Knee Injury

It was my first time back to the youth group with the Students. We normally have about an hour to hang out, play games, and talk. We were playing volleyball and I jumped up to hit the ball, fully extending my left leg. When I came down the leg was still fully extended and it twisted out of place, then right back into it's place. That hurt! It started to swell up minutes later so I had someone get some ice for me. After about 20 minutes, I started to feel light-headed, so I had Brad Pembleton who was visiting us, take me home. I rested the leg, put ice on it, and elevated it for a while. It continued to swell.

My first chance to see a Dr. was the following Friday. Great Doctor. He tested my knee twisting it around trying to bend it ways it shouldn't bend and found where the pain is (go figure). He immediately called it a Medial Meniscus Tear and wouldn't know how severe it was until he was able to look at it with an arthroscope.

I began to do some research on the internet and found a couple of sites about Knee Injuries and Meniscus Tears that supported what he had explained to me. I had pretty good confidence this guy knew what he was talking about. It is his specialty.

Twenty years ago when I blew out my right knee, I never got a "second opinion" and when the Dr. finally did the arthroscopic surgery, he found out that it wasn't just a sprain but an ACL tear, much more serious! I waited 9 months to have that surgery because of the original diagnosis.

So, I decided that I would have a "second opinion" this time and we went to see him last night. Great Doctor also. He took out of my knee over 50ml of water to take some of the pressure away--one reason I was unable to bend it very well. He found that the medial collateral ligament was slightly damaged, but nothing serious. He hesitated to say that it was the meniscus and asked me to come back in two weeks after taking some pain and anti inflammatory medication.

Is the first Dr. that good to know that it is the Meniscus and there is no need for a second visit, but surgery is needed to find out more?

Is the second Dr. taking wise precautions in case surgery is unneeded?

If I go with the first Dr., I could probably have surgery next Monday which would give great time for healing before all the Christmas and New Years events.

If I go with the second Dr. and later suggests that I need surgery, that's pushing surgery back to the first week of January...that's possibly another two months on crutches!