#knee dislocation

3 weeks ago I injured almost my whole left side. My foot caught under a rug as I was rushing to leave work and it stayed put as my body jerked forward, then fell forward, landing hard on my arm. My ears were ringing and everything was white because I was in so much pain. I realized my elbow had dislocated. So had my kneecap. I screamed. Then again. Then my boss called an ambulance. Then the firemen help me into it as I made them chuckle with my bold and colorful cursing. The man in the ambulance asked if this had happened before, I told him how I’d wake up at night as a 6 year old with my shoulder out of place, his eyes went wide as he told me that sounded like “a nightmare”. At the ER my knee was reduced immediately. The doctors waited 45 minutes to reduce the elbow, which was honestly in more pain, but it was all fine with me after they gave me some painkillers. They sent me home with an arm splint and knee brace along with orders to take 3 ibuprofen every 6 hours until the pain is gone. The first week I could hardly leave my bed, couldn’t shower alone, and I could hardly sleep because my whole life had just changed so much in an instant, I’ve never felt more fragile than waiting for help on the floor of that gift shop like a broken doll. This week, I can walk some and raise my arm above my head. I can shower alone, cook a meal, sit in my garden. I am still taking it day by day, I still can’t bend my knee much, my arm has been in this splint for weeks, and my workers comp doctor seemed utterly confused why I had splints to begin with.

I’m trying to stay positive. I’m healing well given the severity of these injuries. But it feels like it’s been forever. And when I wake up day after day unable to bend my knee further than the day before, I feel like I’ll never get back to being able to squat in the forest to see my favorite fungi. I know it takes time to heal. I just wish this hadn’t happened to me.

UPDATE!!! 06-16-22

I dislocated my knee close to 3 years ago and even though I have been doing the exercises regularly it hasn't completely healed. With the lifestyle I have this has not been a big problem, until about 4 days ago (as of Nov. 7, 2019).

Nov. 4, at around 3 am, I wake up and my knee feels like it has been dislocated, but it hasn't. I think ”ok, I know how to deal with this; it happened on my birthday.” So I do the same thing I did then, hoping it will do the same thing and I could continue without incident. I rub it a little bit, then hold it as close to my chest as I can until it feels normal again. Once it does, I put on my more medical grade knee brace I got from an orthopaedic doctor and go back to sleep.

My alarm wakes me up at 6:00 and I do my daily routine to get ready for school, albeit with a bit of a limp. I have my mom drive me to the bus stop instead of my usual walk and I sit down with my knee straight as I wait for the bus to come. I'm easy on it the whole day, sitting the majority of the time when I could and being very cautious on the stairs (which I went on twice in the time I was at school).

Around 2nd period, so 10 am-ish, I feel this excruciating pain in my knee. It's so bad that when the bell rang for 3rd period I couldn't even stand on my own without crying. Needless to say, I was taken to the nurse via golf cart and home shortly thereafter. I walk with a crutch the rest of the day.

The next day I stay home again to allow my knee to heal. My mom takes me to the ER to get X-rays done. The result came back with nothing except the fact that my knee stopped growing. The pain had decreased during the visit so I didn't use the crutch, though we did bring it just in case. I use it for the rest of the day at home, as the pain shot back up after I got out of the car. The pain has fluctuated from bad to worse ever since.