I finally went to the orthopedist today about my knee.
It was a really nice office . . . one of the nicest doctor’s offices I have been to in a while. They did X-rays on my knee before I saw the doctor. And they gave me awful shorts to wear for the X-rays and doctor’s exam.
I have no idea what these things were made out of, but they were the most unflattering shorts I have ever worn.
After the doctor did some X-rays, he determined that I have arthritis in my knee. I’m not going to lie, the diagnosis made me feel like an old lady. But I’m really glad I know what’s going on. So he drained most of the fluid from my knee (though it still looks kind of big) and he gave me a prescription for some medicine that would help with the rest of the fluid.
He also gave me a knee brace to wear that is about as unflattering as the shorts.
He did recommend a little physical therapy as well. As for the Peachtree Road Race that I am signed up for (which is July 4th by the way), he said that I should be up and running again by the end of this month or the middle of May at the latest. That should give me time to train for the race, which is a 10K.
He did say something that I have known for a while: I should not use running as my sole form of exercise. He said I shouldn’t plan on running any marathons any time soon. He did say that the Peachtree (or the occasional 5K) would be okay. I’m a little bummed by this because I would have loved to do at least a half marathon. But honestly, I’m not letting myself get too bothered by it. There is no reason that I can’t be healthy and active even though I’m not running on a regular basis. I am just happy that I know what’s wrong with my knee. I will trust my body (and the doctor) and do what I can to take care of it.
And can I just make one rant about doctors’ offices in general? Why is it that every single doctor seems to be located in a parking garage where you have to pay? Most of them require you to only be parked for 20 minutes or less so that you don’t have to pay anything. When have you ever been done with a doctor in under half an hour? To make matters worse, this one took cash only and there were no signs stating this. Thank goodness I happened to have some cash on me. Haven’t they gotten enough of my money?
Okay, that’s my rant for the day. Just a minor annoyance in an otherwise pleasant day off.