Laid Up Again

I am typing this blog entry as I lie on the couch with my leg elevated and an ice pack on my right knee...  again.  

I cut the lawn on Friday.  The lawn was long because I skipped a week (it was too hot and humid for two weeks for me to manage to get anything accomplished outdoors) so I needed two passes on most of the lawn but, even so, it seemed like a pretty easy job since the heat and humidity had broken.  I had absolutely no problems until my last couple of passes on the last section of lawn where I must have turned a little carelessly and twisted my right knee a bit.  All of a sudden, I could no longer put any weight on my right leg without a lot of pain.  I finished the lawn while limping along and then put everything away.  Usually I will water all the gardens after cutting the lawn but I skipped that this time around and went directly inside hoping my knee would feel better after sitting for a while.

Unfortunately, since that time, I've been spending most of my time on the couch.  My leg is elevated and I have an ice pack on my knee.  When I sleep in bed, I have a pillow under my right leg.  This knee injury has been painful enough the past few days that it has been causing sleeping difficulties so I am exhausted too.  

What I noticed immediately is that the swelling is a bit unusual than the previous times I had problems with this knee over the past five months or so.  In the past, my whole knee would swell up which is what I would expect from an injury such as this.  I seem to be having a problem with the MCL (mean collateral ligament... left side of my right knee) but the swelling was around my entire knee previously.  This time around, the swelling is localized right at the MCL where it connects to the knee joint.  I guess that is a good thing though.  Well...  I hope so anyway.  It seems like localized swelling would be better than having widespread swelling.  

My knee and ankle had been feeling so well recently that I've actually been exercising again over the past two weeks so I'm really surprised that I injured this knee again by simply pushing around a lawn mower.  I suppose I'll give my leg a break again for a couple of weeks while keeping it elevated and iced and then slowly get involved in exercise again.

We'll see how it goes...