I've become a huge fan of Ivanka Trump shoes (they're super cute) but very slippery. One rainy day, my foot slid off a curb- it wasn't a far slide, and I'm sure someone without bad knees would have just moved along like nothing happened other than getting a bit of a jolt. Me however, hyper extended my knee. After a week of not being able to walk on it, I went to an Orthopedist to see if maybe I tore something. I went to OAD Orthopedics and I have never been so flabbergasted at a doctor in my life. The Dr spent all of five minutes with me. Looked at my XRays pulled at my knee a bit told me it was a sprain and there was nothing he could do. I asked about a brace he told me their were no better than what I could get at Walgreens. Pain killers- he told me to take something over the counter. I told him I couldn't even walk on the knee- it was just a bad sprain. Crutches? No they weren't necessary either, the joint needed to move not be immobile. If I didnt feel better in 4-6 weeks come back and he'd do an MRI. He said according to my xrays there was arthritis building up in my knee and I'd probably need knee replacement surgery when I was older. Great, but my need is immediate. I literally CAN NOT WALK on my knee without intense pain. And of course, his parting words, "With your knee you shouldn't be running... and at your weight, you shouldn't be doing triathlons anyway."
Um- excuse me? You know- you read all these articles about health care and the cost of obesity on the average person and how expensive it is to insure heavy people etc etc because they never go to the doctors. Given this experience, I can understand why some people wouldn't want to go. Why would they want to when they great universally treated badly simply because they are heavy?
Personally, since I clearly have experience in triathlon and was able to successfully complete them on multiple occasions- wouldn't it be better to take me seriously as an athlete instead of just looking at me as a number?
I get it- I have a really bad knee and triathlon isn't wise for the knee... but he didn't say "because you have a bad knee don't do triathlons" he said "Because of your weight don't do triathlons" and suggested I do something low impact, like swimming.
Which brings me back to the issue at hand. If I can't even WALK - how am I supposed to swim?
This doctors appointment was either three or four weeks ago- Ive lost track now. I was slowly starting to heal, I was even able to walk straight, but the joint still felt unstable like anything would cause it to "go out"... I know there is something wrong with this joint. Twice since then now, just the slightest wrong movement has caused it to "tweak" again - I'm sitting here right now with my leg up and iced because I was sitting in a too-deep chair this morning and tried to get out of it (and it was essentially akin to straightening after doing a deep squat) and putting the slightest weight on it had me in tears.
I'm sending out an S.O.S. I need a recommendation on a knee doctor. Preferably one who also has experience with feet- as I have blogged about before, my left foot turns in slightly - a childhood issue that never corrected itself. I know the two are connected.
If you are in the Chicago area- Western Suburbs preferably, and you know of a doctor who a. will not just see me as a pathetic fat girl with a knee problem... and has helped you with a joint issue- please please let me know. I'm desperate- and any suggestions would be appreciated. I refuse to go back and see Mr. Five Minutes is too much time spent on you- at OAD
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