Thread: I was writing the ad to sell my touring gear

...in my head the minute I hit the ground.

I did not just hurt myself going uphill. A couple hundred yards from the ridge and a quick ski down Emma's and we would be back at the truck. A minute ago we were minutes from the truck and all of the sudden it was a million miles away. I had planted my left ski and moved my right around the switchback and CRUNCH - next thing I know, I'm face down in the snow with horrible searing pain in my right knee. And I'm stuck. I can't move that leg at all and moving the rest of my body is putting more pressure on it. Shit. Now Mr.AG is yelling at me from above to just get up, which isn't happening.

I finally managed to get my ski popped off and roll over to assess the damage. Can't put any weight on it, can't straighten it. At least with my last meniscus tear I could weight it when it was bent and ski, but I can't weight this one AT ALL. Even picking it up hurts and any pressure is out of control pain. Lateral movement or pressure is pure misery. We sat there for a few minutes brainstorming how in the hell I could make it up 4 more switchbacks in the skintrack on one leg. For that matter, how in the hell was I going to skin uphill on one leg to even get to the first one? And then, how am I skiing down the sun and wind affected south-facing slope to get back to the truck on one leg? Stump pointed out that if we just skied down the Silver Fork drainage it would at least be downhill pretty much all the way and if I could do that on one leg he could go get the car and pick us up. And the snow was better on this side.

So that seemed like the best option. Got my skis back on and Mr.AG sideslipped a path through the pow ahead of me (my senses were coming back because this waste of good snow seemed like a tragedy). It was so tempting to just try and ski it on one leg but couldn't imagine the pain if I fell on my right leg. Or worse yet, what if I screw my other knee in the process? Ugh. I kept sideslipping. And getting my ski stuck under the snow with no option but to hop with all my strength to get it unburied again.

We finally made it down to the lower skintrack coming out of the drainage where it looked pretty flat, and switched to Mr.AG snowplowing down the skintrack with me holding on to his pack with my arms braced to stay off of his skis. Which moved faster but was absolutely terrifying from my standpoint of not being able to see where in the hell we were going. When there were sections that had an uphill or long flat runout we finally started making some ground as I could cruise it on one leg. I've never felt my leg muscles scream so much from lactic acid in my life (3 days later now and my calf is still in knots). When we got to uphill sections, we attached a strap onto Mr.AG's pack and he towed me behind him while I poled with one arm. At this point I was still thoroughly miserable, but maybe it was realizing that we were going to make it home without calling for help made me feel better because I changed my mind and decided I was looking forward to getting back out there again and there was no way I was getting rid of the touring gear.

A couple hours after my injury, we finally got down to the road going to the cabins just below Solitude and met up with Stump, drove back to get the truck from LCC and went home. Where I realized that we lent the crutches to MacDaddy and I couldn't find his phone number. Ugh. (Luckily Xover stopped by and had his number and he brought them over later in the evening. Thanks guys!)

I pretty much knew it was medial meniscus from the start. I'd suspected some minor meniscus damage recently since I've been having some little shooting pains here and there and temporary swelling after it crunched when my toe slipped on an icy step while hiking Eddies a few weeks ago. It just picked a fairly miserable time to decide to flip out of place and lock up my knee.

So I spent Sunday sitting on the couch popping Lortabs (this all happened Saturday). And went in to my ortho's office this morning when they opened and told the receptionist that I'd just sit in the waiting room until they could see me today. They did x-rays, I saw my ortho who confirmed that he's 99% certain it's a medial meniscus buckethandle tear and my ACL feels good. He offered an MRI, but said he's going out of town for a conference later this week, so he could do surgery tomorrow (Tuesday) or next week. I don't see any point in an MRI - I can't straighten it, so he's going to have to clean it out regardless of what it says on the MRI, so he's scoping it in the morning. At least it's getting done fast.

It took me a while to write this because honestly, I'm so damn sick of writing about, talking about, and dealing with my knees. But I gues now at least my knees will be perfectly symmetrical. 1 ACL and 1 meniscus tear on each. But it's getting taken care of tomorrow and it'll be fine. Rehab will depend on what he finds in there, but having done this before, it wasn't bad at all. Fingers crossed that it goes well with this knee too!

sounds like a horrible experience but let's hope it is "just" the meniscus and you're back on it soon

++ vibes ++ and a swift recovery

Originally Posted by altagirl

I pretty much knew it was medial meniscus from the start.

ohhh that sucks! girl, you really know WAY too much about knee ligament injuries.

Good luck on a speedy recovery!

Originally Posted by fez

ohhh that sucks! girl, you really know WAY too much about knee ligament injuries.

Good luck on a speedy recovery!

Heh. Technically the meniscus isn't a ligament. But I was on the phone with Inspector Gadget over the weekend and then yesterday he called and asked the diagnosis and I told him and he said "Oh, I thought that was just the self-diagnosis". Well, yeah. But I've done it before - I knew. It would be nicer if I didn't, though.

Sorry to hear! Get well soon so you can do some riding this summer!

Oh that sucks!

++++++ VIBES ++++++

I am sorry to hear this happened again, AG. I have been reading your other knee diaries as inspiration for my mishap Saturday, and it turns out I wasn't alone that day.

As far as I have read there were 5+ knee injuries to someone from or related to this board on Saturday. It was a bad day.

Heal well and quickly....

Wow... That really sucks. Hope your recovery goes well.

Wow, AG, that really sucks, I'm so bummed for you. Having done both ACL's myself, it is just so frustrating when you know the diagnosis before you even see the doc. I know you'll hang in there though and get through this just like the other ones. Hopefully it's minor and you'll be back at it soon enough.

[QUOTE=altagirl I don't see any point in an MRI - I can't straighten it, so he's going to have to clean it out regardless of what it says on the MRI, so he's scoping it in the morning. At least it's getting done fast.[/QUOTE]


Really? I'm 3 weeks down, still can't straighten my leg, but getting very close (although I can easily put weight on now, I couldn't for 1 week). It's been a long road, but I'm thinking I won't need surgery and my meniscus may still be intact. Am I kidding myself?

Good luck with yours!

wow that sucks. Good luck with the recovery and keep with the positive attitude!

Shit-Fuck ! So sorry to hear
Best of luck with the surgery, and rehab.
What a crappy season, injury wise, this year is

Sounds bad. Re-curring and all.
Will you have to wait until next season, to make turns ?
Is Oz/Nz/S-Am looking good for the summer ?
Eat a bunch of yogurt. Soon you'll be well. Good Luck.

AG - positive vibes, stay strong.

Bummer C. Hoping it's just a meniscus tear and a small one at that.

I'm so sorry to hear that AG! Get better asap and keep your head up. You'll get through this one too.

Damn AG.... here you were helping out with us other gimps last week....... now it happened to you.
Good thoughts being sent your way....... hope it all goes well. Well I know it will, you're a trooper!
Heal fast!!!

Noooo! So bummed to hear this news and hope the procedure went well and you're already on your way to recovery!

Here's to a speedy recovery.

Thanks all! I just got home from the hospital. He was able to repair it and said it's in a spot that he's at least 90% sure it will heal well. So it has two biodegradeable darts in it. He said to stick with toe-touch weight bearing on the crutches until I see him next week and then ease off of them. No serious ROM work for a while to let it heal. He also did some work cleaning up the back of my patella (again). ACL looks good. And interestingly - we were having the vascularization of allografts before - it looks like you can see blood vessels in the graft. So that's cool.

Mr.AG just got home with my new lortab prescription. Yay! And he's cooking me dinner. I'm hungry as hell since I haven't eaten all day.

sorry to hear that AG. time to break out the 'knees blow' sweatshirt as you kick PTs ass.

Originally Posted by scoober

sorry to hear that AG. time to break out the 'knees blow' sweatshirt as you kick PTs ass.

Funny you mention that - I wore it to the hospital today.

So..... why were you trying to sell your touring gear. Seems to me a silly thing to do.

Originally Posted by Beaver

So..... why were you trying to sell your touring gear. Seems to me a silly thing to do.

Pure frustration. I didn't wreck, didn't do anything "wrong". Just did a normal turn around a switchback and the next thing I know I'm trying to figure out how the hell I'm going to get home. Just that momentary "Screw this, I quit." I changed my mind pretty quick, though. But that was the first thing that crossed my mind when I realized I couldn't get up.