Hello all..nervous as all get out here

TraumaMamma

I have enough information to be dangerous. Paramedic, RN student. 911 operator. Had a bakers cyst last yr which showed no tear on MRI, burst, fluid went into calf and I was good for another yr.

Came back....new MRI..and I have a new friend. As any growth over 5cm is suspicious for malignancy, *I* am going to get a second opinion. My othro is of the opinion that the MRI just once again missed the tear and kind of glossed over the whole mass. I didn't even get to see that, until it was released my chart (thru the Cleveland clinic online) and I thought, I am NOT messing around with this.

I have had numbness, tingling and vague pain in the leg. It is different has felt so since the new "bakers cyst"

The new cyst this year did NOT rupture, he had to tap my knee, drain it, and give me a shot of cortisone. The mass is pure mass. No edema from liquids in tissues.

Seems to me to there is a conflict it the reading. One says it is heterogenous, then in all caps says it LACKS heterogeny. Which is it?

I'm trying to maintain, but it is scary. Appt with family doc on Monday to see where to go next. Any suggestions? Here is the report.

CRM 0553 - MRI KNEE WO CONTRAST - LEFT / ACCESSION # 84653639

PROCEDURE REASON: INTERNAL DERANGEMENT OF KNEE
* * * * Physician Interpretation * * * *

MRI LEFT KNEE

HISTORY: Knee pain

COMPARISON: 3/30/10.

TECHNIQUE: Routine multiplanar MR imaging of the left knee was obtained
without contrast.

RESULT:

MENISCI
Medial meniscus: Intact with mild degenerative signal in the posterior
horn.
Lateral meniscus: Intact.

LIGAMENTS
ACL: Intact.
PCL: Intact.
MCL: Intact.
LCL Complex: Intact. Postsurgical changes of lateral retinacular release.

ARTICULAR CARTILAGE:
Medial compartment: No cartilage defects identified.
Lateral compartment: No cartilage defects identified.
Patellofemoral compartment: Partial thickness chondral defects with areas
of fissuring about the femoral trochlea. Chondral fissuring noted about
the patella..

Tendons: The visualized extensor mechanism and popliteus tendon are
normal.

Bone Marrow: No evidence of fracture or marrow replacement process.

Joint Fluid: There is a physiologic amount of joint fluid.

Other: There is a new masslike structure along the distal thigh
posteriorly measuring approximately 4.3 x 2.1 x 6.9 cm with heterogeneous
signal. No significant surrounding edema is appreciated. This masslike
structure abuts a small popliteal cyst.

IMPRESSION:

NEW MASSLIKE STRUCTURE IN THE POSTERIOR SOFT TISSUES OF THE DISTAL THIGH.
THIS COULD REPRESENT A SUBACUTE HEMATOMA FROM A RUPTURED POPLITEAL CYST.
BUT GIVEN THE ABSENCE OF HETEROGENEITY AND LACK OF SURROUNDING EDEMA,
CLINICAL FOLLOW-UP IS SUGGESTED TO RULE-OUT A NEOPLASM (UNLIKELY GIVEN
THE ABSENCE OF A MASS IN THE PRIOR EXAMINATION).

STABLE PATELLOFEMORAL DEGENERATIVE CHONDRAL CHANGES.

TraumaMamma

Update and still spinning my tires.
My ortho is not a surgeon, but he knew and read my mind when I went back I was worried. I have numbness in my foot now, burning in the back of my hamstring/thigh area and shooting pains down my calf as well.

He did put me on a high stack dose of steroids to take down the edema, but there ISN'T any soft tissue swelling, so *I* feel it is just the mass displacing things.

So, he referred me to an Orthopedic Oncologist. Without me asking.

Good.

Except, the surgeon who works for the brightest hospitals in my area, got my MRI sent over to his office, didn't even SEE me personally, diagnosed me over the phone, thru my other ortho and wants repeat the MRI in 6 wks. To see if it gets bigger or shrinks... Which is awfully cocky and dangerous if you ask me. I can tell you honey, it ain't shrinkin.

I am hurting so bad it's incredible. Whatever it is, it has GOT to come out. How in the hell do you convince a surgeon to go in an get the damn thing out?!?!?

TraumaMamma

TraumaMamma said:

Update and still spinning my tires.
My ortho is not a surgeon, but he knew and read my mind when I went back I was worried. I have numbness in my foot now, burning in the back of my hamstring/thigh area and shooting pains down my calf as well.

He did put me on a high stack dose of steroids to take down the edema, but there ISN'T any soft tissue swelling, so *I* feel it is just the mass displacing things.

So, he referred me to an Orthopedic Oncologist. Without me asking.

Good.

Except, the surgeon who works for the brightest hospitals in my area, got my MRI sent over to his office, didn't even SEE me personally, diagnosed me over the phone, thru my other ortho and wants repeat the MRI in 6 wks. To see if it gets bigger or shrinks... Which is awfully cocky and dangerous if you ask me. I can tell you honey, it ain't shrinkin.

I am hurting so bad it's incredible. Whatever it is, it has GOT to come out. How in the hell do you convince a surgeon to go in an get the damn thing out?!?!?

Yesterday...
I called my ortho as I couldn't take the pain. It is going into my lower back, down my leg, etc.

I called off work (it is incredibly hard to even sit, I am a 911 dispatcher an the mass always has pressure where I sit) and he sent me for a stat Ultrasound to make sure I didn't have a blood clot.

Which I didn't.

The gal who did the reading did ask if I "had alot of pain behind my knee" which I hipped her to the fact that I knew something is cooking back there. It isn't where the focus of pain is, however.

I feel like someone has sledgehammered my lower back, my leg hurts. I laid in bed all day yesterday, leg straightened out. I am exhausted.

My ortho was waiting to hear back from surgeon, but I never got a call yesterday.

I am truly, truly ready to spit nails here.