Thursday, October 11, 2007

It's not gout

Some of you know that Yuta woke up on Tuesday morning unable to put any weight on his left leg. At all. Given the knee problem, we were worried. So we called my MIL to see if she could help with the kids, then we called Yuta's doctor, who wanted Yuta to go get an x-ray and then come to the office for a 12:15 appointment.

Fortunately the x-ray revealed nothing but swelling, and by the time we got to the doctor's office Yuta was able to put some weight on it, though he was still using crutches to walk. The doc thought it might be gout or pseudogout, so he drained the knee, and Yuta instantly felt much better. Not 100%, but maybe 80%. And he sent us home with a prescription for prednisone.

Yesterday Yuta went to get bloodwork done to see if it is in fact gout. Well, the doc called this morning and it's not gout. He said that if it Yuta finishes the course of prednisone and his knee pain was gone, then it's probably pseudogout and he's fine until it flares again (and pseudogout is treated just like gout, only there's no blood test to determine it's there). If the pain or swelling returns within the next week and a half then Yuta will go back and most likely get an MRI.

As of today, Yuta's still limping, and his knee is tender, but he thinks it's getting better. We'll just have to wait and see.

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