Fun at the orthopedists

I had my appointment with the orthopedist this afternoon.  Everything went smoothly and I was impressed with the efficiency of the staff.  I was in the exam room within five minutes of my appointment time (they had me arrive 30 minutes prior to that so that I could fill out all of the new patient paperwork).  Seph (pronounced similar to Seth but almost like if you have a lisp), the physicians assistant came in after just a few minutes, got my history, poked and prodded my knee some and said that they needed to get some x-rays.  After somewhere between five and ten more minutes, Dr Boothby came in, asked some more questions, poked and prodded my knee a bit more and said that he figured that it was probably a tear in my meniscus (the cartilage that sits at the top of your bottom leg bone and acts as a shock absorber).  He got out his knee model and explained this to me and said that there wasn't any need for x-rays because they wouldn't be able to show what he needed to see.  So the next step is to get an MRI.  The staff said that I should be able to get that early next week.  Then I go back to Dr Boothby a day or two later and we figure out where to go from there.

The good news is that if it is a torn meniscus, Dr Boothby says that they can fix me and get me back to 100%.  He seemed pretty certain that this would be the case.  So that's a plus.  From doing some research and reading, it sounds like there is the possibility of non-surgical options for dealing with a torn meniscus.  However, that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.  There's some interesting stuff on Wikipedia about torn meniscuses (menisci?)

While I'm not thrilled with the idea of having to have knee surgery, the fact that this is something that seems to have become routine and the optimism of my doctor gives me confidence that it won't be a huge deal.  I'm sure it won't be fun, but I know that I'll be well taken care of.  I'm pretty sure that Mom will want to come down.  Even if she doesn't, I know my church will take very good care of me and make sure that I have all the help I need.  The staff and my friends at the gym will be there to help me get back in shape physically.  And my group at work is always very accommodating.  All of that gives me tremendous peace of mind.  It's amazing how well God has and continues to provide so much for me.