Finally Getting somewhere!!

Sorry I haven't written anything in quite some time but there really wasn't anything to blog about!!

So after three weeks of physical therapy Preston and I started having conversations as to what we were going to accept from my upcoming Dr. visit from the Ortho which was today.  We decided enough is enough.  I have been dealing with this knee since June and have been doing physical therapy on base for 5 months now.  If I am going to need surgery lets just do it or give me something that is actually going to work.  Well at my appointment I voiced my opinion and told the Dr. that I don't want to any quick fix things that I will have to keep coming back again and again.  I told him that we have been trying to get pregnant for 2 yrs now and we really want to do the IUI next month.  I think he finally understood my urgency this time because he gave me a new knee brace and told me to come back in one week to see if the brace, pt, and patches were working.

Regardless its finally official we are doing the IUI next month and right now I am feeling excited about it!  I am sure the day before I go in for my 1st visit I will have sleepless night and google everything I can think of.  I am really trying not to be such a pessimistic person when thinking and talking about the IUI.  I really want to believe that it will work and we will be writing happy posts on here about our growing family.

So fingers crossed the next blog I write will be about the IUI process.

-Kate

Yet another set back

So for those of you who don't know I had surgery on my knee back in September.  After 4 long months of physical therapy I was told to see my orthopedic surgen because I am still having issues with my knee.  I surprisingly was able to get an appointment to see my Dr this morning (I called Friday afternoon for the appointment).  Normally it takes a good week to 2 weeks to be able to get in and see him because that clinic is always busy.

After examining, poking, and prodding my knee he comes to a consensus about what is going on with it. He believes the reason I am having pain in the soft tissue area of my knee is because my fat pad (yes you read correctly) is being pinched and that is what is causing the pain in my knee.  Also since my knee is still registering pain it has caused my quad to not fully fire back up after surgery. You can look at my legs and see that one is smaller than the other.  Typically when you have a meniscus surgery they trim up and smooth out everything they see that looks rough.  So the Dr did trim my fat pad but apparently it wasn't enough.  So I have 3 options in order to make things possibly better.

1) Continue PT through the gym program (different from what I did the last 4 months) 2 days a week, 3 days a week with a steroid pad after therapy and one day on my own since PT is only 2 days a week, naproxen 2x a day, ice massage my knee 15 mins twice a day, and wear a patellar band on my knee.

2) Everything from number one above plus a cortisone shot in my knee to see if the inflammation will go down which hopefully triggers my quad to re-fire back up.

3) SURGERY. :( Going back in and trimming down the fat pad some more.  Hoping that we don't have to get to this point.

After hearing all these lovely options and being told that I need to come back in 3 weeks for a follow up I threw out the "were having fertility issues" statement.  All I could think about when he was telling me all these options is great yet another set back!  Basically my Dr. suggested without coming out and saying it is to wait on the IUI treatment.

Preston and I agree with that decision.  I don't want to get pregnant while we are trying to fix my knee issues.  Literally when I go for a walk with Preston and Peytin my knee gives way at least 4-5 times in a 10 min walk.  It is painful to go up and downstairs, kneel on the ground, or to squat.  I can't even imagine trying to do any of that with pregnancy weight.  My fear is that my knee will give way while I am pregnant and I will fall and either hurt myself or the baby.  I also don't want to wait till after we have a baby (if we do get pregnant) to finish PT or even surgery.  I don't want to be down for the count at that point.

So our IUI treatment is on hold for the moment.

-Kate