I was born with weak knees... hereditary I
guess you could say... Well, I didn't have
any issues with my knee until I was in 5th
grade... (about 8+ years ago) It was
during school recess one September day
(6th or so?), and I was running... all of
a sudden I had felt my right knee pop..
and it was a large pop. I ended up falling
because of it, but I didn't land on my
right knee. A teacher had come over to me
to see if I was alright.. I was able to
get up and walk around, but got an ice
pack from the school nurse for the rest of
the day.
The next morning, I woke up and all was
fine. I was getting ready for school and
had to take some of my sisters clean
clothes to her. I had to walk down a
hallway that couldn't have been more than
8-10 long. At the beginning of the
hallway, I was fine.. by the time I got to
the end of it, I was on the floor crying
as I was in so much pain... turns out my
entire right knee became swollen. Later
that day I had an x-ray done, and the doc
said something along the lines of I just
sprained it or dislocated it... and I had
to wear a leg brace for 3 months before I
could have it taken off.
Ever since that time, my knees have
plagued me with issues.. usually taking
"turns" in which one decides to give out.
Summer of 2005, I was with a friend in a
storage facility, looking around. We were
dropped off so our only way of
transportation were our own feet... no
cells or way of calling someone. While
looking around, I had jumped off of a box,
and landed on my left knee a little
funny... at which point I realised I had
dislocated the knee cap once again (the
kneecap isn't necessarily out of place,
but rather it just hangs there, rather
than giving support to the leg). To get
anywhere, we had to walk... or rather I
hobbled, and I'm sure this made things
worse... as when I tried to use a knee
brace later, it made the pain worse, so I
didn't use it. At that point in my life I
was a very active person and just couldn't
be put down by a bummed out knee... my
second (or third) big mistake.
Over the following months afterward, the
pain worsened, and I could feel a hard
bump (bone growth) grow "on" the left side
of my knee (actually, I know it's on the
bone of my lower leg, but it's on the
outer side of my knee joint). This in turn
hit the nerve that runs down the leg,
which caused even worse pain. Any time I
over-stress the knee, I am left in pain. I
can do all the normal daily things I used
to, but to a lesser extent... i.e. I can't
go up hard, 2 story stairs every day... I
can't carry around an extra 10+ pounds
every day... etc but I can still lift up
to 50lbs of dog food when we need to
re-supply, or even be able to lift friends
who weigh up to 160lbs for short periods
of time... i.e. not more than a few
minutes... where-in I used to be able to
give piggy-back rides for 20+ minutes... I
still go on hikes but not as frequently as
I used to... and when I do, I need more
frequent breaks to let my knee rest...
So in short... I have a large bump (bone
growth) on the side of my knee which
greatly limits the amount of stress my
left knee can take... I once had someone
tell me the medical term for this as they
went through the same thing and already
had gone through surgery to fix this...
I've forgotten the medical term, but I'm
wondering if someone could give it to me
again?
