Karaoke Forums

This is just not my week!!

The girl I'm dating tells me she is saving herself for marriage, I lost my cell phone, and last night I busted my knee. Doctor tells me it is either a sprained or partially torn MCL. I have an MRI next week to be sure.

The good news is that it won't require surgery either way. The bad news is that I am on crutches for 3 weeks in the best case and up to 8 weeks in the worst case.

I run my karaoke show by myself and supply all my own equipment. I haven't spoken with my bar owner yet, but what am I supposed to do for the next 3-8 weeks if I can't lug around my equipment??

I e-mailed a few friends and offered them $50 a night to help me setup and tear down tomorrow night. I then hope that my bar owner will let me keep my heavier equipment there at the bar over the next few weeks so that I don't have to move that, then I'll just need someone to put my speakers on their stands and I can do the rest (maybe get the kitchen guy to help me out and throw $10-20 his way at the end of the night).

Has anyone ever been in a similar situation or have any other suggestions?

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Joint injuries suck, that's all I can say... Good luck Chris.  All my breaks when I raced downhill fortuneately were just tibia, fibula, and femur breaks.... Spiral, and greenstick.... ALways ended up that it was the joints that gave me problems however...Busted a few fingers on the volleyball team too.... Got drunk and had to play that night...played piano and guitar drunk with broken fingers..hurt like hell, I suppose it's no wonder why I now have a few deformed fingers on my left hand...
Knee and ankle stuff is painful, I fear smashing my wrist.... Good luck...


btw, how badly is the ligament torn ?  That's going to hurt for awhile... Torn legaments suck too !  How do they know you haven't damaged the ACL as well ?

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I did that once, long ago...... well, not exactly the same. I hurt my knee. Dumb thing, really.

We had an old 3 wheeler (which, to me, is MUCH more fun in the sand than a 4 wheeler, you can cut better brodies, hahaha)... Anyhow, it was an oldie, and it was kickstart, and took everything I could give it to get the dang thing to start. (it had an after market kit in it, to give it more power, which made it hard starting) Anyhow, I'm not a huge person, and the best way for me to start it was right knee on the seat, and use that to lever myself to kick start it with my left. And I came down hard on my right knee.... and dang near broke it in pieces. I had a chipped bone, and it swelled- I guess they said it was just fluid, built up to protect it. (a.... BIT too late....haha) It hurt like hell for a long time, and would sometimes lock up on me after that, when I tried to straighten it out.

Anyways... what alot of rambling just to say.... I sympathize with ya. You don't realize just what those knees mean to you until you can't use one properly.

And...



Ouch, that's GOTTA hurt.

And, again...



I simply could not survive!!

No two ways about it, you need a 5th of Jack Daniels' finest.  :yes:

.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Steven, all I know so far are:

#1: There is no bone damage
#2: It is most likely just a sprain based on the initial exams
#3: If it is a tear, it is only a partial tear, or else I wouldn't be able to stand up
#4: My pain is only in the MCL area, when he pushed on the ACL it didn't hurt

I had X-Rays but that can't detect ligament damage. If it is just a sprain, which the doctor thinks it is, it will begin to heal within about a week and be fully healed in abotu 3 weeks. If it is not improving by next week, I need to go in for an MRI, which can pinpoint the ligament tear, if there is one. In this case I will be on crutches for about 8 weeks.

So it looks like minimal damage based on the Dr's initial exam, but he says you just can't be sure without an MRI. Everyone cross your fingers that it is just the MCL sprain!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

From somebody who knows: DO NOT MESS AROUND WITH THIS!!!  And DON'T try to be a hero...heal up if you don't need surgery!!

It sounds like your doc is better than mine initially was...

I'm an ex-Squid partially because of a misdiagnosed knee injury that got worse before it was corrected.  Take it easy and be good to yourself!!  :yes:

Chris,  Unless the doc is concerned about Meniscus probs, why is he ordering an MRI yet ?   If you aren't an athlete, why not wait before having an MRI ?  IF it starts to heal within a month, or the swelling goes down,  save the headache of the MRI... That's just my opinion, but I dropped out've med school too.. ..

Unless the damage is suspected to be MCL, ACL, and meniscus... Why the MRI ?  Some of these docs,  they hear you have insurance, and they send you in for tests that might or might not be premature.... The MRI is costly.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

The MRI is just about the only foolproof way to diagnose a ligament injury that ISN'T a complete tear.  Mine was meniscus damage...but my ortho looked at my MRI and asked me when I hurt my ACL...I told him I didn't know I had...

OK,  So it's better safe than sorry in such a case I suppose.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Topher, I hope you don't get in to this type of situation with your stolen phone.

Stolen Sidekick

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Seize the day and SING!!!

Definitely!!

I went almost a year before I had my MRI done...

And my lateral meniscus ended up looking like the fuzzy side of Velcro by the time I had the surgery.

I had to have about 40% of it taken out...doc said if it was caught sooner, it might have only been 10-20%, if that...so...my advice is don't mess around with it!!

Then I wonder why they assured him he won't need surgery.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

With a sprain or most partial tears, it should heal itself fairly well...like my ACL.  It just requires time and babying to straighten out.

But if it's a fairly severe partial tear, it may require surgery later on.

Chris,


Man, you're having a tough time!  I'd get the girl friend/celibacy thing worked out first, if you can.  You can always replace the cell phone even though it's a pain in the a$$.

The knee thing is a heavy weight deal.  When I was in the Navy I reinjured an old football knee injury and it cut short an otherwise drab and definitely undistinguished Naval career.

Despite surgery and about 3 zillion tests the problem was never diagnosed with any certainty.  I was on crutches for about 6 months and then walked with a cane until one day I decided I could no longer stand using the cane anymore.  Since then, except in a few extreme cases, I haven't used the cane.

Now I've got what is most certainly arthritis in the knee.  For 38 years I've had pain in this knee every single day.  Sometime it's just bad and sometimes it's worse.  Over the years I have gotten used to it and don't pay too much attention anymore except on the days when it decides to remind me that I'm human and getting older.

If what you have is a sprain you would be best off to let it heal.  In that case you will definitely need help from your friends.  You can't lug any let alone all of your equipment around if you are on crutches.  And that's what you should be using unless you've decided to do your healing while on your backside.

If you've got an MCL tear and it's not bad enough to require surgery it will heal eventually if you don't do anything to reinjure it in the meantime—depending on your lifestyle that could be the tough part.   Or you could take my approach (not recommended) and ignore it.  I get along fine and I don't baby it but there are days when I really could do without the pain.

About the only thing I've really done for my knee is I gave up softball a few years ago.  The doctor told me that if I injured it one more time I could forget about having it function at all anymore.  

But I would say that getting some help with your equipment in the meantime is pretty much a "have to" kind of thing.  If it was reasonable for me to get where you are and I didn't have a gig on Saturday I'd come help you myself.

And whatever you do, take care of that celibacy thing.  (I'm shuddering even as I say that word).  

Larry

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"Life is too short for diet soda and lite beer"

Yeah,  something else will end up arthritic from lack of exercize.  

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Why did you Start your List off with the worst thing frist?
or was that the order that they happened?....

When she ask's why you dont come to see her or take her out tell her your saving your money for Marriage.

Now you just screwed your Knee so you can't propose to her anyway.


Seriously...Sorry to hear about the Knee...I too have had Knee problems. I have a floating Patella.. If I was Closer Id try to help. good luck.

I would help too if I lived closer, I might charge you a beer for my trouble. That would just be an excuse to get a free beer on my part.

As far as the knee thing, I think you got plenty of good advice and I have none anyway so I can't help.

I really like the mention of saving money until marriage. That was good.

Too bad it's not 25 years ago,  I'd do it for the free beer, and <EDIT>

<EDIT>

<EDIT>

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Good answer Steve. That's just what I was thinking. You know, <EDIT>

<EDIT>Charmin

<EDIT>

Thanks Chuck !   Even though Chris has one bad knee,  he can still send me hate mail for what I edited out

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I am also surprised that the Doc is rushing into an MRI.  I am also an Army vet who was bounced for a bum knee, and generally they like to wait a couple of weeks for the swelling to go down bofore they go looking.

Just lay low and don't aggravate the knee.

Get yourself a new cell phone, although reentering all those numbers is a pain.

Dump the virgin--save yourself a headache down the road!

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Spreading the karaoke gospel