Monumentally Afflicted

Got out for a couple hours today w/ Tirpak. No big plans and no hurry. We rode up Flow Dog,where we stopped to chat for a half an hour with a couple other locals. Proceeded to cruise up the recently smoothed Mt Herman Rd. Scouted some trails, then came back down and did some good riding through the Preserve. Knee is doing great! The Maverick SC32 / Endo combo is sweet. Need some snow, which practically felt like it would happen today. Overcast, cloudy, and in the 50s. A pretty strange day for the end of August, but the coolness felt nice.

Spent about 2 hours wrenching on a friend's "new" Trek 850 today. Nice to be able to help someone out and get another bike out on the trails. Afterwards, I couldn't resist hopping on my own bike. Got out for 50 minutes of trail riding! Unbelievable how well my knee is doing. Very very psyched to get back out and feel pretty decent. Just a few little spots of achiness, but definitely still some range of motion issues to work through.

First trip to the physical therapist today. No big deal. My knee is doing ridiculously well. Well enough that another woman who was there and had similar surgery the same day kept asking me how I could be doing so well in just one week. I dunno! Range of motion is huge now. I even played 9 holes of disc golf today w/ zero pain. Workout for the day: 10 minutes on the stationary bike 10 minutes walking backwards on the treadmill Front/back balance board Side to side balance board Squats on instability pads (like big gel pillows) Foot raises (hip twist while standing on a block) The PT said, "this is gonna be too easy." Came home after work and rode the fat bike around while the 5 year old rode her tiny bike (doing awesome) and the 3 year old rode around her tricycle (finally learning how to pedal forward). Good times!

Yippee...15 minutes on the trainer! Knee is doing pretty well. Yesterday felt like a bit of a breakthrough day. Range of motion is still limited, but increasing. Pain is very infrequent.

Pic above shows the inside of my knee. Patella, ACL, and lateral meniscus look good. Medial mensicus shows the tear in the lower left pic and then the repaired meniscus is shown in the lower right pic. The doc said he was surprised they picked up the tear in the MRI. He had to sorta pull the mensicus a bit to find the tear. Surgery went smoothly. Recovery is going fine. I asked the doc if I could get on my bike in the next few days. He looked a bit surprised and said maybe in a week or two. My knee was feeling pretty decent yesterday, but I think I was up and around a bit much. By the evening, it was getting pretty sore and swollen. I suppose I should take it extra easy today and make sure I ice and elevate the knee. I actually had more pain this morning than yesterday morning. Maybe because I had not taken the meds for about 8 hours.

I'm sitting here in stockings, about 5 hours post knee surgery. Things apparently went flawlessly and the doc found no "extra credit" work that needed to be done. I'd never had surgery before, so the whole thing was a bit interesting. No food or water starting midnight before the surgery. Show up at 9:30, get dressed in a fancy gown, they ask a pile of questions, then the write YES on the surgery knee and NO on the "good" knee with a sharpie. I told them it didn't matter, both knees could probably use some work. They hooked me up to an IV w/ electrolyte fluids. Then, I sat there for an hour or so, talk to the anesthesiologist, then the doc, then they take me into the OR at about 11:30. Strap me down on a table, have me breath through a mask, and in probably less than a minute, I was out. Next thing I know, I'm groggily waking up, totally spaced out. About 45 minutes have passed. Gone. Big wraps on my leg and they wheel me into a recovery ro...

Well, consultation with the orthopedic surgeon leads to...surgery next Wednesday to fix the torn meniscus . Some "looseness" of the MCL, which surgery generally won't help with. Cycling aids in the recovery process, so that is good. Just gotta avoid the crashing bit... Need to stick to the easy stuff anyway, since my hand is still pretty painful from the crash 2.5 weeks ago.