My leg, part deux...

So, After a night or R.I.C.E. I got up Friday and knew right away bad things were going on with the knee I had knocked against the concrete at practice.  I could not bend it at all.  Not an inch.  Not without pain.

So I called my doctor and set an appointment up for later that afternoon to get it checked out and went about the rest of the morning laying in bed irritated as can be that I was laid up.  Then I got up to pee.  I managed to hobble my way to the bathroom and proceeded to sit on my dear old porcelain throne.

Dear.  God.  PAIN.

I kid you not, I let out the mother of all horror queen screams when my knee bent to sit.  I nearly blacked out.

My poor darling husband (who I think seriously sprouted about 100 new gray hairs instantly) came running into the room to see me bawling my eyes out and screaming at him to help me straighten my leg back out.  At the door were two little voices asking if Mommy was okay.  Bad scene, my friends, bad scene.

So, the decision was quickly made that we were just going to mosey on down to the ER instead of waiting to see my doctor.

Getting me down the stairs and into the car was an adventure in itself.  I couldn't put a stitch of weight into that leg.  But we managed, somehow. 

So fast forward to the ER...I got x-rays done and the initial results were that there were no broken or dislocated bones.  So they wrapped me hip to toe in a leg immobilizer device, decked me out with a pair of crutches, and sent me on my way with a prescription for Vicodin/Lortabs and a referral to an orthopedic specialist. 

So now we fast forward once again to today...I saw the ortho and the initial diagnosis is that it is the ridiculous amount of swelling in my knee causing me to be unable to bend it.  So I was told to remove the brace (but to sleep in it for comfort), keep using the crutches, take large doses of Ibuprofen to reduce swelling, and continue R.I.C.E.ing it.  I will be returning tomorrow for an MRI.

Tomorrow we hope to determine which of two possible prognoses it is.  The one I am pulling for is a deep bone bruise.  For a bone bruise I simply lay low until I can comfortably skate again.  The other prognosis is that I may have torn the meniscus in that knee (the cartilage).  If that is the case then I will likely have to undergo surgery and be laid up and off skates for 4-6 months.  Noo!!!  That would be a really crushing blow. 

I am fervently praying and hoping they tell me it's a bone bruise (or maybe not even that..?) and I can get back to skating in a week or two.  Until then I will still go to practices and help at Saturday's bout any way I can.  I may be down but I am not out, dammit!