kayla's knee

by kayla
(norfolk, VA)

i dislocated my knee 6 years ago (in 7th grade) playing basketball went to the ER that night and all they did was put me in a immobilzer and sent the xray to my Primary Care doctor and all he said was to wear the immobilzer for 6 weeks... so i was wearing it but my mom didnt think it was healing right so she took me to my doctor and he sent me for an MRI and it came back showing i had alot of fluid in my knee and my bone was all bruised and my pcl was stretched so they sent me to an orthopedic and by the time i got there the fluid went away on its own and they said it was fine

then that summer my knee popped out and went back in on its own and its been doing it ever since every so often (maybe once a month- every couple weeks) and they said that i was normal and i shouldnt have any problems after im 18... well i just learned to deal with it (by my sophomore year it would come out and stay out and i would have to pop it back in myself sometimes)

its been getting really bad since october where all you have to do is barely touch my kneecap and it will come out and since january i have been stuck on the couch cuz i can barley move my knee will come out and i couldnt get into the orthopedic til march 12 (cuz i have to go to a military hospital) and they did an MRI and CT scan and this doctor is saying that i need my whole knee recontructive and that my knee is out of alignment and he is going to have to fix that... but they cant do the surgery til may 27th because they have to have all these special teams there because he said it was a complicated surgery... with all this talk about how he has to have special teams there (which is why he cant do it sooner) and its a very complicated surgery is really starting got scare me alot... im mostly scared of the pain when i wake up... plus i have a 4 month baby i have to take care of and all my family is out of state and none of them can come out here plus i really dont know anyone out here besides people in the navy and they will only let my hubby off the day of the surgery