Doctors Appointment Recap

This morning I woke up bright and early for my doctors appointment about my knee. I was so nervous that they were going to tell me I needed surgery and I had already ran through my head how no possible time this year would work for surgery (is there ever a good time for a kindergarten teacher to be out of work and then on crutches? probably not!). Fortunately, that is not what it came to.

I got to the appointment and the first thing they did was take some XRays. I have never had XRays except at the dentist but that was pretty straightforward and not too scary. Then I was lead back to my own little room where the doctor would meet me. When the doctor came he talked to me briefly about where the pain was, what triggered it etc. Then he checked out both of my knees and moved both of them around a lot. He said that everything looks good in my XRays except for a small rough patch along, I believe the tendon? (I should always write things down). But that it was nothing to really worry about (but did explain the pain when we press down hard on my knee). He said that he agrees with the patellar tendonitis diagnosis. The weird thing is, both he and my PT both used patellar tendonitis interchangably with patellafemoral. I'm not sure if that's because they are the same (it appears different in my online research though?) or because they don't want to outright say that my original diagnosis was not right. It does not seem like the treatment plan is very different for either one so it probably does not matter.

The doctor today said that my treatment plan so far has been good and that I should continue to go to the Physical Therapy, which I cannot do because insurance will no longer cover it. I just have to make sure I continue with all of the exercises as religiously as I possibly can. He said that I can continue to run but I should cut down a lot from what I was doing. Since right now I am doing no running at all, I'm not sure if cutting down is really possible. He also said that I have to take Advil before and after running and continue to use the knee straps. I am supposed to go back to him in April 2010 if it still hurts and then I will get an MRI. I really hope it does not still hurt then. So basically this appointment confirmed what I already knew, but did make me feel a lot more confident about my diagnosis and not left wondering if I really have a tear that we just do not know about.

The big guest now is what to do next. Clearly he said I can run, so my first instinct was to do the Couch to 5k plan again, so I can slowly build up my stamina both for the sake of my own body (I am not one of those people who can just pick up at run 3 miles again) and because I am sure the knee would do better with a slow and steady return to running. However, I'm wondering if yes I CAN run, but if it would really be better if I did not. I have tried resting the knee for 2 months now (with the exception of about 3 runs) and it has improved by still does not feel 100 percent. Should I continue with the biking, swimming and walking until I am at 100 percent? Will I hinder my progress and end up back at that doctor's in April if I start running again? I really do want to run, believe me, but even more so I really want this knee to get better. I am no expert on tendonitis, but I thought rest was considered the best thing for it. Does anyone have any experience at this?

I have a fun filled day of beauty appointments (in preparation for the next two weeks of weddings) and some tutoring of the kiddos. I'll leave you with some pictures from my weekend in NH with Eric's fam.
1st- Eric and I on the boat...
On the awesome deck with the lake background...
I love summer weekends.