Back in November I was playing indoor soccer as goalie in a pretty rough game and at one point I was driven into the ground pretty hard by this young bull of a guy. I made the save as I went down, and he helped me up and appologized for the roughness before he went upfield again, but my right knee was sore and immediately swelled and reddened. I didn't think anything of it, I get banged around a lot playing goalie and defense, especially in indoor soccer which is akin to soccer and hockey combined but without the pads. I noticed in the weeks after that the knee didn't have the strength it once had, and I found myself landing on my fanny sometimes when I tried to make very abrupt cuts or stops, but again didn't think much of it.
In December I rented the arena for the girls team I coach to have a special practice and when a ball got stuck up in the nets I ran up to the wall and jumped up to grab the top of the glass wall to haul myself up and get the ball. When I launched off the ground my right knee made a pop noise and it felt like something moved inside it. I pulled myself up, got the ball, and dropped down on the left foot to prevent further shock to it.
I immediately saw that I had damaged something inside the knee. It didn't hurt, but the leg didn't move normally, seeming to lag behind me as I tried to walk. The next morning the knee was swollen and very sore. Walking was difficult at best and I had to drag the leg around like a dead weight. I started the process of visiting my primary care physician after the holidays were over and I was sure the damage wouldn't heal itself. I found if my right foot slipped on the ice and twisted the knee I experienced excruciating pain, so I stopped doing that immediately. The dogs learned to quickly avoid my path when I walked through the room lest I growl at them to move, being so afraid I would trip over them and injure it worse.
I made it through the "Oh you turned 40 since your last visit in 2000" visit to my wonderful doctor (truly wonderful) and he inspected the knee. Hearing the clicking noise it was making he sent me to the Orthopedic Doctor of my choice, who had repaired a teammates knee last year and received high marks from Joel (teammate) who is also a Doctor.
The Orthopedic doctor checked me out on Tues (March 2) performing a McMurray Test on the knee and getting a positve result which indicated surgery necessary to fix the problem. I had described the symptom as feeling like a piece of cartelage had broken loose and slipped occasionally if weight was placed on the leg from certain angles. Also, the stability of the knee seemed compromised.
He scheduled Orthoscopic Surgery for the next day (!!!) and I returned Weds. morning in my jammies, changed into the dreaded gown and slippies, and got comfortable on a gurney while they hooked me up to various devices and comforted me with small talk.
The Anestheiologist came in and started me on the General Anesthesia saying to count up to 10 and not be concerned about reaching it as I probably wouldn't. I definately remember hitting 10 but nothing after that, though the nurses told me later I was at 13 when the lights went out.