Joan on the Road...of Life

I learned a new word last weekend, meniscus, and I don't like it. The meniscus is spongy stuff in the knee joint that cushions the knee when we walk. Looks like I may have a tear in mine :(. I've been gimping around since early July when something happened, don't remember what, and my knee has been very painful. Dr. Steve worked on it a lot and got it 80% better. On Saturday he did a little ortho test that points to a tear or loose flap of the meniscus giving me pain....and he can't fix that. He felt bad and so did I :(

So I've been bummed out about that and trying to decide what to do. The steps are to see an orthopedic surgeon who will probably order an MRI. That will show if there's a tear. Then some kind of surgery to fix it would probably be indicated. This is not big deal knee surgery. Usually it is artheroscopic, out patient stuff. But I'm such a woos with things like this...I get really bummed.

In this traveling life it's hard to know what to do in a case like this because there's some recovery time when traveling is not good. So...options....stay in Missoula near Laura and Steve, go to Illinois where my parents are, go back to CA where Renee and Jim are.

We've decided to stay here at Jim and Mary's RV Park in Missoula to get things checked out. If surgery is required, we can still comfortably stay here for a month. Why? In Illinois there is no really good place to plop down and stay for a long time. We have to dump the sewer every 6 days and are not set up with the blue tank or macerator to make that easier. Back in Hemet, CA it is just tooooo hot! And it seems like any doctor we want is an hour or two away. Here in Missoula we can stay parked for however long we need, the docs and clinic are close, the weather is good and Dr. Steve is here to help me make decisions and check ups afterwards.

I stewed on this for 5 days and woke up in a panic yesterday thinking all doom and gloom. After a few cups of coffee and explaining to Jim how I was feeling, we sorted out and analyzed options and made our decision. We extended our stay here for 10 days, made the doc appointment and then I relaxed.

Jim went shopping and brought home pizza and beer for supper. I watched a few old reruns of Law and Order then went to bed and slept for 12 hours. I know...in the whole scope of human affairs my little aching knee is nothing. Today I can look at it that way and having made some decisions we'll just "git er done".