Let's hope it's not the knee.

(this is not a scan of my knee, just an image I found online.)

I totally forgot to mention that I had an MRI done on my knee last week.  For a couple years now it's made a crunching, scraping sound when it bends, especially if I put weight on it.  It doesn't get any more or less stiff or sore than the other one, which is to say not much.  If I walk a lot from the bus or run or play ball it gets stiff but it's never hurt.

A friend of ours injured her knee at work and had to go through surgery to repair it.  It was your basic ACL repair and subsequent therapy.  I showed them (or made them listen to) my knee and everyone said I should have it checked out before it got really bad.

So I scheduled an appointment for the same orthopedic doctor that helped Ms. A get her knee fixed after her skiing accident blew out her ACL.  She was in recovery for about 2 months and then after that she was restricted to what she could do.  Now she skates roller derby so I consider that a success.  The doctor is really nice but I can tell he's busy.  He doesn't spend a lot of time with me.  In fact I think I probably talked to him for about three minutes.  He asked me about the knee, I told him there wasn't any pain but it's making a horrible sound.  He listened, agreed it was bad and I got an x-ray done.  The x-ray came back fine, no bone problems.  So he scheduled an MRI.

Now, I'd never had an MRI done before.  I figure, if the office visit is $xx.xx copay and the x-ray is covered, wouldn't the MRI?  Turns out, no it's not.  Well, it depends on your deductible.  My MRI ran me $375 and I was a little shocked at first.  I know the big Magnetotron (seriously, it was called that) is expensive to run and you have to pay the techs to run it.  MRI techs get paid pretty well.  On top of that, I wasn't injured, this was preventative at best.  It was my idea to go in.

I have a follow up this Monday and I think the doc is looking for a flap of cartilage.  He seems to think that physical therapy will help and wants to avoid surgery.  My thinking is that I'll take whatever is covered without having to meet my deductible first.  But I'll keep y'all apprised of the situation.

School is going fine.  I took, and I think passed, my first ethics test.  I've got another history test this next week for which I'm getting ready.  I love history but have never been a fan of American history.  Not this time, however.  I don't know if it's age or the material, but I'm fascinated by it.

I've also decided, and I don't remember if I said anything about this, that I'm going to try to turn my degree into something I can use to get a job with Lego.  I've talked with them and apparently their builders come from all kinds of fields; design, engineering, architecture, etc.  So I'm going to skew my studies toward that and hopefully take those skills and love of the brick and become a designer/builder.  It might mean eventually moving to Enfield, CT, so I don't know how crazy I am about the idea.  I guess I should pass history first.

That said, I'm trying to get into the community more and that means central Texas TexLug meetings, the first being this Saturday.  It's an early South By Southwest (SXSW) event at a toy shop where TexLug members gather and meet and talk.  I'm taking the kids because G-man loves Lego.  Hopefully I can get some pictures.

That's all for now.  Carry on.