Today I found myself back in the reception area at the orthopaedic unit of Broadgreen Hospital once more, waiting to see Mr Taylor, my knee specialist. It had been almost a year and a half since I last saw him, back in August 2006 (kneesy does it – part 4), when he’d told me that my MRI scan hadn’t shown anything and he didn’t want to put me through an operation when there might be nothing wrong.
Having spent the time between then and now waiting to see if my knee would repair of its own accord, I decided after re-hurting it back at Center Parcs that it wasn’t going to do that and had arranged to get back to Mr Taylor in November. With the NHS being the NHS, that meant a two month wait before I could see him.
I turned up really early for my appointment, despite the fact that I’d turned up on time for my last appointment there and ended up waiting for ages. I figured I’d be there for an age before my name was called, but fortunately I was only around ten minutes in reception before being shown through to a consultation room. There I waited another five minutes or so before the knee specialist came in and asked me to explain what had changed from the last time I saw him.
For someone I’ve only met a few times I kind of like Mr Taylor. He’s like what Gordon Ramsay would be like if he was a knee specialist – he doesn’t swear or anything, but his straightforward approach is bereft of bullshit. After a quick re-cap of events he gave my knee a bit of an examination, which involved the prodding and flexing I’ve come to expect.
Mr Taylor said afterwards that I really didn’t have many options – I could have an arthroscopy or not. If they found anything while they were in there, it would be fixed. If not… well… he said we should wait and see on that count.
“Go for it?” He asked.
“Yes.” I nodded.
I’m not a exactly relishing the thought of going under the knife, but if it can sort out my knee and I can be active without worrying about making whatever is wrong with it worse then that’s got to be worth whatever discomfort awaits.
My pre-op process starts next Monday morning, where I’ll go through some tests, then it’ll be “around two and a half months” before the actual operation. I can hardly wait.
