Case Summary  |  Ski Injury Nightmare

Since I was a little girl skiing has been a big part of my life. My family owns a winter vacation home up in the mountains in Tennessee. As so, we go up to the state every year in order to relax and do some skiing! Every year since I was about 12 years of age my family has gone.

Three years ago while I was skiing I felt a very sharp pain in my knee. It was a very agonizing sensation so I had to stop immediately. When I confronted my father about this he told me that there was nothing to worry about. I believe him. I went back to our little vacation home, propped up my legs, and put some ice on my knee.

Over 10 days later I still felt pain in my knee, the same that I did in the previous days. It wasn't getting better. I knew at this point something was wrong. I was tired of living with the pain I was feeling. As so, after a long talk my father finally gave in and drove me to the hospital. It was there that the doctor examined me and gave me an X-Ray.

We waited awhile for the doctor, but when he did come back he told me that I had a medial collateral ligament. It was then that he told me the tear in the knee was really bad and I'd need to undergo arthroscopic surgery. I was sent up to a hospital room afterward and given some anti-inflammatory medication in order to ease the pain.

The next day was when I had my arthroscopic surgery. From what I heard it was a pretty long surgery. After all, they did have to replace my kneecap. Ouch! Well, when I got out of surgery I was in a great deal of pain. The nurse gave me some medication, but I do not recall what exactly it was.

After a week I could feel a lot less pain in my knee. It was at this time the doctor sent me home. He told me to stay off of my feet for several more weeks because It needed time to heal. I was given a prescription for anti-inflammatory medications and was also given a set of crutches. I had to spend 6 weeks on them! Needless to say my entire family and I went back to our "real" home instead of our vacation home.

After a six week period I was able to recover fully from my surgery. I was actually quite amazed at how well I took the arthroscopic surgery. It felt as if my knee had never been injured - well, almost. I have had several spouts of discomfort since them but never anything that affected my everyday life.