Nothing like choices

Interesting day yesterday. Noticed that for the first time in a while, the area on the inside of my knee right below my kneecap hurt more than normal with each step. I had to consciously alter my stride as I walked. Same thing still seems to be in place this morning. Could still be from the concrete, could be scar tissue breaking up, could be long-term effects of consistent weight bearing, could be small yellow men with pickaxes who work only under certain conditions due to union contracts.

Also (almost) locked in a place. Was initially pretty please, until the gal dropped the 'oh yeah, I forgot to mention, that price doesn't include the 12.5% sales tax." That's annoying. It's now nearly the same price as a hotel I've been considering. But that's for a month.

Which now I have questions around. Met with Dr. Carey Windler, who's the orthopedic surgeon for the University of Texas. Nice chap overall, reminded me of a true 'doctor' from the old school who was very focused and business-like. I was impressed - they took a couple of additional X-rays, one with knees at 45 degrees off the end of the table anad one standing. He spent about 10 minutes asking me questions about my history, with some definite focus on when things changed - "so you had pain, was anything different? What was your range before the surgery? And after? How long did you keep that improvement". Data driven, which I appreciate as an engineer. Most of the details we had, but how fast things went up or downhill is always a little subjective.

He then reviewed my charts and reports for almost 20 minutes (at least, he was gone for 20 minutes - ironically, Vail condo gal called dring this time). Indicated that I have scar tissue surrounding the kneecap which creates no mobility in kneecap and I also have scar tissue in the joint. He came back and said pretty much the same thing as others - if you are improving or maintaining ROM, then keep going. If you are losing ROM, then doing something might be appropriate. I include the 'might' because he indicated (when asked) that you don't necessarily want to do something right away, because the inflammatory cycle will be aggravated. He also said to take glucosamine, do things at home every day, and see Angela 1/week to check ROM.

The part that was different, and the part that is causing some consternation, is he recommended waiting 4-6 weeks to see if I improved/maintained/regressed. I suppose that's prudent on his part, as opposed to rushing into surgery in a patient he's seen once. Patience isn't always a bad thing, but after 9 months, I'm pretty sure I'm headed backwards. Tough since I've seen three people with 3 different plans [Kilbride - do surgery now or later but do surgery, no rush; Burns - do surgery and do it before the wedding; and Windler - don't do surgery now, consider down the line]

So the main question now: What is the chance that Steadman won't recommend surgery at this point and how long should I plan to stay in Vail? Hopefully, I can get some more information fom others and Steadman's office before plunking down a bunch of money for a place I won't stay. Possible that I could go up and stay a week anyway, working with the physical therapists in Vail, so it wouldn't be a total waste. We shall see.