Hello!
It's been an eventful few weeks since I last posted here on my blog and you may have noticed that I mentioned on my Facebook page that my knee has been playing up lately, causing me quite a bit of pain and discomfort. Despite giving it plenty of rest and keeping it elevated as much as I possibly could, it didn't seem to improve any. In fact, it probably got worse if anything.
So after feeling pretty miserable all weekend it was off to the doctors surgery on the Monday morning to see my GP. We are pretty fortunate when it comes to our doctors surgery as they'll always do their best to fit you in as soon as they possibly can and last Monday was no exception. They managed to fit me in that morning roughly just an hour and a half after Mum called that morning. That's almost unheard of in today's society!
So after a shorter than usual tutoring session that morning, my Mum and I made our way across town to the surgery listening to the radio as we went. Listening to the radio is by far one of my favourite past times and is great when going to a medical appointment as it helps divert my mind from worrying about it. After attending so many hospital appointments throughout the years, you'd think it wouldn't bother me too much, but for whatever reason I still get quite worked up about going for one.
Anyway, we arrived in the surgery car park just as they were playing the new ELO song which actually reminded me a little of another song. We were a little early so we sat in the car for a further ten minutes or so, which was much better than sitting in a waiting room, whilst I sat there deliberating what song it reminded me of. Then it hit me! It sounded like Golden Slumbers by The Beatles (my favourite band-in case you didn't know!) I quickly pulled out my iPod and started playing Golden Slumbers to compare the two songs. My poor Mum must get sick and tired of me having mad, geeky moments about music-she has the patience of a saint to listen to me rambling on all day long! But in all seriousness, go look up the two songs and have a listen! I mean it might just be me, but that's exactly what it reminded me of. Oops, I've just realised that I went off track enthusing about music (again!) Sorry folks!
Inside the surgery we spent a further twenty minutes or so waiting to be seen as it was extremely busy and they were running a little late. There really wasn't a need to complain though, as these things happen and they were good enough to actually fit me in at the last minute. After twenty minutes of watching I don't know how many different faces come and go and for me, counting the faded outlines of squares on the carpet (the things you do to past time), my name was finally called.
After explaining to the doctor what was going on with my knee, he gave it an examination, asking me questions about my most recent visit to hospital and what motions they used when examining my knee as that was really when my knee began flaring up. Apparently, the motion they used in hospital, which almost looked like they were popping my knee out of place and back in again, was actually to test the ligaments that had been created during my knee surgery back in 2011. I was told to rest my leg just like I had been doing and was prescribed yet more pain killers.
By Wednesday, my pain levels had grown worse and I spent the day in bed and for a little while in the afternoon curled up on the sofa feeling absolutely miserable. This was probably the worse my pain had been for a while. It was at the point that it had me in tears so that said a lot. My Mum decided to get in contact with the hospital and managed to get in contact with my pain management consultant's secretary who arranged for me to see both my pain management consultant and my othopedic consultant the following day which we were so grateful for them arranging.
So the next morning it was a 6:30am rise for us in order to get there in time. Quickly, we ate a spot of breakfast, got dressed and were out of the door before we knew it. On route to hospital, we picked up my Grandparents and hit the motorway in the morning rush. Fortunately, we managed to make it in time for my appointment.
After finding out where exactly to go for my appointment, (no one seems to know where exactly anything is in the new hospital) we were then told by a receptionist that my consultants had been called to theatre and they had no idea how long they'd be. Mum and I decided that we'd go get a coffee from the hospital coffee shop when we bumped into my orthopedic consultant on route. It turns out that he hadn't been called to theatre afterall, so we followed him to the plaster room where he had a look at my knee and decided to send me for an X-ray. It had been a good two or three years since I last had one actually. We were sent through what was like a secret corridor which led to X-ray department and let the receptionist know that I was there. After a fairly short wait, I was escorted through to the X-Ray room by a student radiographer who said that I'd been the most stylish person to step through their doors that week if not ever. Yes, even on a hospital visit, I still manage to wear one of my hats and a pair of Dr Marten boots because let's face it; it just wouldn't be me without them! But anyway, it was a nice compliment!
The radiographers who took care of me that day were extremely lovely which makes a huge difference! Some of my last X-rays were taken at an adult's hospitals and they barely uttered a single word to me and didn't even bothered to crack a smile-is it really that much to ask?! I mean, I was only about 13 or 14 at the time!
After being made to bend my knee in a variety of awkward positions, standing as still as I possibly could, the radiographers were satisfied with the images and sent me back through to the plaster room to find my pain management consultant dressed in his blue theatre gowns. He had to take a quick phone call, so my orthopedic consultant had a look at my X-Rays which thankfully looked normal. Although when it comes to my leg "normal" is completely different to the average person's leg.
The long and the short of it was that last time I saw my consultant, which was around a month or so ago, whilst he was examining my knee, my fibula may have knocked against one of my nerves and upset things after it being moved around as much. There isn't much holding my knee together meaning that everything is kind of floating around, hence why my fibula could have hit against one of the nerves. There's isn't anything that they can really do to fix this so he suggested that I keep my leg well rested and that I wear a splint as much as I can over the next few weeks to keep things secure. So as one of his fellows ordered the splint, he popped out to go collect it.
During this time, my pain management consultant returned and asked me about what had happened over the past few weeks with my knee. I explained the situation to him and he also suggested me wearing splint on my knee. So everyone had a wee laugh about how two great minds think alike when my other consultant returned. I had to sit on one of the hospital beds as they fitted the splint which is extremely heavy and makes me feel like a robot, but I'll ride the storm and put up with it in hope that it'll help. Since I was there my pain management consultant also gave me a course of acupuncture in hope that it would help with my pain. Obviously, I wasn't able to see what he was doing as I had to lie on my side, but apparently my consultant used a lot more needles than he'd previously used when I had acupuncture.
So I was eventually sent home to rest my knee and to try out the knee splint for the next few weeks. I am most definitely not a fan of it as it's so heavy, however Ive got to do what I've got to do.
Anyway, I shall go for now but until next time I send you all lots of love and best wishes!
-The Hat Hippie xx
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