Detour Down South

So... brief detour from my jaw to some place down south.  Not that kind of south.  Get your minds out of the gutter.  ::ehem:: So, for once in the last 2 years, the problem is not my jaw.  Now it's my knees.  Funny,  because when I first started my braces/jaw surgery journey in Feb 2013, I busted my right knee up!  Completely tore the lateral collateral ligament off the outer knee where it connects to the shin bone.  Well, I didn't do anything to it.  Some asshat who thought he could fly better than he really could on our skydive did it to me.  But anywho... back to my jacked knees.  I've had some knee issues all my life pretty much.  It was never enough to stop me in my tracks though.  Just always had achy and creaky knees, even as a child.  The last year or 1.5 years, the knees have become quite achy.  I figured the right one was all bajiggity from the full ligament tear and I was just going to have a sore knee forever.  Then the left one started acting up and I figured it was because I was subconsciously favoring it over the right one when it was healing.  Then I started to get clicking in the left knee really bad, and aches so bad that I couldn't sit for long periods.  Sitting was the worst.  I finally drug myself to my orthopedic surgeon who worked on my knee tear two years before.  Was thinking worst case a little bit of cartilage popped off in the left knee and was causing the clicking.  I really wasn't worried going in to see the doc.  Results were definitely NOT what I was expecting.

What a normal knee xray looks like:

What my knees look like:

Normal knee on an MRI:

My knee:

Both knee caps are subluxed (partially dislocated) towards the outside of the knee.  Maltracking (patella does not float in the middle of the groove it's supposed to and is out of alignment) is a pretty common issue, especially for active females who are wider in the hips like myself, but the distance mine is out is not only not normal, but it puts me in a 'severe' category where I am automatically a surgical patient.  Not just that, but the knee cap is also tilted badly too (can see it in my MRI clearly), which is an automatic kiss of death in terms of getting a card that says "do not pass go, do not collect $200.  You get to go straight to surgery."  A simple maltracking issue can be corrected with some physical therapy to strengthen certain muscle groups to crack a whip and line it all back up, but I don't think it will work for me.  Given the shit storm that was my jaw surgery, you best believe that I am booking not just a second opinion on something now, but a third, fourth, and even fifth opinion.  So, I book 2 other orthopedic surgeons after my first one threw all of this at me.  One was a referral from a friend who's son had some knee work, and the other I found through websites, knee forums, and looking up patella femoral orthopedic specialists (there aren't a lot of them....of course!).  The referral from the friend said he wouldn't even mention PT to me and will talk surgery only.  He was pretty pessimistic and overall super adamant that surgery was my only choice.  The knee specialist I went to go see in San Francisco wasn't as pessimistic, but he didn't try to sell me a unicorn floating over a rainbow bs story either.  I could see in his face that it wasn't really the look of optimism, BUT.... he's willing to try 6 weeks of hart core PT first.  SCORE!  He already had bonus points because out of all of these surgeons, his method to fix this is 100% arthroscpic vs. the other guys who want to butterfly me open and go to town.  I don't care about scars, but it's a shit ton more of recovery time and all.  I'm still looking at getting both jaws broken and all that jazz at the end of this year-- mamma needs to save her sick leave!  Being out for a few months times two for each knee?  Ain't nobody got time for that!

So, now here I am in PT.  Week 1 went well.  I have been pretty sore, but some of it is not just the knees but is the muscles, which is a good thing.  The therapist looked at my MRI though and without hesitating said, "You know PT can't fix this right?"  ::sigh::  So, the consensus seems pretty unanimous that I am in the surgery category.  I've got nothing to loose except for 6 weeks of more time and a few hundred bucks out of my wallet by trying PT.  At least at that point I'll know that I tried and I'll never have to sit and think "wow, I wonder if I could have done OK with just doing PT and no surgery?"  Regardless, my tinfoil hat doctor paranoid ass went ahead and booked a 4th opinion in San Fran on March 17th, which is the same day I follow up with the original San Fran doc after my 6 weeks of PT.  So, we'll see how this goes.  Even though the outlook doesn't look good, I am sure going to try my hardest at PT.  If anything, it's an excuse to tone up and get stronger legs before surgery.  I'll have some hot looking drum sticks by shorts season hopefully ;)