It was 2009…I got out of bed and my right knee was hurting. I did all my leg stretches and the pain was still there. I took a warm bath and felt that would do the trick. Well…It didn’t….I went to the kitchen and got my light blue ice bag. I filled it with ice and water and placed it on my knee for 15 minutes. Someone told me if you put it on for more than 15 minutes your knee would freeze.
When I taught my exercise classes I would hear a little clicking in my right knee. I did not tell anyone about my pain. I couldn’t stand it anymore so I had an MRI on my knee and I was told I was bone to bone on my knee. He told me there was not any cartilage. I asked him where did the cartilage go. He told me I had worn it out.
I thought I could live with this. People have a lot more pain than I do. When I walked through the airport I would do my happy walk so nobody noticed. Walking to the gate I would have to stop and sit in a chair to rest my knee. I would act like I was tieing my shoe. Then I would get up, walk as much as I could then sit again.
How could this be happening to me and why my right leg? At a fundraiser, I met a doctor who noticed that I was limping a little. I told him my problem. He said, “Oh I can fix that. I can put some stem cells in your knee.”
So I went to a small hospital he removed the stem cells from somewhere in my back and shot it into my knee. Well….it did not work.
I met another doctor. He told me where his office was and I drove to the wrong office. I finally read the address on his card and found the building he was in.
“Let me tell you what we are going to do. We are going to take blood out of your lower back. This technique is called PRP.” The doctor took the blood he removed and placed it into a machine that spins it. I waited an hour while this was being processed. The blood was then injected back into my knee. This was a painful procedure. I did this on three separate occasions.
When I left the office his wife said to me, “Would you like a vampire facial?” Vampire is not one of my favorite words. She explained what it was. It combines micro-needling and prp. Kim Kardashian made this facial famous. I said no thank you and left the office.
My doctor had another idea. He would take a liquid out of the comb of a rooster. Now you think I am making this up but I am not. The comb is the little red tips on the rooster’s head. They removed the liquid and put it in a syringe. The needle on the syringe was 4 inches long. They shot it in my knee to grow cartilage. Sorry no cartilage formed ….to be continued…
