Explanation for "New Knees Please"

BEWARE whining alert . . . Lately, within the last month, I have been biking a lot. I use my Coniston bike up there, and B's bike in Lexington. Gradually I have been covering more ground each day and Monday I was feeling pretty good about my exercise routine. Bike riding 4-5 times a week, and yoga 2-3 times a week was feeling like a pretty good exercise routine when BAM! My "good" knee collapsed. I say "good" knee because this is the one that was operated on in 1985, when I tore ligaments dancing with my sister on my 30th birthday. So "good" in this case is "not" the one most recently operated on. The one I could trust, and did not have to favor. It did not just go BAM! I put my left foot on the pedal, was swinging my right foot over the seat when my iPOD cord caught on the seat, I panicked, swung my right foot back over the seat, placed it on the ground (in the wrong position apparently) and the next I knew, the bike was lying on top of me on the ground, because my "good" right knee collapsed.

Murg wonders why I don't go to the doctor. In 25 years of nursing bad knees, I know what they are going to say. Ice it, anti-inflammatory, and once the swelling goes down, come see us if there is still pain. Early on, I would go visit the doctor for these episodes. I often wonder what will happen if both knees decide to go at once.

This is all very discouraging because I want to be in an exercise routine, a regular one, and episodes like this derail me, delay me and force me to think about moderating my routine. My bike rides for now are out of the question as is the golf game planned for 10 days from now. Walking the dog, until the swelling goes down is out of the question.

The biggest mindset change for me, in the first few hours on the couch after this episode, was the realization that I have been dealing with bad knees for 25 years. 2 years ago my left knee was operated on and is the one I have been favoring for 2 years. For that episode I was literally walking back from town with Murg after a dinner in town. My left knee collapsed and I could put NO weight on it. He left me there in pain, on the sidewalk, while he ran back to get the car. That was a visit to the emergency room and knee surgery in November of that year. This happened a few more times before the surgery which a piece of my meniscus ended up on the wrong side of my knee cap, and my knee collapsed and I could put NO weight on it.

So, now my attention back on the right knee for now. Ice, rest, getting better every day.

This is not all bad, I can walk for exercise eventually, or swim, and probably bike and golf, just not this weekend, or today.