Knees, Cars, Dogs

[ebonypearl]

OK, the tibia bones have healed and knee pain continued with new bruises constantly surfacing. Not the fresh red and purple of new bruises, but the old green and yellows of fading bruises. Skin that was normal looking at one visit is old bruise colored at the next visit 2 days later. Pain seems to shift, and it's in different places.

These old knees sustained multiple traumatic injuries. I have tears in the meniscus, quadriceps tendon,and iliotibial band, and chondromalacia from walking on the damaged knees,rubbing off the back of the kneecap. Physical therapy made them worse because we were doing therapy for bone strengthening. Apparently that's bad for the soft tissues of the knees. This is why it's important to not only get the right diagnosis, but to get the full and complete diagnosis.

Who knew?

I break bones - a lot. I know how to heal bones fast, and my bones often heal in half the time they should.

When I get soft tissue injuries, it's always bruises, and my famous bruise juice takes care of those quickly, too. Maybe the reason I'm getting "old bruises" is because I've been using my bruise juice.

I've never had torn ligaments, cartilage, tendons, or muscles before. It's a whole different style of treatment, and by doing the wrong treatments, we've made matters worse.

I haven't been able to drive my car for 2 months and I'm going crazy. Since my right knee is better than my left, I can manage to drive an automatic for short times, and have occasionally driven my daughter's car when I can't stand it anymore, but my car is a manual. Of course, it's still undrivable because it hasn't been fixed yet. The other guy finally reported the accident to his insurance just when all the parts I'd ordered arrived, so I delayed getting it all put together so they could do an estimate - and I'm still waiting for their estimate - 5 weeks waiting. Even if I do get my car fixed, I don't know that I'll ever be able to drive it.

MedFaire is the first weekend in April and I may not be able to work at it the way I normally do. I can't walk long, stand long, and I certainly can't dig post holes, put up or take down booths, or haul gear halfway across the park.

Gardening season is here, too, and I can't do even a small part of what I'd like to do. The fence I started putting up I can't finish because I can't dig post holes or haul the stockade panels (which I haven't bought yet because I've been putting the fence up one panel at a time). I can't repaint the house outside because I can't climb ladders. I can't walk Beaners' dogs because they're big and they tug. I can't demonstrate gardening techniques, although I can supervise them.

Itzl is doing well. He still has a small hole in his eardrum, but it's closing up. Otherwise, he's fully recovered from the accident. He gets his vaccines this month so he can go around with me to work and MedFair and all.

So, I'm royally frustrated all around and trying out various work-arounds and alternatives for getting done all the things I need to do. Some sort of work. The rest are still full of fail. That anguished "aaaarrrgggghhh" echoing through the neighborhood isn't a gang of scurvy pirates. It's me.