When we last left off I mentioned that I had filled out my questionnaire for the Acute Knee Injury Clinic. This was at the end of the day on Friday so I knew I wouldn’t hear back from them until some time this week.
On Saturday it was time to get on my bike to see if I could spin easy in an attempt to flush my knee. For the first minute I could only go back and forth along the bottom but soon things started to ease up. First I was able to spin all the way around backwards then I was able to spin forwards. It was a quick 10 minutes but things started to feel better after this.
On Sunday it was to the pool where I alternated 200 m of pull and 200 m of pull with paddles for a 1600 m swim. All in all, a little spin and a positive swim and a decrease in swelling made for a good weekend.
On Monday I got an e-mail back from the Acute Knee Injury Clinic. My case was denied. Because I wasn’t able to say that my knee injury was the result of a traumatic event the questionnaire determined that I was not an ideal candidate. Argh, so now what?? I had pinned my hopes on the idea that the clinic might be able to tell me what is wrong so finding out that I wasn’t a candidate left me feeling pretty upset.
After taking some time for my pity party of one I needed to focus on the positive. The swelling has gone down significantly (although there is still some fluid on my knee). I can actually walk properly (a nice change from last Tuesday). I can swim. I can keep spending time on the bike. I’m seeing progress. Maybe I won’t be able to run the Police Half but truth be told I wasn’t super enthused about running it anyway. I can do upper body strength and some lower body Pilates exercises. This is a great time to focus on core work and nutrition.
All indications are that this is related to my medial meniscus still. Luckily I have an awesome physiotherapist on my side who wants to help me get back on the road safely. I’ll keep you posted!
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| image via MedicineNet.com |
OK, you do need to see Dr MacDonald. I had medial meniscus issues in my right knee. Don’t fool with it, I lost the better part of a year letting it recover. But then I’m old so things take longer…
That sucks that your case got denied. Hopefully you get it figured out. You have a good attitude about it. (Though if you’re anything like me, you probably have some really frustrating moments before you get the good perspective we’re seeing…)
Is there an orthopaedic specialist or a sport medicine person around you could go see. In my experience, X-rays (a la ER) aren’t usually the right test to track down things like this. Perhaps an MRI or something might be able to give a better picture of what is going on…
So disappointing that they didn’t take you on. Glad you were able to find the positive and keep your chin up. Injuries are never fun!