Kuh-nees

I've been delaying writing about this topic for a while now, just because we were unsure of the outcome.

Since our return to Indonesia in January my knees (pronounced kuh-nees when Indonesians say it in English) have been hurting. At first I just thought I twisted the right one in a game of soccer, so I took some time off from the game. It felt better, so I returned. There were days when it hurt just to walk upstairs. I began wearing some support braces on my knees, that would help "baby" it but it would still be painful later in the day.

This first week of summer, I played in a soccer game and fell. The fall wasn't hard, and actually looked pretty clumbsy. Pain shot up my leg, and I tried to fight back tears because I was afraid that I did something more serious to my knee. I hobbled off the court, with the help of the adrinaline that was flowing made it back to my house, and called the doctor. She said rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE) with lots of pain reliever.

Later that day we went to her house and she said it may be something with my meniscus or ACL but couldn't tell without an MRI. MRI machines are not available on the island, so we made plans for October 1 to head to Singapore for more information. She said there was no rush, so go when it worked out to go.

Two weeks ago we discovered there was a brand new MRI machine on the island at the hospital in the provincial capital, Jayapura. A friend had to have an MRI done previously, so we contacted her for the information. We met with the doctor around 8PM, he wrote a "prescription", and made the appointment for me on the following Saturday at 8 AM. The doctor said they had to knock out a wall to get the machine in.

The patient patiently waiting.

The MRI machine

The beginning of two hours of listening to 80's love songs

Us and the technician who insisted we needed a photo for memories

Result 1 of many

The local doctor called and said that I have a 30-40% rupture in my right ACL. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but he recommended we go to Singapore for surgery to repair the damaged ACL because "you're still young".

So we will go forward with a medical trip to Singapore on October 1. We will meet with an ortopedic surgeon on October 2 and go from there. I'm a little nervous about being the patient. Pray that God would give me peace and remove my fears of the "what if's" and the "that means this...". Pray that God would meet any financial needs that come up. Pray for a smooth, uneventful trip. I feel better knowing that you know now.