knee

My left knee hurts. I don't recall injuring it, but over the last week it's been getting worse. It's not bothering me when I walk, but more when I bend it at a certain deep angle. So, when I get up from seated, get out of the car, or when I'm in bed and curl up- that's when it bothers me. I curl up a lot when I sleep, and it got bad enough that it was waking me up- that sucks. It feels like it's on the outside of the kneecap; I don't have any idea what that means but it's probably relevant. I had a meniscus strain from a roller-blading incident a few years ago, but I seem to recall it was the right knee. I'll be seeing the physician's assistant or nurse practitioner or whatever she is this afternoon.

knee, pt. 2

After an hour wait and then a fun-filled attempt on her part to twist my knee off in every possible direction, the doctor-lady said I likely have a small tear to the lateral meniscus. The first thing she said when she figured this out was "good news is you don't need surgery!" which hadn't even occurred to me. Treatment is not to do any deep-knee bends for awhile, put heat on it, and to try to strengthen the big thigh muscles called the quadriceps, or as Eric puts it "blast my quads". Dude. This is less work than it sounds, however, as it involves sitting at the edge of a chair, sticking my leg straight out, and raising it and lowering it about 6 inches about a billion times. Switch legs and repeat for that stylish symmetrical look.

I also got a flu shot, because they had them lying around and my insurance pays for them.

Then Gordon took me out to lunch at the Domain and he looked at and opined about the Ford Flex, and they gave each of us a gift certificate for a place called Z Gallerie, which was just too precious. I guess I got a gift certificate just for standing around, but it spent fine. I got a peacock Christmas ornament and something for Eric's birthday. And now, I am going bra shopping.