Bad Knees Blog - take 5

I've been sleeping pretty well these days. That's a good thing. Unfortunately the magical elixir that was shot into my knee last week has become slightly less magical. For a few days the pain had disappeared entirely from the side and back of my leg. It's returned, but only as a shadow of its original self. I'll take that for now.

I confess I'm partly to blame. Apparently I was supposed to rest the knee for a few days after the cortisone shot. Of course, I didn't. Our lab Reilly wouldn't have understood, and I don't like to sit. As I noted before, it's a lot better, but now I remember how bad the left knee is, and resting it would not have changed that. One thing has become apparent to me through this - when you're young, you battle through these moments and, more often than not, you come out whole - that's not the case anymore. The older you get, the more you cross lines knowing you can never go back. There is no fixing this. There's only figuring out the best way to tolerate it. I suppose that's just one more lesson in mortality and humility. I'm not unhappy about that, but it's taking a little getting used to.

Brace Yourself

As part of the recovery therapy, I've been prescribed what can only be described as the mother of all knee braces, a custom fitted medial unloader knee brace. Once I managed to find a supplier in Buffalo (not an easy endeavor), I made an appointment for a fitting. That was this morning, and I'm kind of excited. Two people were there to measure and fit the brace. They were pleasant, interesting, and informative, and one telling moment raised my hopes. The supplier's rep off-handedly said, "If you and your wife go hiking in the Adirondacks, you can adjust the brace for more or less support as yolu need it."

I was surprised and said, "You mean, I could go hiking with this on?"

Both men said, "Absolutely. We want you to. In fact, we want you to be as active as you can be."

I'm holding my breath for now, but when that brace is ready in about two weeks, I'm going to put it on and see what it's all about. Stay tuned for that. Another good thing is that my insurance is paying for my new, very expensive knee brace. And did I mention, I'm getting it in green? I thought two-tone silver and red would be too flashy.

For now, little to no adult beverages, a dramatic drop in my dog walking (from about 2 miles a day to under a mile), and I've had to withdraw from the Olympic long-jump trials.

The real fun begins in mid March, but I'll keep posting as new wrinkles appear.

Ciao folks.

Ralph