Well, I had an MRI yesterday of my knee and the results are in. I wasn't surprised to hear I have a torn meniscus. That confirms what the good doctor, my PA friend Charlie, and I suspected all along. But I wasn't prepared to hear I also have rubbed a spot on the bone clean of any cartilege at all.
Okay, so let's just slap some cartilege on that bald spot and press on? I wish. It looks like next week I'll get arthroscopic surgery for the meniscus, and at the same time Dr Hasty will go in and drill some microfractures in the bone to stimulate new cartilege growth. But it doesn't happen overnight, and for 6 to 8 weeks I'm stuck with crutches and can't walk on the knee as even that will rub off any new cartilege trying to take hold. I look at it like a new coral reef down there trying to grow. It's my little underwater national park - you can swim around and look but don't touch the fragile coral.
What sucks more is that it will be months before I can really run again. Doc said 6 months. I'm reading from triathletes on Slowtwitch that some have taken 12 months or more. Sigh. And it doesn't sound likely that the new cartilege works quite as well as the original OEM parts. It will take a while to run again, and I may not be able to as well as I was able to in the past. Who knows. Deep Sigh.
There are evidently NBA players out there that are back on the court after this surgery. My good friend Dave Mirra is a prime example of someone that has gotten over the surgery and bounced back to good shape. He's running well and reports no knee pain. So, maybe I will come out of this alright. It's gonna be a long road though. Deeper Sigh.
Plan is to have surgery next Wednesday or Thursday. It couldn't happen soon enough in my opinion as it still hurts to walk almost 2 weeks after Kona.
Not thrilled about all this but trying to see the bright side. I guess I at least ended the season on a high note by being able to make that finish line on Ali'i Drive. Well, stay tuned......
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