I know with certainty the exact moment when my meniscus tore last May. I was running down a steep trail in Wellington, just outside the mammal fence around the Karori Bird Sanctuary, after a long run up past the Hawkins Hill radar station. I took a longer step than usual, not a leap but a big stride downwards with my right leg while turning my body towards the left, twisting and forceful. My foot was planted, the knee bent and there was a slight pop inside of my right knee. No pain, no sting or jab, just a wierd feeling that something had just gone terribly wrong. I clearly remember thinking that if my knee should start to hurt, this would have been the moment that it was injured.
Sure enough, on my next long run, about an hour into the run, heading downhill the knee started to ache. Then, the next day, as I was heading out for a long run up a steep path, I just couldn't get any push from my right knee. So, I stopped and walked back home, poured a big glass of wine and decided that I would have to stop running for a bit to let my knee recover.
The problem, which I did not know at the time, is that I had torn my meniscus in an area inside of my knee that does not have its own blood supply and does not heal like other parts of the body. That little piece of torn cartilage was causing irritation there, loose within the synovial fluid. No amount of rest would ever keep it from hurting when I ran on unever surfaces, went up or down stairs or ran on the flats for long distances. However, at the time I figured that if I stopped running, it just might heal.
Luckily, the tear was not in a place that was irritated by my seated pedal stroke on the bike. So, I did a couple thousand kilometers of riding and the only pain was when I would climb, out of the saddle, rocking the bike back and forth for long periods going uphill. But I didn't run during July, August and only started running again in September on the flats and treadmill.
By September, four months after the "pop," I had done enough research and was in enough pain even on the flats to figure it was time to see an orthopedic surgeon to try and figure out what was wrong. Jeff Buckner, my friend and physician, recommended a pair of doctors and I chose Dr. Stephen Silver, a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon at Lennox Hill Hospital here in New York. Silver examined my knee and said that I probably had a torn meniscus and that this could be repaired by "scoping it." Two weeks later, I was on the operating table for arthroscopic surgery, looking up at the bright lights and masked face of the anesthesiologist as I lost conciousness. Two hours later I was sipping cranberry juice in the post-op room, and my knee was wrapped in compression bandages.
Silver's diagnosis had been right on and he had repaired and removed a torn meniscus, which is the same thing as cartilage. With a fiber optic arthroscope going in one eighth inch hole and surgical instruments going into another hole, he poked around inside the knee joint that had opened up by pumping in saline solution. At 7:30 am the surgery began and by 9:30, I was walking out of the hospital and into a cab with Collette, my office assistant, who came to get me since the hospital could not release me on my own due to some silly state law.
I spent the rest of the day fairly prone, sometimes with two pillows under my ankle to get the knee straight and sometime in my easy chair. Since I was taking Vicoden for the pain, I figured that it wouldn't be a good idea to write any emails under the influence. "Friends don't let friends email on painkillers."
Today, one day later, I was able to remove the bandages. Just two tiny holes and stitches
Things are going well so far although the knee is pretty swollen. Under doctor's orders, I spent a half hour on the stationary bike this morning, pedaling with no resistance. I'm able to walk normally, although there is still some pain. I'm icing it several times a day and still taking some pain killers. But, this afternoon, I tried the stairs and was able to walk down stairs and, although the knee hurts a bit from the surgery, the pain that I had been having from the torn meniscus is gone.
So, for the time being, I'll take the recovery one day at a time. When I spoke with Silver on the phone this evening, he said that I should take it easy coming back and that I would know when it would be the right time to cycle and run again. He said that nothing was injured and so there is nothing that needs to heal, so I should be able to resume normal activities rather quickly. My stiches come out in about ten days.
