Food Sluts
February 1, 2010
Worked my butt off this past weekend, cleaning the house for an anticipated visit by my father-in-law’s wife’s brother and his wife, from Italy. Seems the guy is reported to be allergic to cats. Heh. That would make ours the wrong house to visit, as a general rule (we’re down to 24 now, having just lost Misty, our oldest, on this past Christmas Eve Day).
But, as these nice folks have never been in the States before, in the interests of international diplomacy, we decided to go the extra mile and super clean the place to make it “safe” for an allergy sufferer.
But first, we had to trap the cats and confine them. Otherwise, you’re just spinning your wheels. Fortunately, like me and most of our friends, they’re “food sluts.” Nothing they wouldn’t do, no place they wouldn’t go, for a tasty meal. So, my wife and I cracked open a few cans of wet cat food and played “Pied Piper” with them.
It’s quite a sight to see them all following the aroma of the food, right into the bedrooms, where we locked them in for the day. Then, we could work in peace.
So, we finished the house and then set about making some food. One thing about Italians is that they know good food. So we pulled out all the stops. Turned out pretty well, too. They seemed to like everything and had seconds….
Nice couple they were: Mario and Tina. Live near Naples (the real one, not the one in Florida), have four kids, the oldest of whom is now in his forties. And they speak no English. Fortunately, Anna, Charlie’s wife and Mario’s sister, is bilingual, so we had our own built-in interpreter. Very lovely people. And we had a good time.
During the meal, Mario mentioned to my father-in-law that his son was supposed to have surgery on his knee. Between Anna’s interpretations and sign lingo, I was made to understand that he was having arthroscopic surgery on his lateral mensicus, which according to an MRI scan, was torn. And, since he found out that I was an orthopaedic surgeon, he naturally wanted to know if I thought that surgery was necessary.
Pretty good question, really. I pointed out to him that if he had read my book on treating knee pain, DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK FOR ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN http://www.drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html he would know the answer. And a lot has to do with the nature of the tear, where in the meniscus it is, and how active he intends to be after surgery. And all that is assuming that the tear actually exists.
The MRI scan is a great tool for diagnosis. On the medial side of the joint (inner side), its accuracy is about 90-95%. But, because of the screwy anatomy of the lateral compartment of the knee joint, MRI findings of the lateral meniscus are only about 60% accurate. So, actual pathology has to confirmed at arthroscopy, before you can begin to decide on appropriate treatment.
Apparently, he got the injury playing football. Not our idea of football, as in the Superbowl, but European football, or soccer. The rapid twisting, cutting movements in that game result in lots of meniscal tears. And, despite his age, he’d like to continue playing, after the proposed procedure. That being the case, he SHOULD have the surgery.
If he was a low demand user, ie., a couch potato, then the same injury need not be treated so aggressively. In fact, the pain could then be treated with a number of the non-surgical options that I recommend, from across the entire medical spectrum, including the best alternative treatments, in my newest healing program, HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERY: http://www.drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
The exercises I show you, plus one, or several, of the other simple, easy to apply solutions for knee pain, including the anti- inflammatory properties of my POWERHOUSE OMEGA FORMULA, http://www.favoriteformulas.com an ultra pure, pharmaceutical grade fish oil, can often get rid of your knee pain fast and keep it gone, for good. Two capsules, twice a day, for a couple of months should do the trick, by reducing inflammation.
He felt very reassured that his son was making the right decision. And he was relieved that he had every reason to believe that his recovery would be fast and uneventful. Especially after I told him that I’d had such surgery myself and obviously, did well.
Then, it was time for them to make the run to the Orlando International Airport. Another of his sons was flying in to visit and they were going to pick him up. Naturally, they all want to go to Disney World.
So, having done our bit for U.S. international relations, and made two new friends, we all said “Ciao!” and bid them farewell. After a few well-earned moments of peace, for ourselves, the bride and I released the feline hordes, who descended on the kitchen, looking for more food! There’s no end to it!
And, you know, that guy, Mario, never sneezed once! Guess we did a pretty good job. Well, that’s it for today, my friend.
Remember that very soon, now, I will be asking you to sign up again, if you’d like to continue getting my daily emails and commentary, when I switch to a new server to improve email reliability and delivery. I know it’s a pain in the butt, but it’s necessary.
On the other hand, if you’d like to bail, but were afraid of hurting my feelings, just don’t do anything and that will be done for you–you’ll just stop getting these daily ramblings and musings. To continue, you will have to take action, when the time comes.
Anyway, be well. Talk to you soon.
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
Dr. Bill
“The Wellness warrior” TM
P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
P.P.P.S. For conventional and alternative treatments and exercises to relieve knee pain without surgery click on http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
P.P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
Copyright, 2010 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD, FACS
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Tags: alternative treatments, anti-inflammatory properties, arthroscopic surgery, avoid knee surgery, fish oil, football, knee pain, lateral meniscus tear, MRI scan, reduce inflammation, soccer, torn meniscus