After a rather intimate view of the internal workings of my right knee, my orthopedic surgeon has come to the following conclusions:

1. My ACL is not torn.  At least not much.  A tiny bit along one side where it attaches to my femur, but not enough to justify reconstruction.
2. My cartilage, however, is an entirely different story.  I have not been kind to my knees and it shows.  He smoothed it out as best he could, but there is at least one area over the end of the femur that is completely bare.  It is likely that I will be a good candidate for knee replacement surgery in another 15 years or so.

So – glucosamine, low impact, and knee braces are in my near future, but so is a whole lot less pain and agony than expected.  I have another 15 years to worry about that.

My pain killers are calling my name soft and low.  I am going back to sleep now.