Current Events

Back in the day is a callow young social studies teacher we were expected to teach something called current events. Considering the low standard of that subject today in Washington DC and elsewhere I'm not sure I would even do it for fear of teaching low morals to my students. Then however I made assignments on the subject that included something called Junior Scholastic. Those were the days my friends....... today however current events for me is a much more personal issue. Here is one of mine.

     Now, for me, a new adventure. It seems some months ago x-rays showed I needed a new right knee. I’ve been delaying it on the grounds that hospitalization and rehab might keep me from other duties involving Mrs. T. Early last week the pain in my damaged  right knee began increasing, so I made an appointment with  my primary care guy to discuss new options for proposed surgery. It seems, the  night before for that appointment I’d had a very painful  time with my knee and in the morning I had to lift my right leg over the side of the bed to stand up. And I couldn’t. I ended up crawling to the kitchen or perhaps shuffling on my back to get to the phone and call friends to take me to see my doctor that morning. With some help and Barb’s old walker from her knee surgery I made it to the clinic. There Dr. B. and I discussed options for immediate knee replacement. During that discussion I said I thought my leg was bent to the right at an angle. So he looked and found it very swollen and I rated it as the 9.7 on the  10 point pain scale. 6 ounces of fluid were then  withdrawn from the knee and he talked about a likely infection. Blood samples were sent to Olmsted in Rochester and an interminable wait began. The next morning there was no sign of an infection it was something else. More tests more results and finally a conclusion. Something Dr. B had only seen twice before as a Dr. and he told me mine was by far the worst case he’d ever seen. The name, unknown to most people, is simply pseudo gout. I can explain how it’s different from regular gout but apparently the symptoms of extreme pain in arthritic joints, and swelling particularly the knee are the the same. So so he sent me home with a shot,

 a simple cortisone shot and I went to bed hoping for the best. A good nights sleep I got up painless and did a jig all the way to the kitchen with a big smile on my face. The prognosis is that its not likely to come back but it could and on those thoughts and not at all worried. The end.

be well friends, after a two week hiatus I’m back on the Internet Troutbirder with my friend Dragon.

Catch you later, Ray