OUCH! History teacher returns from knee surgery

By ENZO FREE 
The Tower 

MANTECA — Beloved history teacher Matthew Eavanson suffered an injury to the knee, with the surgery leaving him bedridden for almost six weeks.  

He suffered an injury to the cartilage between the femur and the tibia, ending with him in crutches.  

The Tower decided to interview Eavonson about his malignant meniscus mishap, and how long it will take him to recover.  

The Tower: What injury did you suffer? 

Matthew Eavanson: The injury that I had was called a torn meniscus; a medial torn meniscus. I don’t know exactly off the top of my head; it’s somewhere in the knee, close to the ACL from what I’ve been told. It’s basically the cartilage in the knee; it tore. 

TT: Was it extremely painful?  

ME: I have a pretty high pain tolerance, so it’s hard for me to judge. I also don’t know how it happened, it’s more of a question of when. I remember about the summer two years ago; almost three years ago. I just remember waking up one day, my knee was like hurting and it was something like “oh I guess this is something I have to get used to.” I didn’t think it was something that I tore. 

TT: How did you find out? 
ME: I got a CT scan for it, it’s easy to say x ray but x rays only deal with bones, CTs are for muscles, and so I got a CT scan for something else and they had saw on the CT scan that something in my knee was bothering me and they said “hey maybe you should get this checked out,” so I went to a specialist and he said that I had this torn meniscus and so I needed to get it fixed as soon as possible. 

TT: How did they fix it? 

ME: So, on the knee, they used two small circular incisions where they were going to send two snake like things; robot arms. One was a camera to actually see inside; the other one was actually to do the stitching up. They also had a four and a half inch incision on the inside of the knee, which was to do some corrective repairs on the meniscus as well 

TT: How long will you be in the crutches?  

ME: The doctor said I have to be non-weight bearing for six weeks. I’ve been pretty good except a couple slips and falls; I have not put any weight on my knee. The doctor actually said I’m ahead of schedule. I’ve been recovering really well and I’m hoping that at the end of this week that I can finally walk a little bit. I won’t be able to walk fully without the crutches for at least another month or 2. But with physical therapy I’ve been doing stretches, I’ve been doing exercises and the doctor said my range of motion is great. 

TT: What did you do while you were gone? 

ME: I had planned to build a lot of Legos, since I had a lot of Legos saved up thinking “oh I’m gonna build them when I’m sitting on my butt for 4 or 5 weeks’ but unfortunately it’s hard to build Legos when your leg is raised above your body. I was at an incline where I could not build Legos, so a lot of tv watching and some video games as well. 

ME: Student reactions have been very positive, and I’ve been very much enjoying the return back and I think a lot of kids are sympathetic because I can’t just walk around the class how I like to and I’m physically stuck at my desk until I get the okay to move. It’s hard to move in the crutches but I’m still skilled enough; I can get around but it’s not easy. Students have been very sympathetic and have been respectful for like the most part.  

TT: What did you want to teach the most? 

ME: World war one is my favorite subject and unfortunately, I couldn’t teach it, I think the sub did a good job at getting you guys in the right spot, I saw your guys’ test scores and it seemed like you guys were right on track