Memorial Day Weekend

First off, it is the most important to say thanks to all who serve our country.  We have so much to thank them for and watching the DC Memorial Day concert (before the rain canceled it), I realized how lucky I am to be an American and how much our military does for us.  So thanks to anyone who has served or is serving now.

Memorial Day is also known for being the beginning of summer and the start of outdoor fun.  I was set to do a ride called Mountains of Misery (103 miles, 10,000 feet of climbing) with some of my teammates and was looking forward to it (I know who looks forward to misery).  These plans were scratched three weeks ago when I went to an orthopedic doctor to look at some problems I have been having with my knee.  I had gotten an MRI and my physician had called to tell me there were no tears.  Imagine my surprise when the specialist told me that I had multiple problems with my right knee.  I had torn my medial meniscus, had a pothole in my knee cap (yes he called it a pothole), and had extra cartilage floating around.  He recommended surgery soon to take care of it.  I am pretty sure I stared at him blankly.  I was expecting him to tell me rehab things to make my knee stronger, not surgery.

I told him that I was signed up for an Ironman in September and he looked at me and said that I should be able to do it.  He would make four small orthoscopic cuts around my knee to fix the meniscus and remove the extra cartilage.  He would also perform an OATS procedure.  In his wording, my knee cap had a small pothole on a weight bearing part and this needed to be replaced with healthy bone.  So he would drill a small portion of the bad part out and take a good portion from a non-weight bearing part and switch them.  Yes it does sound scary and I held it together very well in front of the doctor, but immediately called my dad to ask him to come out to visit me and started to cry.  It is never fun to hear you have to have surgery that will take at least 3 months to rehab from, it is even worse when you have an awesome triathlon season that will now be cancelled.

So instead of riding mountains for swimming 6 miles like some of my teammates, I spent most of Memorial Day weekend on the couch.  I had the surgery on Tuesday (a week ago) but my knee is still swollen and not a fan of bending.  This limits the activities you can do, hence why I spent so many hours on the couch.  My dad was amazing to take care of me for a few days when I couldn't move at all.  I had to have him lift my leg to get on and off the couch for me because I was unable to do so.  When he left, my new roommate and friends made sure I was taken care of.  

My knee the day of surgery.  I received a nerve block so my right leg was completely numb so I needed the immobilizer to ensure it didn't move.  Pretty awesome to feel no pain, but pain the butt to get around in.

My knee the day after surgery.  Not pretty to look at and definitely lost my knee cap somewhere in there but it is slowly getting smaller (too slowly for my likely but at least it is getting there)

I will never again take for granted being able to bend my knee.  It is really hard to get into the shower, get into a car, drive a car, stand while making cupcakes, curl on your side to sleep, sit at a chair, etc.  Pretty much it was a rough few days and I can't thank everyone that helped me enough.

So moving forward, plans have changed but my race schedule is still somewhat intact (Mountains of Misery was a casualty).  I get to see the doctor tomorrow to get the stitches out and ensure I am on the right track to recovery.  It will not be an easy summer without much bike and run training with my team but I will survive and maybe become  a stronger person for it.