Pondering Knee Swelling

The main question I've heard during the last few days was, "Did your knee swell up again?" This was usually asked, among other questions, when someone at work noticed I was on crutches again. There were many, many hallway knee pain conversations on Thursday and Friday this week. 

Even though this question seems totally logical for anyone to ask, unfortunately, I don't have a clear answer. You see, my knee has been swollen for over 3 years. Ever since the pain began during that long training run back in early March 2006, I've had some semblance of swelling in my knee. It has changed over time and some days it is better than others. Right now, my answer to that question is, "I don't know." The swelling from the surgery had not gone away when the knee pain began and I didn't really expect it to do so. Swelling from surgery takes time to dissipate completely. Haven't we all learned this from watching Dr. 90210? Oh, you don't watch that show? ; ) Well, it can take up to 6 months for swelling to be completely gone. Out of curiosity, I am going to ask Dr. Dye his take on knee swelling from a Synovectomy during our Monday morning appointment. 

Below is a photo I took of my knee today. I'm hoping to keep better track of my progress from here on out. It will be interesting to document whether the swelling goes up or down, depending on my activity level. If I've learned anything in the past week or more, my knee is very sensitive. I've already started taking "resting" to an entirely new level. By the way, don't knees look strange up close? 

4 Weeks Post-Op, March 14, 2009