7/1/2022

On Wednesday I called out because walking was painful and awkward. A little past 8:30 in the morning I called the orthopedist office to set an appointment, my orthopedist wasn't available but I brought up that I'll be happy to see anyone. Two hours later I had an appointment much to my relief, took a bird bath with baby wipes so I wouldn't offend since a shower is a near-impossiblity with a gimp knee, and headed to Toms River. Leah gave me crutches but they were only good for someone who was 5'10" upon further inspection. I chuckled inside when she said that someone else had used them and the phrasing seemed to be a kindness on her part knowing I'm still fucked up over the separation and divorce. My humor was, "Oh man, she lent these to whomever she's seeing and their height begins with a five." I did make sidelong comments of, "Gosh, I'm glad that I'm tall."

Despite being 6'2", the crutches made for a decent cane and gave me confidence to cross the parking lot into the office. Seven people in the waiting room weren't wearing masks, everyone else was including me. One guy had his honker hanging out over his mask. Jesus Christ, you're in a place full of sick people who may be immunocompromised. How fucking dare you be so selfish?
My annoyance was short lived, the doctor saw me tout de suite and showed me an MRI was going to be requested unlike my first visit when my left knee was giving me a hard time. He numbed my knee, froze it a little, drew almost 200 ml of fluid from my knee and my knee despite it didn't even look bloated, and this was followed by a cortisone shot. Doc determined my lateral meniscus was the culprit of the discomfort, but a MRI would confirm the supposition and determine how bad off it is.

An hour later I had a doctor's note for my employer since I've missed a lot of time this year from my various injuries, along with my MRI script and a business card for a nearby MRI outfit.

Unlike steroids, cortisone doesn't work right away and could be a few days a'fore I feel human and pain-free again. Thing is I went online to search up info about cortisone, scared myself a bit, felt a spiral, then phoned up my friend in Matawan. We haven't spoken on the phone in more than a year, just keeping it to brief texts and because Matawan is a medical professional they gave me advice on the cortisone shot. They agreed searching online for medical information is always a bad idea and essentially meaningless without the advice from someone in the business. Back in the day Matawan received cortisone shots for their knees, found they helped out a lot, and was able to speak from personal experience. Since I just popped four ibuprofen and I'm icing my knee (almost wrote ankle out of habit), I feel pretty good and that's fuelling hope in my head.

My fingers are crossed. 🤞