More Life: Life Happens
Life sometimes happens when you least need it to happen. In my case, toward the end of January, my knee started swelling one afternoon to the point it hurt to touch it and I couldn't even walk on it. Initially the doctors thought it might be gout, which the doctor explained to me that when people lose a large amount of weight and are taking certain blood pressure medications, can happen. I was assured I could resume normal activities in a week. I got some anti-inflammatory medication and took a blood test to confirm findings and was on my way.
Well, things got better after I started taking the medication, and after two days, I could actually walk on my leg again. But then, it started to get a little worse and my whole leg started swelling. I was also told that the blood test results were negative regarding gout and referred to an orthopedic doctor.
Before I could go in to see the orthopedic doctor, my knee was hurting badly and I was getting worried about the inflammation in my whole leg that I told my husband I needed to go to the ER the next morning. After we dropped the kids off at school, we went to the ER. I had an X-ray of my knee, an ultrasound of my leg veins and finally the doctor took a knee fluid sample (ouch x 1000000000!). Nothing showed up in the X-ray and my leg veins were clot-free (thank goodness). I was given a leg brace and some nice crutches and sent on my way.
Within a day, a nurse called to let me know the results of the knee fluid. Apparently I had a bacterial infection and was told to take 10-days worth of antibiotics. I finally got in to see the orthopedic doctor and after several visits, more X-rays, an attempt to extract more knee fluid (more ouch x 10000000000!), an MRI and physical therapy, there was nothing they could do within their practice, so I was referred to an arthritis doctor.
Fast forward to the arthritis doctor who was confident I had some kind of arthritis and was going to give me a cortisone shot until she saw the report on the bacteria in my knee fluid. While the level was quite low, it was the type of bacteria which disturbed her: staph. I won't go into what staph is because you can search the Internet about it and know it's one of the worse bacterial infections to have. I was then given more antibiotics and referred to an infectious disease doctor as well as ordered more blood tests and a blood culture.
Off to the infectious disease doctor I went. To make a long story short, the doctor did not want to do any radical intervention (I call it radical because it involved surgery to clean out the joint plus antibiotics through an IV for several weeks) unless the bacteria was still present and growing. So after taking me off the antibiotics and several weeks later at a follow up appointment, I was confidently told I probably did not have staph anymore. So now I'm back to the arthritis doctor.
At present, she is treating me with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication and I have a follow up appointment with her in a few weeks. While she doesn't have a firm diagnosis, the words "rheumatoidal arthritis" were dropped several times during the visit. I haven't tested positive for it nor have the typical symptoms but she told me like any medical diagnosis, there are atypical symptoms as well which is what mine are categorized.
At present, things are okay with my knee. I can get around fine and while it aches here and there, for the most part I don't have many problems. I haven't exercised in months and lost the momentum. I need to get back to it because I know exercise can only help me get better. I just hope I can get a definitive answer about my knee or maybe I will never get an answer.
Well, things got better after I started taking the medication, and after two days, I could actually walk on my leg again. But then, it started to get a little worse and my whole leg started swelling. I was also told that the blood test results were negative regarding gout and referred to an orthopedic doctor.
Before I could go in to see the orthopedic doctor, my knee was hurting badly and I was getting worried about the inflammation in my whole leg that I told my husband I needed to go to the ER the next morning. After we dropped the kids off at school, we went to the ER. I had an X-ray of my knee, an ultrasound of my leg veins and finally the doctor took a knee fluid sample (ouch x 1000000000!). Nothing showed up in the X-ray and my leg veins were clot-free (thank goodness). I was given a leg brace and some nice crutches and sent on my way.
Within a day, a nurse called to let me know the results of the knee fluid. Apparently I had a bacterial infection and was told to take 10-days worth of antibiotics. I finally got in to see the orthopedic doctor and after several visits, more X-rays, an attempt to extract more knee fluid (more ouch x 10000000000!), an MRI and physical therapy, there was nothing they could do within their practice, so I was referred to an arthritis doctor.
Fast forward to the arthritis doctor who was confident I had some kind of arthritis and was going to give me a cortisone shot until she saw the report on the bacteria in my knee fluid. While the level was quite low, it was the type of bacteria which disturbed her: staph. I won't go into what staph is because you can search the Internet about it and know it's one of the worse bacterial infections to have. I was then given more antibiotics and referred to an infectious disease doctor as well as ordered more blood tests and a blood culture.
Off to the infectious disease doctor I went. To make a long story short, the doctor did not want to do any radical intervention (I call it radical because it involved surgery to clean out the joint plus antibiotics through an IV for several weeks) unless the bacteria was still present and growing. So after taking me off the antibiotics and several weeks later at a follow up appointment, I was confidently told I probably did not have staph anymore. So now I'm back to the arthritis doctor.
At present, she is treating me with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication and I have a follow up appointment with her in a few weeks. While she doesn't have a firm diagnosis, the words "rheumatoidal arthritis" were dropped several times during the visit. I haven't tested positive for it nor have the typical symptoms but she told me like any medical diagnosis, there are atypical symptoms as well which is what mine are categorized.
At present, things are okay with my knee. I can get around fine and while it aches here and there, for the most part I don't have many problems. I haven't exercised in months and lost the momentum. I need to get back to it because I know exercise can only help me get better. I just hope I can get a definitive answer about my knee or maybe I will never get an answer.
Comments
Post a Comment