A Classic Case

I was neither nervous or excited about my follow-up appointment to see Dr. Dye this morning. Honestly, I felt a little numb to the whole thing. Really, what new information about my knee could he possibly tell me? It seemed as though I had heard it all. Well, maybe not. I walked through the door of his medical office a little early expecting to wait. Instead, Dr. Dye's assistant asked me to come right in to an exam room and a few minutes later, Dr. Dye walked through the door. He got right down to it. I've realized in my two short appointments with him that he doesn't waste any time. He talks quickly, but not so quickly that you don't understand what he is explaining. First, he told me the good news. He popped my X-ray and my bone scan films up on the light box and told me my joints look great (good space between the bones, no breakdown of cartilage) and the best part is that the bone scan was clear of any signs of arthritis. Yeah! I wasn't particularly worried about this until Dr. Dye told me 85% of the patients that come to see him have an onset of arthritis that needs to be addressed immediately. I was quite happy to hear I'm one of the small 15% without that issue.

Next, Dr. Dye moved on to the MRI films. In a very confident, matter-of-fact manner he told me, "You have a classic case of Synovitis" and pointed to the many areas on the film showing excess fluid build-up. He said me Synovitis is common and is basically an inflammation of the synovial lining in the knee. Once aggravated, it is very hard to calm down. This is a short online definition I found online:

Synovitis occurs when the synovium, which lines and lubricates the knee joint, becomes inflamed. The condition can be caused by rheumatoid arthritis or injury/trauma, but sometimes the cause is unknown. The inflammation is caused by fluid collection in response to the injury, which is one of the body's protection mechanisms.

Here is a link to additional information, if you are interested:
http://www.knee1.com/care/condition20.cfm/108

After telling me about Synovitis, Dr. Dye told me his next treatment steps. He prescribed a strong anti-inflammatory drug he called his "work horse." Then he said to make sure to ice my knee twice a day for 20 minutes. Finally, he said I should do my best to not do the things I know flare up my knee, such as stairs or squatting. He suggested maybe I could do some swimming or a little light cycling. I'm the only person that knows what is in my "envelope of function" so, it's really up to me. Sounds good, right? Ugh... it took a lot of strength on my part to not burst out and say, "But doctor, I've done all this!" I mentioned that briefly, but kept a majority of the emotion to myself. I felt better when he said to set-up another follow-up appointment in 3-4 weeks so he's not putting me on this regimen for months on end.

On my way to work, I thought more about this initial treatment and it started to make more sense. I am a new patient to Dr. Dye. Even though I've told him my history, he doesn't know me from Adam. If he did not ask me to follow his steps from the beginning (that I am sure he has a great deal of research behind) he would not be doing his do-diligence as a good doctor. I respect this and I will follow his instructions. Besides, maybe the anti-inflammatory he has prescribed will be my magic pill? You never know.

By the way, I didn't ask Dr. Dye anything along the lines of, "What if this doesn't help?" I'll cross that bridge when we come to it next month. For now, I'll just focus on the task at hand. I'll be keeping to a few short lunch walks (no hills) during the week and and maybe an easy swim on the weekends. Fairly light activity that shouldn't bother my knee. Elevators and escalators are my friends. : )