The 3rd opinion...

Today I headed into the heart of Chicago for a 3rd opinion on the knee scandal. I know this is cutting it close, seeing as surgery is next Tuesday, but you can only get into see these people so fast. 

Arrived at the doctor's office and had to skillfully park my Xterra in the narrowest parking spot in the parking garage. 

Parking garage fares...Welcome to Chicago!

(Thanking my lucky stars I was parked under 2 hours and only had to pay $22.00)

While I waited in anticipation to see the surgeon who would render the verdict on my knee debotury, I decided to check out the rooms contents. Your usual examining table, chair & stool. The sink, soap, paper towels, the bio-hazard wastebasket, the latest copy of TV guide weekly & a box of non-latex gloves (boring).

Doing this was out...sigh.

Then I saw this...the plastic model of a knee. I decided to examine it a little closer and snap a few pictures of the different components that make up the knee (like I had anything better to do at this point).

Front of the knee

Front of the knee without the patella

The medial femoral condyle where I have a huge crater that the surgeon plans to remove and do a transplant.

          

 The back of the knee and the PCL (posterior cruciate ligament), which on my knee is torn.The surgeon will  reconstructed mine using a portion of my hamstring.

After finishing my examination of the knee I noticed this shoulder model as well and decided, what the heck, let me take a look at this bad boy too...

The surgeon finally graced me with his presence (actually he was quit nice and down to earth) and gave me his opinion on what he thought should be done. His opinion mirror surgeon 2's opinion on what form of action should be taken. So I am planning on going through with the surgery. 

His only difference of opinion was on post-op activity. In his words "you need to shift your expectations". I looked at him in bewilderment and asked what he meant. He believes I should have the surgery for the benefit of a semi-normal functioning knee but with the idea of finding a "new passion", a non-high impact passion. I swear to god, if I hear one more person say "Have you thought about cycling", I am going to knock out their teeth!!! Don't get me wrong, I appreciate his honesty and professional opinion, but I doubt he says this to the members of the Chicago Bears (he's one of the orthopedic surgeons for the Chicago Bears) who have multimillion dollar contracts on the line. For them its about their livelihood, their paycheck, I get it...but what about passion...he clearly doesn't understand PASSION. I am not going to endure the "Year of Hell" just so I can exist in life...I want to LIVE! Running is living for me!  Now that doesn't mean I am not open to other ideas/activities/sports, but I don't want, nor plan to give up running if I can help it. That is what my "Year of Hell" is for...the possibility of having both feet on the ground...RUNNING!