The Bees Knees

When I was younger (a LOT younger), I did some figure skating. I fell. A lot. My skating days ended when my knees starting acting up, which I attribute to all of the falling. Skating is hard you know. I ended up having both knees scoped in high school, cartilage shaved and debris removed.

During my second marathon, my left knee started hurting - enough to slow us down quite a bit starting around mile 21 or 22. I finished, and continued to run. I have not gotten very high in mileage since then, not beyond a 1/2 marathon. This was mostly due to getting sick in 07, not because of the knee.

Over the past year or so I have had trouble with the knee locking up and hurting under the kneecap. This affects running, but it also affects simply things like walking, stairs, giving the boys a bath, sitting for long periods of time. I am sure when I screwed my quad playing soccer that the increased stress on the left leg didn't help...but I think it is simply over-use and poor alignment of the knee.

We have tried steroid shots, steroid patches, physical therapy, rest, ice, heat, elevation, voodoo magic and have come up empty. I am now scheduled for surgery - lateral release and hoffa pad removal - next week. I am a little skeptical at this point - wondering if this is the right thing to do. My doctor put it pretty simply - if I don't have the surgery, it will get worse. If I get the surgery, it might get better. This surgery is really the only option at this point. Dilemma.