One of the questions on the form was "Have you ever injured your knee?" I answered no, but over a lifetime there are bound to be many injuries, many forgotten, and others not recalled after recovery took place. I know I fell on my knees trying to learn to rollerskate on a pair of hand-me-down rollerskates that strapped on over your shoes, and which also tended to release and throw you down on the concrete. I seriously injured my right knee another time ice skating on frozen backup next to my house, when the tip of my skate caught in a crack on the ice, causing me to twist my leg and fall on my knee. The knee hurt, and remained swollen for quite a while. Another time I fell off a toboggan which ran over my leg, with 4 other people on board; I remember thinking I had broken my leg, but after a while--days or weeks---the swelling went down and I could walk again without pain. I was a passenger in a car which crashed into another and my right knee sheared off a knob under the dashboard, causing my knee to be cut and bruised. But when you're young, injuries heal, and you never think of lasting repercussions.
As years went by, there were several times when a knee or two caused difficulties. On one occasion, I had to visit a doctor because my knee inexplicably swelled up just before a family trip to Florida; the doctor drew out a lot of fluid and prescribed a knee brace, which I wore for a day or so, but definitely not on our trip. I don't remember which knee exactly,but I suspect it was my right knee, again.
Shortly before our 20th class reunion, my knee was bothering me; I can't exactly remember in what manner, but I visited an orthopedist in Troy,who had been recommended by my kids' pediatrician. There I received an injection of some type, probably cortisone, but at the time, I wasn't into medical treatments that much, so didn't connect with the procedure. I do remember it was very, very painful, as if my knee were being nailed to the table. Afterwards, I walked all over Troy trying to find an outfit to wear to the reunion; no luck there, so I drove over to Cohoes Mills and bought a trendy black jumpsuit. The fit was perfect right up to the day of my reunion, when I noticed my stomach was protruding a little, uncharacteristically at the time. I learned later that I should not have been walking on the injected knee at all, much less all over 2 cities. Also, I should not have received the injection : the reunion was in July, and my youngest child was born in February of the following year.
And so it went: my knees would ache the day after I'd been dancing while wearing heels, which of course was the only way to dance back then. They'd swell up when I used to work with kindergarteners and kneel by their desks---no pain, just swelling. The solution was simple: take off shoes while dancing, don't kneel for extended periods. No lasting effects.
Until, that is, the day I was walking into a school, down a longish driveway, and I heard a clicking. I thought I had a stone in the sole of my shoe, but came to realize the sound was coming from my knee. And that was the beginning of trouble. TBC
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