updated update...

...on that same bum knee. I had an appt. with the chiro. guy on Tuesday afternoon. Not sure how well it works, or even if I think it is beneficial at all. I do believe in the power of the placebo effect, and personally convinced there are times when you can benefit from just the idea of  believing something is beneficial.

So I went on Tuesday, as you might expect, he wants me to come back. Twice a week for 'adjusting' then we will see how it goes from there. I'm feeling compelled to give it a chance, knowing that all this limping about has definitely altered my gait, and altered the way I walk, bringing about another set of problems. Feelin like the 'favoring' of the disadvantaged knee has already begun to cause stress and strain elsewhere in my person.

But then I had an appt. with the orthopedic clinic today, a return visit to the specialty-parts guy I have seen several times since the first of the year. I made the appt. a couple of weeks ago, after lying in bed, awake, far too long one dark night. And pondering the universe, along with my aching joints. Decided it is crazy for me to continue to self-medicate and think I can continue along this route for another twenty or thirty years. Concluding that the constant application of generic Tylenol daily for the next several decades does not seem like the best path.  Similar to that  quote about grudges: 'holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die'. I know it need to be doing something that really has an impact, instead of obliviously going about treating the symptoms.

I got in the little cubicle and told him I wanted to talk about options. He suggested he could get a Long, Huge, Scary needle and draw some of the fluid off the knee that has been inflamed/swollen since January. And insert some cortisone with another Long, Huge, Scary needle.

It was like a lamb (Me!) to the slaughter. I laid down on the table, and they swabbed my knee with Lidocaine, and proceeded. It was Amazing. He used two of the little vessels/containers that snap onto the Long, Huge, Scary needle and pulled about 45 cc of yellow colored liquid (called synovial fluid) off. It looked remarkably like cooking oil, about the color of olive oil, and the same consistency. The poked me again to put in cortisone. Not nearly as excruciating as I remember from last time, back in January.

Wrapped it in ace bandage and sent me on my way. Thanks to comprehensive medical insurance which probably pays hundreds of dollars for that ten minute procedure and another hundred for ace bandage. I asked for the name of the yellow stuff that was obviously the reason the knee does not bend, work properly. The nurse said it is the result of trauma, and after googling find it is normal in joints, serving as a lubricant, but has apparently built up to the point of being detrimental in excess.