ACL Update: MRI images
(Last Updated On: February 21, 2009)
So, I’m officially geeking it out during my gimp phase. Yesterday I had an MRI. the doc wanted to just double check and make sure the injuries were as she suspected (torn ACL, but all the other ligaments okay) and see if she could check for meniscus damage. I’m feeling a lot of grinding in my knee, although it’s never painful. So, I’m suspecting I have at least a little meniscus damage. Anyway, I took a moment to pop in the CD from my MRI yesterday to check out the images. They’re pretty cool. I don’t really know how to read and MRI image (although in some cases, you can definitely pick out what’s what), but I thought I’d post some of them up here. This is a sampling of 6 images from over 500 to choose from!
Physically, I’m doing pretty well. Physical therapy is helping improve my strength and flexibility. I can almost get my knee completely straight, and I can bend it nearly as much as my other knee. I have been having trouble getting the inside quad muscle (VMO) to “fire”. When I had major patellar tendonitis in this knee several years back, this was also a problem, so it doesn’t surprise me. I am able to ride the bike (I have a trainer I set my road bike on), and I’m slowly increasing the resistance and time. I am basically off crutches, except for going down the stairs of my apartment building. Two big flights of stairs is a bit much for me to handle without crutches yet. I’m walking around inside without my brace- as my PT encouraged. I’m afraid to walk outside without a brace with all the ice and snow– but I was able to do so in Gunnison yesterday because they have cleared the sidewalks free of ice and snow.
Mentally, I’m hanging in there. I’m trying to keep busy and keep positive. It’s a constant mental battle. Sometimes I just want to cry because there were so many things I wanted to do this spring… and I’ll be missing them all. But, then I remember, that what I’m going through is not a big deal comparatively. So much worse things could happen. The hardest part for me is the social aspect. Skiing was my social life. Now I don’t have it and I feel so out of the loop.
At any rate, I’m hanging in there, and my knee is getting stronger and stronger and more and more ready for surgery. I have no surgery date set yet, but I should know more next week after I visit Dr. Beim on Tuesday.
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