taken with food, so I had to wait for the pharmacy. By 1:30 my errands were done, the prescription was filled and I was placing my order at Quiznos.
I got home, wolfed down my sandwich and took my pill. As I was taking it, I noticed the warnings on the bottle. It had the old standby – “May Cause Drowsiness”. Crap. Whenever something has that warning, it ususally means I will be out like a light. And I have to say, I am incredibly tired. I haven’t noticed any improvement in the pain, but I am having a heck of a time keeping my eyes open. I suspect I will sleep pretty well tonight.
And I am so looking forward to getting my knee drained (and I never thought I’d be saying that!)