Kneecap injury

This is going to sound strange, but I smacked my knee a few weeks ago, it swelled up with fluid to almost the size of a large egg (which went down within a day or so) and is now VERY tender - it almost feels like the head of a newborn baby (you know how the crown of a baby's head is soft in the middle) - that's how my knee feels (like there is a soft hole in the kneecap) at the joint.

I've banged it a few times and it is excruciating, but otherwise, feels just fine - I can walk, climb stair, bicycle with no impairment, just as long as I don't bang the soft area.

I recently moved to a new country and don't have a regular doctor (but I do have good insurance) - any ideas if this is something that is just going to heal itself over time or if I'm in real trouble? The whole thing is depressing me - I hate going to doctors (emotional baggage from childhood, not due to experience with any doctor, but a general (irrational) mistrust about whether doctors can really cure anything because of some conditions during childhood that could not be cured).

This message was edited Jul 31, 2004 12:29 PM