Getting the Lead Out

Finally, Dr. Eric Heiden removed the bullet from my knee yesterday. Actually, he did two separate procedures. First he did arthroscopic surgery inside the knee, where he poked two holes, one for a camera and one for his tools. He found both menisci were torn (also called torn cartilage). I think this is left over from when I tore it in high school playing soccer. He took nine pictures inside the knee. They don't make much sense to me, but I think this one shows a tear.


Then he took a couple x-rays to figure out where the bullet was, inserted a surgical needle to find it for sure, and cut about a two-inch slit and pulled it out.


This is what an unfired bullet looks like.



















This is what a bullet looks like after it's been stuck in a knee for almost four months. Even though three doctors told me I should leave it in the knee, you can see the flat part, where I'm pretty sure a tendon was rubbing. You can't see them well in the picture, but there are striations on the flat surface that I think were caused by the tendon. Thus the sharp pain I exprienced from time to time, like whenever I walked.





The two smalls holes on the front of my knee were for the arthroscopy. The small hole on the side is where I think the doctor inserted a surgical needle to locate the bullet. The slit down the side is where he extracted the bullet.