Where'd That Knee Go?

So yesterday, after a long, boring day at work. TimmyTim and I met up at the gym to play Racquetball...

Probably fifteen minutes in I went after a hard hit ball in the corner, planted my feet, and crushed the hell out of the ball. While pivoting to hit it, my knee decided to stop working. It buckled, and I dropped. I got up, tried to put pressure on it, and just fell again. The pain was amazing. Probably the most intense thing that I have ever felt in my entire life. Time, 7:30PM.

So I hoped my way out to TimmyTim's truck, with him acting as a human crutch, and off we go to the hospital. I elected to wait longer to go to a hospital that I prefer and TT agreed.

We get there and there were a lot of people in the Emergency Room. I guess that last night was the night to get hurt. Even with the crowd, the check in was quick, and we were told to go to the rapid care office on the other side of the entrance. This is about 8:15PM.

Rapid care is apparently nothing rapid at all. We watched the end of Big Brother, and then the
entire episode of CSI. Just me, my wheelie chair, and my cold packs. TT was relaxing in a chair, and I have to say, the time just flew by. I really like that show...

After CSI (10:00PM) we flipped over to Sportscenter, and were chatting with the people in the waiting room. This guy comes out of the door (patient) and walks toward the exit. Not paying attention, he walks directly into my outstretched leg... I swear to God, if I hadn't been confined to that chair I would have beaten him to death for causing me that kind if pain. He looks down, and keeps walking to the exit. Leave it to TT...

TT - "Hey, tell me that you're at least going to appologize for hitting him directly in the leg?"

Douche- *shrugs*

And off he walks out the door. I would have said something, but I was just focusing on working through the pain.

TT was pissed, and one of the ladies in the waiting room made a comment about it as well. I assured them that I was fine, and I let it go. Whatever, the guy looked like a complete waste of resources, and kicking some douche's ass with my one good leg would have proven nothing. But it got better... The guy comes back in and walks directly to the restroom. Leaving the restroom he turns to TT (not me) and says, "you might think about turning him so that his leg isn't in people's way," and before TT could even respond he was out the door and into his ride, a delightful Toyota POS. Thankfully his windows were down.

TT - *opens the door* "HEY, THANKS A BUNCH FOR THE ADVICE. GOOD LUCK BEING A DICK!"

And everyone in the waiting room laughed it off.

Finally at 11:00PM they call me in. Within an hour, they had four X-Rays taken, and I'm waiting patiently in the room for the doc. It's now just past midnight. And by the grace of God, someone shows up with some pain killers for me. A delightful little concoction called Percocet, which is an old Latin term meaning; "EVERYTHING is gonna be just fine." I do have to say that in the 5 hours or so of being injured without the meds, I had become quite competent at pain management.

So they brace up my leg, set me up with an Orthopedic surgeon (follow-up) on Thursday, and tell me to do nothing with my leg until then. I have one of three possible injuries.

-A severe sprain (what we're hoping for)... No surgery and a 6 week recovery.

-A torn Meniscus... Surgery

-A torn ACL... Surgery and a longer rehab.

So let's all hope for Sprain.


After leaving the Rapid Care Facility, we had to go fill a prescription, get some stuff from my car (which was still at the gym), and then get some food (neither of us had eaten since breakfast). We decided to check up on the car first.

Of course, I see my car in the parking lot at the gym, and I can't leave it there. I remove my brace, and drive it home with TT following close behind. WOW, talk about the pain fighting through the meds. But my baby was home safe and in the driveway. Off to get some drugs and crutches.

We go to the Walgreens by my house. Closed.
We go to the Walgreens somewhat near my house. Closed.
We got to the Walgreens nowhere near where I live, but still close enough to try. They have RUN OUT OF PERCOCET!!!

But the lady at the desk has a plan. They call the nearest Walgreens (even further from my house), and confirm that they indeed do have Percocet. So we know where to get my drugs, and head out.

Arriving at the new Walgreens, we drop off the prescription and are told it's a half hour wait to fill. Fine, plenty of time to get some food at 2:00AM.

We go to Dennys, and they're closed from 11PM to 3AM for kitchen repairs.
We go to Jack In The Box, and the lady at the drive through tells us that they're closing after the car in front of us.
We go to the cafe in town, and they're just not open that late.

In this time we've spent the entire half hour we had to get food, trying to find food. Screw it, it's just not my night...

So we grabbed my meds, headed back to my house, and found some food along the way. I got home at 3:15AM. My last concious act was to email my boss, and tell him that I needed the day off. I was OUT.


My hat goes off to TT, the best friend that a guy could hope to ever have. 6 hours with me, and he had no complaints about it. He was up for work at 4AM Thursday morning, and didn't get home until 4AM Friday morning from helping me out. Where would I be without my friends?