Bad Things Come in 3s : The Daily Journal of an Injured Knee - Day 3

Day 3: The turning point...turning purple!

Three seems to be the magic number. 

 

The swelling has gone down some and I can finally bend my knee to about 90°, which makes getting dressed in the mornings less of a circus act. Thumbs up. It also makes getting in and out of the car a lot easier. Double thumbs up! The only thing that still makes my teeth mash however, are the stairs, especially going down.... I still have a bit more healing to do.

But the exciting thing is I'm finally getting some discoloration coming up to the surface, notably dark purples and blues. OOOooooo. Exciting stuff  I tell ya. All that got me thinking about bruises and contusions in general. Like, what's going on in there and why does it change colors? I know the gist of it, but I wanted to find out in more detail. So, I went to our good friend Wikipedia who explains bruises as:

"A bruise (layman's term), also called a contusion (medical term), is a type of hematoma of tissue in which capillaries and sometimes venules are damaged by trauma, allowing blood to seep, hemorrhage, or extravasate into the surrounding interstitial tissues. Not blanching on pressure, bruises can involve capillaries at the level of skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscle, or bone."

Well ok then.... I hope I didn't bruise the bone, that sounds really bad.....

But what about the changes in color, what's up with that? So, I dug around a bit more (on the internet, not my knee) and found this interesting (and most importantly, short) video on the IFLScience website that explains why bruises change color. And according to the video, my white blood cells are separating the heloglobin into heme and globin which gives it the purpleish-blue color. Cool stuff indeed. I'm looking forward to the biliverdin or as I like to call it, the green stage.... :D 

So if you're curious like me, have a go at the video, and Happy Friday everyone! 

 You guys ever have a really bad contusion that changed colors like this? Remember how long it took to heal? 

 

Bad Things Come in Threes : The Daily Journal of an Injured Knee

Monday, I talked a bit about the string of bad luck that’s been shadowing me since November when my computer died, followed by December when my dishwasher broke down just before the holidays.  And, some of you warned me that bad things come in threes so I'd best watch out. Well guess what? The very next day, I injured my knee during Ultimate practice. During a game, my teammate and I both went for the disc, didn’t see each other, and we collided in spectacular form. I took a wrist to the face and his knee slammed into the side of my knee and we both hit the ground. It hurt like a b****. He was fine, but I got the wind knocked out of me, and within minutes my left knee started to swell. !%ù*!!&###!!!

The drive back home after practice, sucked. It’s the only time I’ve ever wished my car was an automatic; I cringed every time I had to push down on the clutch…. Anyway, the next day I went to my doctor. He did a series of tests on my leg and knee and luckily, it looks worse than it actually is. There’s no damage to the knee joint and none of the major ligaments around the knee seem damaged. I’ve basically suffered a deep muscle contusion and have to rest my knee for at least 2 weeks. So if things go well, I should be back to practice in time for the Regional Championship in mid-February. Phew.   

In the mean time, I figured it’d be fun to document the changes in my knee as it goes through the healing process. I love experiments and I’m totally looking forward to seeing it change funky colors as the swelling goes down.

Here is my knee on Day 1:  It doubled in size. 

It's hard to tell from this angle, but the injured knee is the light brownish one on the right (your right). It looks like the swelling swallowed my knee cap. My good knee is the one on the left of the picture that actually looks like a knee cap with a few old scars in the center. 

 

Here is another shot from my perspective. You can see the swelling better on the left and the red spot where I got hit. 

Fun times y'all. Fun times.

As you can see from the pictures, my knee looks like it’s 9 months pregnant. I don’t walk, I hobble. Going up and down stairs is complicated as I can bend my knee only slightly. The skin over the injured area is shiny and smooth due to the swelling and it’s hot to the touch. It feels like my knee has a temperature. I wish I had one of those fish tank thermometer strips to see how hot it really is. There isn’t too much color around the knee, some redness a some light brown discoloration, but nothing overly interesting. 

By the end of the day, my lower back was aching because I’ve had to shift my weight to my good leg. The throbbing in my knee also made it difficult to fall asleep so I took a couple of pain killers. Thank you Advil PM.

So there you have it, my string of bad luck is officially OVER! YOU HEAR ME! I’m done, got my three bad things so now life can you please leave me the hell alone?
 

Thanks for stopping in everyone. I'll do my best to visit you all when I can. I'll be back tomorrow for another day in the life of an injured knee. 

In the mean time, be good and be safe! :D

Over At The Writing Nut!

Come and join Nutschell and I over at The Writing Nut where I'll be rambling on about my workspace for her Wednesday Writer's Workspace interview. Just one thing, anyone know how to dismount a scorpionfly unscathed? 

Silent Sunday: France, Kittens, and Coppola

I know this is supposed to be Silent Sunday, but I have to say something about the following two pics . . . 

Francis Ford Coppola--you are one of the most highly acclaimed directors, producers, and screenwriters in the film industry. Thank you for producing such films as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. 

However--For the love of all that is holy, please stop producing such crappy wine. This is one of the worst bottles of wine I've tasted in a very long time. It is truly terrible, even after letting it decant for three days. It may not even be suitable to use as vineager.  *steps down from soapbox* 

That is all. 

(:

**********

nom, nom, nom, nom . . . 

nom, nom, nom, nom . . . 

nom, nom, nom, nom . . . 

nom, nom, nom, nom . . . 

nom, nom, nom, nom wait. . . what?

U for Urticating Hairs

Fun Facts:

1) Tempting as it may be, picking up nice fuzzy caterpillars may not be a good idea. The body surface of  some caterpillars, and a few adult insects, can be covered with urticating hairs. These urticating hairs are used as a defense mechanism against predation.

  © Copyright Pauline Eccles and licensed for reuse
under Creative Commons Licence 
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3031094

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2) Urticating hairs can be broken down into two categories: Envenomating (venomous) and non-envenomating (irritating) hairs.

3) Envenomating hairs usually take on the form of sharp hollow bristles seated ontop of a fluid secreting gland. These hairs break under pressure, penetrate into the skin and release their fluid.  The fluid (usually a mixture of histamines) can cause irritation or inflammation. (source: http://medent.usyd.edu.au)

4) Non-envenomating hairs are easily dislodged when disturbed and can become airborne, settling on nearby surfaces. They are designed to produce a mechanical irritation that is often described as having similar effects of fibre glass particles on the skin. Coming into contact with these hairs usually results in a skin irritation. (source: http://medent.usyd.edu.au)

5) Urticating hairs can take many forms, they can be bristle-like seate or sharp-pointed hollow bristles, while others can take on the form of darts, long flexible tapering hairs, or rigid bristles.  


6) The urticating hairs can be arranged in a distinct pattern or tubercle, or they may cover the insect in its enterity. The location and structure of the hairs can be used as an identifcation tool. 

Have you ever had an allergic reaction to caterpillars? Ever handled a caterpillar and not have a reaction?