Next phase of the knee – Surgery date has been set
Wow, I didn’t realise it’s been 4 weeks since my last update of my knee , so I have a little bit of updating to do.
I found out from my old coach that I was actually covered by insurance from the netball centre, but it had been 2 months since the initial injury. It appeared you had to submit the forms within 30 days of the injury, so I rang the insurance company and explained that I hadn’t known about it. They said it should be ok, and that I would need to get the forms in ASAP. At the moment the form is with my doctor, as he was required to fill out a section on the injury, then I’m able to send it off. When I spoke to the insurance company on the phone, I got the impression they didn’t cover the gap between the total cost of the surgery and the medicare rebate, so at the moment I’m at least $2,000 out of pocket. I have paid $300 in physio fees already (after my health insurance pays their chunk), and the operation is going to cost $1700 (I got a loan to cover that bit, as I don’t really have that much money lying around at the moment). I would assume they would pay for my physio though, so at least that bit I don’t have to stress out about. With 2 months pre-surgery, and 9 months post-surgery physio the cost is really going to add up.
New type of anaesthetic
As previously mentioned I’ve gotten a loan to pay for the surgery. This meant I really had nothing holding me back from proceeding with the operation. I rang the hospital earlier this week and confirmed I was ready to go ahead, and received word today that my surgery will be on the 9th December – 3 weeks away. on the 2nd December I will be meeting with the anaesthesiologist to get a health checkup and discuss the anaesthetic method they will be using on me. I hope it’s a general and I’m completely knocked out, I don’t want to be awake for any part of it. Can you imagine? They pull out my hamstring, dangle it in front of me and say “woohoo check this out”. Yuk, no thanks.
Currently it’s all about preparing for for the operation. I’ve already had a million things run through my head, from who will be dropping me off and picking me up (I don’t want to put anyone out by making them spend the night there with me unnecessarily) to what I’m going to bring (iphone, clothes, the specific bag I will take so I can carry it easily while using crutches etc). Sad isn’t it? The worst part is I’m actually excited about the surgery. I want to get it over and done with so I can get the rehab done, and eventually not be restricted in what actions I can and can’t do. For example, I was at the gym over the weekend and had just finished 20mins of cycling. Knee felt fine, no worries there at all. Stood up, lifted my leg to climb off (as it was one of the seated ones with pedals out in front, not the normal bikes) and my knee let out a massive “CRACK” and pain shot through my leg. I limped over to the lockers and sat there massaging my knee for a little bit, stood up and it was all fine, like nothing had ever happened. I checked it with my physio this morning and apparently my cartilage had just gotten into a place where it shouldn’t have, so when I moved the crack was the cartilage going back into the correct position (aka nothing to worry about). I can’t wait until I don’t have to stress about getting off a bike.
So….let the count down begin. 20 days to go!