nebill

Greetings, all! I rode my bike to work today!

No big deal, right? Well, it was for me! Last week, it rained real hard on Monday and Tuesday, so I drove to work. On Tuesday morning, while turning to sit in my chair, I suddenly experienced a great deal of pain in my right knee! I have a pretty high threashold of pain, and this thing hurt! I quickly took two aspirin, which as a rule fixes me right up....this time it didn't even take the edge off the pain. I made it through the day, then went home and put an ice pack on the knee, and took more aspirin. I didn't sleep well, as everytime I moved, my knee protested!

The next morning, I convinced myself that I could ride to work okay. (I have never been accused of being overly intelligent!) I took off, and worked the shallow side of The Hill without too much trouble. I rode for 10 miles, then turned around and headed back to work. As I approached the steeper side of The Hill, I decided that maybe I should see if I could stand on the pedals....big mistake! When the tears started flowing, I knew I was in distress! I sat back down, and spun ol' Blue up (thank God and Patty for the 11X28 cassette!!) and actually charged up the grade in pretty good shape! As soon as I had reached the top of the hill, I called the wife and told her I was in trouble, and to get me an appointment with a doc as soon as possible.

Ol' Blue delivered me safely home, and by the time I limped into the house, I had an appointment with a local Doctor. Here was my first piece of luck. Our regular doc was out of town, so I saw one whom I had never seen before, and lo and behold, she is a cyclist!! After a quick exam, she said she didn't think it was too bad, and usually she would have the patient take it easy for a couple weeks to see how it progressed, but in my case, it was off to the orthopedic surgeon, which was fine with me!

Now for the next piece of luck. Living in the country, the surgeon only visits one day a week...and that was the day! After he examined and x-rayed me, he felt that I had torn some cartilage around the knee. He told me that I could keep riding...but only on the flats, no hills! Then he said if on my next appointment, things are improving, then I can start easing my way back up some gentle hills, and work my way back up. If there is still pain, then he will try some non-cortizone injections, then if that doesn't work, surgery.

A nice benefit of all the riding that I have been doing....usually the surgeon would have the patient go through physical therapy, but my legs are in good enough shape that I don't have to!!

I enforced a self-imposed moratorium on riding untill today. I know that he told me I could ride on the flats...but I have these wonderful little pills, and when I take them, my knee does not hurt at all! And remember, I told you I wasn't too smart...I could just see myself pushing it too fast and hard because there was no pain! So, just to see how things were going, I quit taking my pills yesterday at noon. So far, no problems. The knee is a little sore, but not bad at all, and a lot better than it was 6 days ago!

So, it is time for me to roll ol' Blue out the back door, and enjoy another ride! Weather channel says I will have a 10 mph tailwind, so it will be easy spinning...sure would be easy to make it up The Hill a little ways...naw, not tonight, straight home like a good little boy.

Say, maybe I'm not so stupid after all!