ER Adventure, Pt. 2: Tap that knee.

To read Part 1, go here, or just scroll down to see the previous entry.

When I got into the ER, I was lucky to get a doctor who had seen my problem before and had her own knee problems in the past, so she was sensitive to my situation. She was sure I had something called “reactionary arthritis,” where some sort of virus had gotten into my system and caused all the pain and swelling in my joints. Finally! Some sort of diagnosis! It was such a relief to know that I wasn’t some sort of “patient zero” with a new disease that they would name after me.

The doctor suggested draining the fluid from both my knees and then injecting them with cortisone. (Cortisone is a steroid and very aggressive anti-inflammatory.) Hey, anything that will let me walk again. So the nurse came in and started prepping for my procedure. I saw her pulling out syringes and needles and bandages and vials of liquid and whatever else they needed to make me stronger, faster, ...better.

When the doctor came back she started with my right knee by rubbing some sort of sterilizer on it that looked like BBQ sauce. Then I felt a sharp pinch as she stuck me with a needle filled with some sort of numbing agent. I'm glad she did that because the needle she used next to drain my knee was freakin' HUGE. It was like she took the Space Needle and stuck it at the end of a syringe. That big needle hurt like nobody's business - once it was in, the draining began. I could actually feel the fluid rushing out of my knee. The doctor then said surprisingly, "I'm going to need another syringe."

I almost freaked out at the thought of having to go through needle insertion again, but what happened actually seemed worse. She popped off the syringe - LEAVING THE NEEDLE IN MY LEG. Oh man, I could have passed out right there. Then she put on an empty syringe and continued draining. She held up the filled syringe and asked me, "What color is that?" The only thing I could think of was, "...it looks like chicken broth." So gross.

When it was done, the right knee had a syringe and a half of fluid taken out. The left knee not as much (whew). The cortisone pretty much worked right away - I was able to bend my knees and walk (not quite normally, though) in about an hour. I was prescribed some awesome anti-inflammatories and by the next day I was walking like nothing was ever wrong.