Get Fit Mummy – more knee drama….

Ah, the knee. I can’t get a new one (as much as I wish I could) and what we thought was a relatively simple injury, that could be repaired surgically, is actually much more complicated than either I or the specialists I am seeing, thought.

So we THOUGHT it was cartilage damage, and possibly a tear in the meniscus disc in my knee.

It isn’t that.

It would seem, that my poor knee is pretty much kaput! 

My Anterior Cruciate Ligament is torn, properly torn, what is called a Grade 3 complete tear. My Posterior Cruciate Ligament is strained badly, but not torn. My patella has a split in it, and is not in the right position. All the ligaments on the outside of my knee are under strain, one side is doing too much work, the other not enough.

I will be starting an intensive course of rehabilitation next week to get the knee in as good a shape as possible, so that I can have surgery, at some point early next year to repair the torn ligament, that will not repair itself. The option of having the surgery now is not viable, because the knee isn’t strong enough and wouldn’t cope and any repair would be pointless.

A bit depressing, really. I am a pretty active person, I am on my feet all day, in my “day job” and then add in running around after the children, and life, and you have someone who doesn’t have time for knee injuries and who is struggling with pain and the concept that part of her body is just not going to cooperate and needs a lot of input to get it even working vaguely better, and then face an operation that isn’t a cure, but hopefully will improve things. I have had my pity party, moaned to a few friends, ranted a bit to myself in private, told the knee off, sternly, and now I get up and get on. Hobbling a bit, with a lot of knee tape and a rather sexy knee brace (that will be arriving next week) but I will not let this get me down, or sit around feeling sorry for myself. I haven’t got time for that. Things to do, toddler groups to run, life to be kept up with….

There is some good news, in all of this, however. I can exercise again. I can run, if I am wearing my support brace, knee tape, and good shoes, and watch my pain levels, and watch for too much swelling in the knee. The surgeons words were “you can’t really do much more damage, just take it easy, watch the pain levels, be sensible”.

So, yay, I can run again. I can start to get fit again. I hopefully can get back to a bit more normal, whilst working on getting this knee sorted out.

So, that’s my Get Fit Mummy update, no more moping about. This Mummy is getting moving again! No more chocolate, no more excuses. I have to get in shape, and look after myself, and this knee!