Fifty Plus (50+) - Surgery coming up.

As 2008 ended, I had a bum knee, a blocked Artery in my left leg and had just lost my job.

On Friday 3/13, I am having a procedure to correct the blocked artery and have an appointment the following week with an Orthopedic Surgeon to see about getting the Knee repaired.

At 64 y/o, I'm having a heck of a time finding a job or even anyone who wants to talk about hiring me. Full or Part time. So, if the leg and knee procedures work ok, I'm going to try and dedicate my self to riding every day with the hope of getting up to 50 miles/day.

Fortunately, my wife says she will support the effort and allow me to continue the time off and ride.

Of course, I'm still a neophyte rider and she is a veteran rider, she understands the need/want to ride.


Hopefully, life should be good in 2009.

Glad you have got the priorities right. Get the artery fixed- then the knee and then it will sort the riding.

Wish you well with the procedures- but don't forget it is only the legs that are going to be crooked for the next few months. Get a bit of Body strength up by getting the remote for the TV yourself- and walking to the fridge for the cold one.

Bummer --- now, get out and enjoy the spring air....... Bicycling is one of the few things that is good for my bad knee...

Hey Ed, I'm 64. I retired at 63 (getting SS benefits) because I too couldn't get a respectable job.
Good luck with the surgery. :beer:
If you can get a second opinion about the knee with a sports medicine doc.
I had arthroscopic knee surgery last April. My ortho doc said I'd be on crutches for a month and would be off the bike for 3 months.
I had a sports med doc do the procedure and my physical therapy was riding the bike on the trainer, starting immediately after surgery. I was back on the road 2 weeks later.

+1 on the sports doctor. I had a partial minisectomy on a Monday morning and Tuesday morning they had me on an exercise bike. The physical therapist yelled at me for not using my crutches, so from that point on I dutifully used my crutches to go into PT and back out from PT; the rest of the time, they sat in the back seat! I really only needed them the day of the surgery; after that I didn't have any real pain in the knee at all.
-Bob

Good luck on the surgeries.

With a bad back, and a history of lung cancer, I would be pretty much unemployable if I lost my job. I reminded myself of that as I was going off on my boss this morning.

Best of luck Ed. We've all been there in one way or another.

Ed, doesn't seem like you can go wrong. You've got the right bike and the right wife. Good luck.

Ed, doesn't seem like you can go wrong. You've got the right bike and the right wife. Good luck.
+1. And best of luck with the doctors. I have been dodging the knife on my right knee for maybe 25 years... when it starts hurting, I know I have to get on my bike and ride more...but remember to do it with lower gears so you don't put too much pressure on the knee. I have found that once my quadraceps are in tone from riding, my kneecap gets slightly repositioned so it doesn't hurt when I walk.