It’s going to be a while before I can skate. I’ll explain in more detail below, but the upshot is that it looks like I need knee surgery and am having to run a fundraiser to cover the cost (because my unsurance–shut up autocorrect, that is totally a word–sucks and doesn’t cover anything until the rather high deductible is met).
Click link or image to donate.
So, I’ve had knee issues for years. Back in the Air force, I had several knee injuries ranging from motor vehicle accidents to falling off a stepladder while changing lights in a stairwell on post. And, over time, my knees have gradually deteriorated. I can (well, could, but we’ll get to that in a moment) walk maybe 10-15 minutes before the knee pain started getting serious. I’d usually quip that it “got better” after about half an hour when the knees go numb. And, running more than a few seconds was completely out of the question.
This made getting decent exercise difficult.
Strangely enough, skating didn’t cause me those problems. I could stake an hour or two with no problem (at least from my knees), even throw in a few jumps once my skating skill got to the point of doing those.
All that came screeching to a halt about a month ago. I was in class, working on spirals and I started to take a fall. I could sense that it was going to be a bad one and I instinctively tried to catch myself. Result was I caught my left toe pick in the ice and fell backward. My left leg folded and I felt something give in the knee.
I thought, maybe, it wasn’t too bad since I was able to skate off the ice. I’d had some ligament injuries that only needed a few weeks’ rest to heal. Unfortunately, two weeks getting later and it was getting worse. I went to see the doctor and he said it looks like a medial meniscus tear.
That’s, to the best I’ve been able to determine, not something that will get better on its own. The alternatives are steroid shots (which appear to just provide temporary relief) or surgery.
If I’m going to get back on the ice, back to the one form of decent exercise I’ve been able to stick to, I’m going to need surgery. And so we’re back to that unsurance.
The doctor did an X-ray which was inconclusive. That was expected, but a necessary stepping stone toward getting the insurance to approve an MRI (and getting the insurance to approve it is necessary to get it to count toward the deductible).
Between the testing to come, the surgery, and the physical therapy/rehab after the surgery, I’m expecting to meet the deductible. Deductible is $8100 so that’s what I’m trying to raise.
Any help would be appreciated, whether through donations (click links above) or just spreading the word.
The Writer in Black 