8:46

Yesterday morning, I opened my eyes and felt like I had gotten some good sleep the night before and decided I was going to shift slightly and then get some more sleep. That slight shift caused my knee to pop out. I grabbed my phone and called my Mom. It was 8:46 am. My Nom came over and grabbed my ankle and put her hand on the inside of my knee which is what it takes to pop it back in. Only, my knee did NOT pop back in!

She continued to move my leg around trying to get it to catch but it did not happen. I was in excruciating pain! She called my brother so that I could lay in the backseat of his SUV and he would take me to the hospital. He got here and they transferred me to my manual chair to go to the hospital but I was in so much pain that they stopped and called an ambulance instead.

I couldn’t believe this was happening as explained to Lee in the back of the ambulance the history of my right knee and how it was feeling right now. Our conversation ended as we pulled up to the emergency room and I told him that all I wanted do today was watch some football!

Once in the emergency room as the intake nurse was entering my information into the computer two nurses were getting my vitals and taking my pants and right compression sock off for an x-ray. My speech begin to slur as my stress level rose. The doctor at the local emergency room in Deerborn told me that my x-ray showed that the bones were in line and it looked OK. She was planning on sending me home. Given the amount of extreme pain I was still in, I could not go home feeling this way!

The woman came to our our “room“ who got my pants off once I arrived to talk about discharge but my Mom explained the situation. She completely understood and was going to have an ambulance take us downtown to the emergency room where they had an orthopedic team and could do the MRI today.

After a while, the EMS team came so that is ambulance ride #2. They were going to take me downtown to the ER. Mike rode in the back with me. We discussed football after I gave him all the information regarding past surgeries and my right knee. Even though he was a Spartan, we chose all four of the same teams for this weekend. My speech began to calm down a little bit because I relaxed as we talked about football.

The triage resident, Dr. Washington, explained to my Mom and me that there was NOT an orthopedic team there (only orthopedists on call) and I could NOT get an MRI today. He did not see anything emergent in my case but still wanted to get another x-ray though. When he looked at my knee, he asked about my ACL scar and I told him that Dr. Anderson had done it in 2000 when he worked at Henry Ford. That was the ER I was at. He did not know Dr. Anderson but he had heard of him. Dr. Anderson no longer works there but is the Lions’ doctor. I told him that Dr. Frush performed my meniscus repair at the same time he was the Pistons’ doctor. I told him that my knee is famous!

Dr. Washington had a Michigan lanyard around his neck that I commented on when he first came in. I found myself relaxing and my speech getting better. I was glad that he ordered another x-ray because my knee was still KILLING me! Before he left, he told me to follow up and get an MRI in clinic.

When I was taken back into the ER, I could feel my throat tightening and it getting more difficult to speak. Anyone who came into my room, I explained that I was not drunk or on drugs but that I had MS so I could not speak well because I was stressed. My brain was working a lot faster than my mouth was able to communicate. My Mom also helped me speak to the doctors.

The very pregnant doctor in the ER reiterated the fact that I need to follow up and get an MRI just like Dr. Washington had said. Because I was still in so much pain, I got a ride home again from the hospital. Before yesterday, I think I was only in an ambulance one other time but now I was in an ambulance three times in one day! And two of those times, I didn’t even have pants on!

I woke up this morning at 8:50 am. It was 24 hours and four minutes that my knee was KILLING me! My speech is NOT much better today either and tomorrow I will call Dr. Moore’s office first thing in the morning! As for Mike and my football teams, we were two for four. 50%. That’s still an. “F.” My knee hurts so much and it took FOREVER for me to write this post because my speech is STILL wonky!