Bummed out with a bum knee

I woke up Tuesday with a sore left knee.  I assumed it was a result from the bowling, because I had tweaked my right knee and thought maybe I did the same to my left.  That evening when we went to bed I mentioned to Chris that my left knee was pretty sore and I was unsure if I would get up and go to my 5:15 a.m. Camp Gladiator work out. I really wanted to go because I had missed my group work outs over the holidays so I ended up setting my alarm at 4:55 and getting up.  My knee was still sore, but I thought it would get better once I warmed it up.  I was wrong.  It really bothered me during the work out.  I could barely do some of the single leg activities and squats, lunges and getting on and off the floor killed me! I am already pretty awkward looking at 6.5 months pregnant doing burpees, mountain climbers and bear crawl, but adding in a sore knee really made it tough.  I sucked it up and finished the work out but I feared what my knee was going to feel like later.  Sure enough the swelling started. Throughout the day my knee was getting bigger and bigger.  I had some errands to run and it really started bothering me getting in and out of the car and I started to be unable to walk normally. I iced and elevated that evening and prayed it would be better in the morning.  The pain had me up most of the night and I had trouble getting my leg in a comfortable position.  It felt awful when my alarm went off to get up for work. I had to work though so I got up and hobbled around to get ready. Since I am pregnant I cannot take any ibuprofen to help the swelling, so my options to get me through the work day were limited.  When I got to work I had some co-workers look at my knee and even let one of them apply kinesiotape for edema reduction. I was working on the burn unit that day so I had some heavy and very involved patients to get up.  It was awful!  I busted my rear to get through as many patients as I could and then I asked to go home at lunch.  My knee was huge and I was in so much pain.  I came home and elevated and iced it the rest of the day.  Friday morning it was even bigger and more painful!  I had a 2 cm difference in circumference.  I was able to get squeezed in to see an ortho doctor and he told me what I had feared. I most likely tore my lateral meniscus. Because I am pregnant he didn't want to do an x-ray or MRI, especially since I am not going to be able to do anything surgically while pregnant.  Thankfully, my reconstructed ACL was still intact, along with my PCL, LCL and MCL,  Since I already had a medial menisectomy back in '95 when I had my first ACL reconstruction I don't have a medial meniscus to injure anymore, so all that leaves is my lateral meniscus, and that is where all of my swelling and pain is. My options were very limited because of Polly, so all that he could offer me was a steroid infection to reduce the swelling.  I gladly accepted! He also recommended that I stop all high impact exercises until after I deliver. He attributed my injury to a combination of bad knees with the hormone relaxin pumping through my body.  Relaxin is a hormone you have a lot of during pregnancy and it makes all of your ligaments loosey goosey in preparation for childbirth.  Unfortunately, this includes the ligaments that support your knees.  So, although I was only doing my normal type workouts and activities, thanks to that hormone my already crappy knee joints are more lax and more likely to injure. So, long story short, I have to stop going to Camp Gladiator and should not do any high impact exercise to prevent further injury.  The steroid injection should reduce my pain and swelling and get me through the next 14 weeks of pregnancy and then after I deliver if my knee is still a problem I will get an MRI and consider my surgical options. I am pretty bummed, and I absolutely hate to be told that I cannot work out the way I want to. But, I also do not want to tear an ACL again or end up in horrible pain while being super pregnant, so I will be a good patient and listen to his advice. I had planned to continue my regular workouts until the end, so I am a little down in the dumps. I am hoping that once the swelling and pain goes down I can continue with my prenatal yoga, jogging, and possibly add in some cycling.