Tag Archives: Fitness

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Knee

Five-days after I last wrote in my blog there was a sloppy, snowy puddle in a dark stairwell at one of my sites. I should’ve been more careful, because a 15-year-old who I was walking out after our session fell there 20-minutes before. I helped him up. He had scrapped his shin. I thought “Don’t wear Crocs.”

Except that the stairwell is really dark when it’s overcast, so I didn’t see the puddle and fell at the base of the staircase. My leg went under and behind me. The knee hyperextended. All my weight fell on it. I had to awkwardly pull my leg out from under me. I tried to do the group that is scheduled, but my knee just kept swelling. I had to call our Human Resources Department and then get a case number and head to Urgent Care.

Although it happened on the 3rd, I had problems with the insurance adjusters. I didn’t get a MRI until the 30th. The Physician’s Assistant called me yesterday. It’s three things. Two are old things. One is brand new. I have damaged all the cartilage behind my knee cap.

I have severe osteoarthritis. This diagnosis isn’t shocking. My leg was in a full leg plaster cast for 14-months as an adolescent. I didn’t get a walking cast for a long time and then had to rehab my knee for a couple of years.

I have chondromalacia. I was born knock kneed on my left leg, and then getting hit by a car and having 7 fractures was largely unhelpful.

I will finally see the Physician on Friday. However the Physician’s Assistant told me that what is likely is that he’ll send me to the Orthopedic Surgeon for a consultation.

I’m in very good physical shape for 50. I have a realistic, yet mostly positive outlook. I think if I’m being honest with myself, it’s really a matter of timing and figuring out the best way to get a total knee replacement down the road or sooner.

It’s been very sad for me to do a super long hike quickly and then be like someone in her 70s coming back down. I am so slow with downhill anything. This issue has been going on for a long time. Now, it’s so much pain that I haven’t been able to bike to work, run on the treadmill or do the elliptical, had to quit bowling and couldn’t be on either of the kickball teams this spring.

Oof. Any thoughts?

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Boxing

I’m going to do a boxing conditioning class today. I can’t wait. I love to box, but my hands are fragile and no matter how I tape them, they swell like crazy. They actually swell with lots of things: climbing, guitar, too much cooking–meaning using the knife. However, I soak them in Epsom salt when they’re giving me trouble.

Today there is about 3-inches of snow in my backyard. They’re way less in the front, but there is ice. I’ll have to shovel the driveway completely so there aren’t any hazards before I drive to class. I’m drinking coffee and writing.

I picked up the Climber at a collision place on Monday. The nice guy and I were already in the car and she was pretty stressed out. I worked (on site) for the University in the afternoon after seeing clients and simply shut my door and put a sign on it, as I’d taken personal leave. I was still interrupted twice, but not while I was in Zoom. It was dead silent on the drive back home until the Climber made a comment about the light in the sky. We dropped off the nice guy and then the Climber and I talked. When we got to the collision place, she seemed stressed out again. She wants to buy snow tires after they fix her car given that she has just had an accident. Has technology changed a lot? Can you drive on hot asphalt with your snow tires on your car? When I snowshoed in the mountains this March, I noticed sections of the road were missing near a tunnel to get home. I’m ok doing winter driving, but I can’t say that I love it. I’ve not had any accidents at all since a week after my son had his T & A procedure. I think it was 2008. I drive slow and watch the road when conditions are bad. They’re bad today and pretty icy because it’s 20 degrees outside, so I’ll be very cautious driving to boxing.

I’ve been texting with the Realtor. I love making friend connections and have organized a walk with Rower, Vegan, she and I. That is going to be fun. I’ve warned her that she and I will walk and Vegan and Rower will “walk.” I walk fast, and they are much faster than me. Probably less to do with the pace and more to do with them being taller than me. I’m looking forward to the overheard conversation porn.

Vegan texted about a mountain film fest in the next town over two Mondays from now. I would be very disappointed if it sold out, so I bought a ticket and donated money before I started writing. Hopefully, she will go too, but it’s a movie, so it doesn’t matter if I go alone. I saw “Renaissance” alone last Friday. It was great. I’ll be up in that area two days in a row, so I really wish that I had a house and pet sitter. There’s a really charming B & B that my son and I stayed at when he learned to snowboard up there, and that would be wonderful. Ballet Dancer and I are snowshoeing some lakes in a forest the day before. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen her and she has a bf now. He’s beyond fit.

Our group was fun on Monday night. The author was setting up the room when I got there so I gave her a big hug and then she sat with me again after people got there. We’re finally going to grab dinner in January. Her sweetheart’s boyfriend sat with us and I am going to commission him to make some art of my cat. Speaking of which, I want to lay out my children’s book. I’ll cartoon it a little, and then I want to ask the Climber to draw for me. That would be great if I could have it all laid out by January 5th. I have so much more bandwidth for creative pursuits now that my son doesn’t live with me and my parents’ estate will close this spring.