A Case of the Mondays

Monday I had a second MRI done on my knee, and I maintained my perfect streak of falling asleep in the process. I can see how someone with claustrophobia issues would find the experience terrifying, but I find the electronic buzzes and clicks oddly hypnotic. But reason I write is that I totally forgot about the appointment until I got to work, at which point I had to turn right around and leave for the "medical plaza," or whatever it's called here. I walked into the radiology department right on time and went to the window the lady says "Can I help you?"
"I'm here for an MRI on my knee" I say.
"Do you have your paperwork?"

Paperwork? At the Orthopedist last week they gave me a single piece of paper that was essentially a handout which said "Go downstairs and get an MRI." It had generic hints like "Inform technician of any medical implants," but other than that I thought it was for my information only. Yeah, I should've brought it, and this was all my fault. I explained this to the lady.

"Do you really need that paper?" I asked.

She replied with incredible sarcasm (and alot of attitude, which wasn't surprising coming from a 40-something woman with a nose ring) "The paper from your doctor that tells us what you need and how to do it? Uh, yeah. We're going to need that."

Long story short, I had to drive home and get it. I set the trip odometer so I could know exactly what my negligence cost me. The damage? 21 miles and 45 minutes of totally worthless driving. But this all went from highly annoying to funny once I retrieved this extremely vital sheet of paper with the doctor's invaluable instructions: It was just a generic handout with a square in which my doctor had written the words without which no images could be magnetically resonanced. They were, and I quote: "MRI Right Knee."

So now it's been so long since I started this post, I can update it with my follow-up with the orthopedist. I had to drive up to his Waldorf office (another long and annoying story that's not my fault), but when I got there we sat down in front of one of those X-ray viewer things (he prefers the physical films as opposed to the CD- I guess it's all the same, right?) and took a look. He said a lot of things like "Oh that's a good looking meniscus, no tears or rough edges" and "Oh my yes those tendons look good." I think he concluded with "That, sir, is a beautiful looking knee." This is all well and good, except for one thing: it still hurts if I try to run. I asked "Well, then what's wrong?" to which he replied "Something that doesn't show up on an MRI" which backs up Dr. McCardel. He referred me to an orthopedist in Georgetown that deals exclusively with runners. When he said that I realized that most of his clientele aren't there for sports injuries- which should have been apparent when I noticed I was the only patient navigating the hallways under my own power. Really- the waiting room is like a 2-to-1 chair-to-hoveround ratio. So, we'll see if Dr. Georgetown has any new insight.

For what it's worth, I did run 5 miles yesterday (on my favorite running trail in Ft. Worth). My legs are really sore and I have some killer blisters, but my knee feels okay! But lemme tell you, I'm going to have to shape up if I want to be competetive for my last year in the 20-29 category- that year off has cost me some speed.