The Personification of the Dumb Blonde

I must strike people as the quintessential dumb blonde! Why else would professional people treat me as if I cannot construct a single coherent thought, much less use my words to explain the exact nature of the state of my right knee? Yes, I just returned from a visit to the ortho surgeon who repaired my torn meniscus almost exactly 4 months ago, and I am totally at a loss to explain our "conversation."

When he asked, with a somewhat concerned look on his face, how I am doing following my knee surgery, I replied that is what brought me to his office this fine morning: my knee is currently an exact replay of my knee prior to my surgery 4 months ago. He jumped up as if he had been scalded and told me he'd be right back: first, he explained, he had to go "get the pictures." I informed him that when I had my follow-up visit a week after the surgery, Frank told us both that there were no photos: they were lost.

Surprise. Frank produced 2 copies of the surgery photos. Confidently, the doctor sat next to me, went through the photo array, and then assured me that the surgery went well, so that is probably not what is at issue today.

Really. I took out my 3x5 card and went through the list of symptoms, all of which are identical to what brought me to him in the first place, including excruciating pain, intense, burning heat, and loss of use. I put my fingers on the 2 spots that seem to be the focus of the problem, the exact same 2 spots that led to the diagnosis of a torn meniscus the last time I visited the good doctor for a surgery consult. Believe it or not, I actually asked if I could have -- somehow, without knowing it -- torn what's left of the meniscus, and he laughed and assured me that's not likely. Silly me.

This time, the doctor went for the arthritis in my kneecap, assuring me that it's probably the arthritis causing the symptoms. Oh, I asked, why do you think that? My kneecap has absolutely no pain, but that strip about 4-5" long on the interior of my leg is really painful, same as it was 4 months ago. The reason it's the arthritis is ... because I have arthritis in my kneecap. When I again added that I have NO pain in my kneecap, he assured me that going in the therapy pool at the Arthritis Institute will help the entire knee area feel better. Working out in water, it seems, does wonders for arthritis, but I'm still back on I seriously doubt it's arthritis because I have that in many other regions of my body and I KNOW arthritis, and this is NOT arthritis.

My stupefaction must have shown through as he asked if I had any other concerns. Yes, I told him, I do. I have excrucating pain on the interior of my knee area, my kneecap does not hurt, and I'm again spending more time on the couch than is ideal for my weight issues. Ah ha, he reacted: that's why I need to work out in the therapy pool!

When I tried again, explaining that I'm using a knee brace, alternating vicodin and Aleve, elevating my knee, alternating ice/heat -- and it's getting worse, rather than better, he concluded our interview with the advice to keep doing what I've been doing, but avoid stairs and start working out in water (although I'm not sure how that advice addresses the inability to walk my dogs). When I again told him that all of those interventions are NOT WORKING, he allowed as how we could do a cortisone injection, which will help with the pain and the swelling in the knee area, but it's only a temporary fix.

I did; I did try to make sense out of this by asking how MASKING the pain is going to help the situation, especially if there is something really wrong with my knee, but he said to "see my girls up front and they'll set you up with an appointment for the injection next week." Then, we're going to wait and see if it gets better or if we need another MRI. I asked if we could consider another MRI before we settle on the arthritis, but he assured me that it's the arthritis, so we're going to work with that for now because he doesn't want to over-react and seem "knife happy."

I made the appointment and I'll have to decide do I get the cortisone injection, which I know will help alleviate the pain, and then wait -- or go back to shopping for another ortho surgeon, one who may consider an MRI to rule out a specific injury before treating a generic "maybe" diagnosis.

UPDATE I have spent the whole day trying to come up with a polite way to tell the doctor I think he's full of dog ca-ca, but the words I'm coming up with are not polite. My worst nightmare is spending another 5 months of ongoing, intense pain, going from one doctor to another before someone steps up to the plate, orders the MRI, and then bases a medical opinion on the evidence, rather than a hunch. Lots of luck with that, huh?