the deviant knee

yep, i haven't blogged in ages. anyway, the 2nd semester exams have finished, and i dislocated my left knee-cap last week. have been on crutches for nearly a week now, and the inflammation has reduced somewhat. should be off crutches soon. now comes the next hurdle - i haven't used the left leg for a week, it'll probably take some time to have it get used to having weight placed on it again. i can't remember how i did it the last time i fractured something during my undergrad days and had to go on 3 weeks' hobbling on crutches.

the scariest part of it all wasn't actually seeing the patella pop entirely to one side, or popping it back myself (that scared a lot of people, but hey, i'd probably go insane with the pain if i left it awkwardly popped out and wait for the doctor to pop it back!) but the fact that the doc said if your knee's popped once, it can pop again so watch out. will have to stop tap-dancing for a while (hopefully i won't have to give it up forever!) and it doesn't look like i'll have any chance of planning a trip to Mt Kinabalu anytime soon, ha ha :P

have been off-campus for a week now. everyone's been wonderful, i've got a recording of the workshop i missed and a bunch of notes. looking forward to going back in again hopefully this coming week. am going insane living a sedentary lifestyle. driving wouldn't be a problem as i drive an automatic and the left leg ain't needed ;), but accessibility is gonna be a problem. the lifts only go down as far as the ground floor - they closed the basement lift lobby for security reasons some time back. so there's a flight of steps one has to take from the basement car park to ground level. and even if i can get permission to park at the porch near the CEO's lot, i'd still have to maneuver either jelly legs or clumsy crutches up about 10 steps up to the main entrance.

in fact the whole episode made me realise how not disabled-friendly a lot of our public places/malls are.. so far i only know of the Megamall and The Curve having motorised vehicles for loan, for instance. was at The Curve today on one of those contraptions. quite a nifty little machine, complete with a deafening horn and indicators. but then you run into a bit of trouble when you want to enter the shops - most of the merchandise racks are arranged so closely together there's no way you can fit anything bigger than a pram between them!

the other thing you get is, of course, stares. :-D don't know whether it's the fabric grip on my knee or the crutches or the pimple on my forehead :-D, but man, you get the stares. (and i normally grin back.) you also get some people who approach you and ask you what happened and give you bits of advice on taking care of the knee. but mostly, there are stares. ;) probably a Malaysian thing. I don't remember any stares when i had a fracture and had to haul myself into the university's disabled-services van for three weeks from hall to the faculty and back, when i hobbled around from one lecture hall to the next, or when i decided to take a cab and a few hops to Sainsbury's when i got tired of the four walls of the hall.

anyway, i should go get the cold-pack and wrap it around the knee now. hope to be able to return the crutches by the end of the week. and lug myself back into the campus to catch up on the work and classes (not looking forward to that)! (and in the meantime enjoy all the coffee and chips that's being delivered to me while i sit snugly in front of the TV! :D)