Knees, Knees and More Knees

I was going to write a warm, cuddly Thanksgiving entry on all the friends and visitors and new family members at the apartment.  I was going to talk about the amazing man named Chritian with the horible taste in music who I met in South Africa and who has since stayed with me twice in Cairo as he pregresses along his travels of the world.  I was going to tell of my recent membership on chouchsurfing.com and the two Ukrainians which it brought to our door.  Lastly, I would have written about a good friend, Kathryn “Kat” Sullivan, who has finally chosen to stand up against the vile opression of her apartment mates and will be moving into our apartment over Thanksgiving.  Unfortunally, all this is being set asside for an up date on my knee.

It has know been just over a month since my knee ordeal began.  I have spent most of this time completely unable to walk.  For about two weeks I felt myself slowly getting better, but over the last 4 days my situation has degenerated the level it was it was at during the peek of the swelling, about three weeks ago.  I have lost much of the mobility and ability to support weight that I had slowly been regaining.  The defult state of my knee now, “Oww, aaow, ok… so that also hurts.” As a result I spent yesterday evening at the Salaam Hospital and saw two different doctors.  After a session of pocking and prodding, twisting, bending and extending that almost made me bite through my lip to stop myself from screaming, the doctors made a new diagnosis.  They believe that I ripped or cut something open inside my knee and it has been bleeding into my knee causing it to swell.  Now the blood has coagulated and as it hardens I am loosing mobility in my leg and finding in its place a great deal of pain and discomfort.  I am going to Alfa Scan for a second MRI tomorrow morning, and meeting with one of the two doctors after school.  He will asses how congealed the blood is and whether I need surgery.  I will be in and out of the hospital this week and if necessary I will go for surgery next week.  The doctors say if we do not get the situation resolved soon there could be permanent damage.  I will be able to say more one I get the MRI.  Keep smiling, and never forget to be thankful for something as simple as the ability to walk.  And, if you have a moment, send a shout out on my behalf to someone in the sky with some sway in this world.