OCR has changed their name to include the word “Spine” Â so maybe now it’s the Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies or “OSCR”. Primarily the headquarters for “Sports Medicine”, I was amazed that they let me anywhere near the place to get a simple arthroscopic partial meniscectomy.
My GP sent me to see Dr. Rocci Trumper at the OCR for treatment of a torn meniscus on my right knee, an obvious sports injury don’t you know! After talking to many people in Fort Collins it seemed that:
1) They either had a torn meniscus at one time or knew someone who did.
2) If they got treated in FoCo, it was by Dr. Trumper.
So this guy must have seen the inside of everybody’s knee in town by my estimate. And he gave me pictures to show:
THE BLADE
This appears to be a miniature X-Acto blade pointing at my knee bone. I think it was used just to intimidate the surrounding tissue in anticipation of what was to come.
THE PROBE
It was important to check the parts of the meniscus between the bone to make sure there was no folded-over flap that could just cause more pain in the future.
THE NIPPER
This miniature needle-nose plier can not only help grab onto various sections for inspection, it also has piraña like teeth on the end that can nip off parts if need be.
Interestingly this video has had over 100 views in less than 24 hours since it was posted. That’s more than the ‘Annie the Railroad Dog’ video has had in 6 months! Arthroscopic videos are HOT!
Alright, there has been a bit of discomfort in the area of the knee:
X-rays are good. Can you tell I broke my left tibia in 1961?
My right knee would hurt whenever I twisted my leg. I could ride a bicycle OK, but it would hurt whenever I tried to dismount. It would also hurt when I drove a car so it seemed like my leg was telling me to STAY ON A BICYCLE! But it was hard to walk on uneven surfaces (and that’s everywhere around here!) and it made hanging out with the samba band difficult.
But now my right knee hurts; What can it be?
And after a few months, the pain didn’t go away on it’s own! Time to see a (gulp!) real doctor and see what’s what! Well, it seems most likely I have a meniscal tear on my knee. Of course a little Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging might show this a little clearer perhaps. Most folks just say ‘MRI’ meaning Magnetic Resonance Imaging, but it’s really Nuclear MRI ! Don’t be fooled! Ha! Ha! No! It’s not ionizing radiation you idiot!
Enter the General Electric Signa MRI
…and just as you might have heard, they are still noisy as ever. I got to wear headphones and when they asked me what radio station I wanted to hear, I said “KRFC please”. I don’t listen to radio very much, so this was the first time I ever heard “Radio Fort Collins” ; It’s “Homegrown Radio for Northern Colorado” or Public Radio. Seems cool; They might even broadcast live samba music some evening. Anyhow, the dog made a movie of it and put it on U-tube here:
NMRI of my leg, why not?
So it appears that it is indeed a meniscal tear and I need to be “SCOPED” as they say. The procedure should happen around 1:00 PM TODAY and I should be home by 4:00PM. Â They said I should stay in bed for at least 4 to 5 days. I’ll be sure to let you know how that goes! I’ve got my recovery room all ready to go except that I will have NO INTERNET ACCESS FOR 4 to 5 days!!! I know I should have installed a wireless router just like everybody else, but I thought I would wait for the NEXT BIG THING, whatever that might be.
Will I survive not having internet access? Sure, NO PROBLEM!
