Explanation of the hospital visit

I am accident prone. I feel like I ought to attend a meeting or something, stand up in front of a crowd, and admit, "Hi, my name is Amanda, and I am clumsy," or something. Physically inept, anonymous. Since I've come to China, I've cut myself, burned myself, fallen all over myself, and gotten my thumb shut in a car door. Woot.

However, a couple of months ago I managed to get pushed off my bike and landed really hard on my knee. Not so happy. But, being me, I'm rather accustomed to being injured, so I shrugged it off and went on about my business. But something was rather odd about this injury...

I had a numb spot on my knee that was about 2 inches by 2 inches. And it had a bump. And it wasn't bruising -- I had crazy bruising everywhere else, but right in the middle, where the worst damage ought to be, it was white as snow. So, I did what any self respecting volunteer would do, and went to the doctor.

Doctor took one look at it, pronounced it "Injured!" and told me it would be better within a month. Cool, I thought, and went back about my business. However, five weeks later...the bruising was gone, but the numb spot and the bump? Still there. Not so much fun. And it hurt to put weight on it -- to climb the stairs and to ride my bike.

So I went back. Apparently, it was a hematoma -- a little area of internal bleeding where the body builds up a sack of blood or something like that. A few days later, they took me to the hospital to make sure I hadn't fractured anything or had any bone damage. Nope. So I got some cream and was told to slather it on twice a day until it went away, and to come back in a week.

Week later, bump is still prevalent (but apparently will be for another couple of months), and my knee still hurts. I pointed out that that it still hurt like hell, and hurting like hell generally indicates to me that there's something wrong. Finally, they take me seriously. They do the ligament and tendon tests again, which I passed with flying colors the first time I went into the office (no, I didn't rip or tear anything). However, this time the doctor pushes down on a place below my knee. OW FUCK!

Apparently the place where the tendon that holds your kneecap in place attaches to the bone is seriously inflamed. It's oddly just below the hematoma. Shocking. So I have uber anti-inflamatories and my knee is finally not hurting as much, two months after I injured it. According to the doctor, it may be months until it heals up. Agh.

Accident prone, I am.