In mid-November 2011 Eric and I were throwing the football in the yard when I stretched for a pass and felt a tweak in my right knee – nothing serious. There was no real swelling but it ached for the following few days and I took some time off from wallyball & volleyball.
Conveniently, I had a general checkup with my family doctor the following week and I mentioned it to him. He checked it out and put me through range of motions tests finally declaring that he thought I sprained my MCL. He declared “these things can take some time to fully heal – 6 to 8 weeks. Wear a knee brace if you are doing anything strenuous.”
I rode the exercise cycle and I took some more time off volleyball & wallyball, bought a decent knee brace and started playing in a limited manner after another month or so.
My knee behaved sporadically. Some days there was no pain, other days minor things like standing a lot would trigger pain. I would walk across the road with it being a little achy and sometimes the pain would go away – other times it would intensify but then recede.
In mid-January I went to Poland to play a couple hours of pickup volleyball. After 90 minutes I jumped for a block on Mike Spadaro’s hit on game point and came down re-tweaking my knee. There was swelling the next morning and I decided to call Hamilton Orthopedic Surgeons.
Surprisingly, I got an appointment the next week. They took x-rays determined that I had a sprained MCL and told me to wait another 6-8 weeks. If it didn’t clear up then I should come back for a cortisone shot.
Last Friday I decided enough was enough and scheduled a follow up appointment. Amazingly there was an 8am slot which I took. I made the drive to Hamilton where they gave me a shot of Lidocaine for short term numbness and pain relief and cortisone for longer term inflammation and pain relief. The Lidocaine provided immediate relief all day long making me think I should have asked for a shot in both knees. The cortisone caused some heat flashes during the night but otherwise the jury is still out.