Post MRI comments...

Well, today was another long one.
A 6am start and the usual pick up of 7.15am, then the drive thru to the clinic in George to get my MRI done.
I was expecting it to be much the same as a CAT scan, but whereas a CAT is done in a few seconds, the MRI takes around 40min.
After the scan was complete, i phoned the bus service, and they picked me up outside the clinic, and i was taken back to the hospital.
I only had about 20min before my physio appointment, so i spoke to Pieter, the quality control manager, and he phoned thru to my physio, and he came down and helped me jump the queue in order to obtain my file.
Then we headed up to the physio rooms, and he set about examining me to see what we had to work with.
He has taken a few of the exercises off the list of one's i was doing, as he said they were a bit too advanced for me at the beginning stages, and has given me a couple of alternative exercises to do to the one's that were giving me pain in my knee.
My next physio appointment is booked in at the township just up the road, so at least i wont have to be going all the way back to George anymore.
Then i was off to sit in the queue to see the specialist with my MRI results.
They were all out on lunch, and i sat and waited about 3h to be seen.
I saw a different doctor this time, a woman specialist, and she told me that she had looked thru the results and found that the only problems they were showing was a small tear to the miniscus on the inside of the knee, and that the titanium pin that was inserted in my tibia, was a bit shallow.
She said that the miniscus tear would never heal itself, but that it was quite possible to carry on a normal life with the tear that i have.
She also said that the tear was not the reason i was feeling pain in my knee.
The shallowly inserted titanium pin may possibly be, coupled with a slight misalignment of the hip fracture changing the dynamics of the leg and putting excess strain on parts of the knee that normally would not have any.
The pin could not be removed until 1 year after the operation, so i will have to wait until October this year in order to have it removed.
Possibly it too may be contributing to the pain, as the head of the pin may just be catching on the knee when it rotates.
But, even with the MRI, they could not pinpoint the exact problem.
So, the prognosis is 12-18 months of physio, and an expected return to functionality of around 80% at best!
Not exactly the news that i had wanted to hear, but then again, it is what it is, and doctors only make educated guesses on these things.
It is very much down to the individual how long the recovery process will take.
So, back to the physio exercises then, and we will see what the future holds in store...