Swelling on my injured knee didn't come down in three days and I reached out to my PCP and upon my doctors request I took an MRI. Taking an MRI comes with a hefty price, and at that point I realized this recovery wasn't going to be easy physically or financially. I then reached out to a couple of MRI centers near by to get their quote, immediate availability, and the duration to get the results. Later I got to know if I had reached out as a cash person (instead of paying through insurance) I could have paid a little lower. So, next time, if you are planning for an X-ray/MRI better reach out first as a cash member and know their price.
Getting into an MRI scanner itself is a unique experience, 45 minutes of loud noise and cold temperature is a pure torcher. I can't lie that even at that point I had no clue what an ACL is, never heard of that term before. I got a call from my doctors office and they told me terms that I didn't understand and finally I decided to show up in person and get some sense of what all the terms they used. Still no luck, the next day I went to the MRI lab and requested a copy of my report and the CD. Reading the report and finding the meaning over the internet shocked me.
Impression of my MRI: Complete ACL tear with bone contusions in the posterior medial and lateral tibial plateau. There is also a bone contusion in the lateral femoral condyle. Evidence of signal and a mild partial injury involving the biceps femoris tendon at its insertion site on the head of the fibula. There is no complete tear. Fibular collateral ligament and iliotibial band remain intact. There is evidence of a mild grade 1 MCL sprain. Fluid and edema is noted around the posterolateral corner and an occult posterolateral corner injury is not excluded. Correlation for stability is recommended. Popliteus tendon remains intact. Moderate to large joint effusion.
I decided to reach out to my family and friends to see if there were any Ortho specialists in close circle who could explain to me what are my options and how to plan my recovery. Which will be covered in my next article.