Book Update:

I am currently writing Tri Me: A Working Mom's Road from Last Picked in Gym Class to Iron Distance Triathlon Finisher.
The book proposal is complete, and several chapters are finished!
For some of the thoughts, dialogue and anecdotes that will be included in the book, read my blog below.


Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Quick knee update: Includes joke by my doctor


(By quick, of course, I mean less than 2,000 words. Dennis, you know what I'm talking about.)

So 19 days ago I had a bike crash. Most of the wounds were superficial. Unfortunately the front wheel caught the grass and the bars flipped over and the back edge of the aero bars slammed into my knee. It took me a while to figure out why my knee was swollen and wouldn't bend right. Initially I thought it just hit against the ground. My doctor friend who was with me on the ride drained the inside of the knee that afternoon to help me get back to training faster, but it didn't help a lot. I quit running for a week, missed my second 3-hour run, missed a brick and a big ride, etc.

I finally figured out it was a blunt trauma to the kneecap, and that most of the damage and inflammation was in front of the kneecap. I did everything I could to get as much mobility back in it, walking the stairs at work every hour, etc. I started running again after nine days. I'm back up to 90 minutes of running, and have no pain when running, as long as I am warmed up from another workout first.


So yesterday I finally went to my regular doctor - my first time seeing someone other than my friend since it happened. He's a nice guy, if you are looking for a general practitioner on the north side of Columbus. I think he bears a slight resemblance to William H. Macy. (See photo at right.) No?

He says, "So what happened exactly?" (He knows about my training.)
I say, "Well, I was out riding with a doctor and an engineer..."
Doctor interrupts: "Well, that was your first mistake!"

Ha!

Anyway, I told him it wasn't interfering with my training anymore, and I had good mobility in the joint, but there was this blob on my kneecap that wasn't going away, and it hurt like heck when I bumped it on anything, or when my kids knocked into me, or anything like that.

So he drained the blob, and it was gross, and I rescheduled the run I was planning to do after the doctor's appointment.

It feels a little weird right now, but I think it will ultimately get back to normal faster, and I won't have to worry about protecting it from getting kicked during the mass start on the swim.

He said I could let it go down on its own, but it would take a long time, and the body would basically reabsorb it one cell at a time. My knee is now nearly the same shape it used to be, but I can still feel some stuff/weirdness outside the kneecap.

Eleven days 'til race day!

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