The Diagnosis

About 2 weeks after the injury, I stopped doing better. I couldn't squat clear to the ground without extreme pain and there was some definite instability in my knee. The pain centered on the outside of my knee, so I thought for sure I had injured my meniscus (because I'm an expert on the matter... right?).

4 weeks afterwards, I decided I had better check it out. The doctor's assistant pretty much beat the hell out of me at the appointment, and then Dr. Brian Jewell came in to examine me. He said he thought I had injured my meniscus and "tweaked" my ACL, but that the MRI would show for sure.

For the record.... MRI's are the worst. 45 minutes of laying on my back motionless are not my idea of a good time. Also, don't schedule them at 6:30am. Just a horrible idea all around.

So a few days after the MRI, Dr. Jewell confirmed what I had totally disregarded as a possibility. The ACL in my right knee was gone. Despite the fact that my knee had hardly swelled and I was able to continue skiing for a short time, I had, in fact, completely torn it.

My options were simple: 1) Get it surgically repaired, rehab like a maniac and move on with my life or 2) Rehab my knee in the short term and decide at a later date.

After much deliberation, I decided that getting back to basketball and skiing were very important. I also have a wedding coming up and I wanted to be in better condition for my honeymoon than I'm currently in with an injured knee.

May 27, 2010, I will be going under the knife. They figure that by October 9 (my wedding day), I'll be able to enjoy my wedding and, more importantly, my honeymoon without many limitations on what I can do. I can't play basketball or jump out of a plane, but then again I wasn't planning on that to begin with.

I have an appointment on May 7 to get my blood work done, get fitted for a post-op brace, and discuss some surgical options. In the meantime, I'm hitting the diet and exercise like a maniac. There's no better trick to a speedy recovery than good health and fitness beforehand. Here's hoping that holds true.