Faceless Blog

First, allow me to apologize for the late post.  I got some news yesterday that left me slightly bummed out, and I was super-tired by the end of the day.  The bright side  of things is that I am not bummed out at all today, for reasons that will become clear in the next post, and I feel almost re-energized by today’s workouts.

Tuesday afternoon, after PT was all done for the day, I was taken down to radiology and had a little glamor-shots style photo session involving my right knee and the x-ray machine.  (so really…I just had two x-rays of my knee taken)  Dr. Sing wanted to have some more information, in the ongoing effort to diagnose my knee trouble.  He also had blood drawn on which he would run various tests and black magics.  Well, the blood tests came back negative (I don’t have Gout) and, I’m pleased to say, my creatine is now at 1.6.  (Doctors track your creatine level, among other things, to determine the level of function in your kidneys.  Mine continues to improve.)  What caught us by surprise were the results of the x-rays.  As it turns out, I have severe arthritis in my right knee.  It looks worst along the lateral portion of the knee, but it’s pretty bad all around.  So, here’s the good news:  1)  Now we know what it is.  In my book, knowing is always better than not knowing.  2)  Arthritis, while unfortunate for someone my age, is completely treatable.  You basically just have to manage the pain.  3)  There may be a third bright side, but it’s too soon to talk about it.  Remind me later and I’ll let you know if it panned out or not.

So, what does all of this mean to my eventual walking?  I’ll tell you, it doesn’t mean a damned thing.  This is just another in a series of hurdles between me and my goal.  I’ve overcome every other problem so far, and I have no doubt that this one will be conquered with equal ease and speed.  In a worst case scenario, and I do mean worst case…I can picture this meaning that I’ll have to walk with a cane to help offload pressure from the right leg.  And really, I wanted to walk with a cane anyways.  They’re very stylish, and you can use them to strike teenagers…so…win-win!

First off, I’m sorry that I didn’t get this done yesterday. Allow me to make the reason for that delay the subject of today’s entry. (err…yesterday’s entry) Did you ever, say as the result of a New Year’s resolution or something, head to the gym after being particularly lazy for, say, the past year. You’d work out at the gym for an hour or so, doing exercises that you’re comfortable with, then head home and, later that night or the following morning, complain about how sore your muscles are. It’s ok, we’ve all done it. Then, you’d wait a day (or two, or more) before you’d head back to the gym and do the same. Sometimes, when you head back, you even take it a little easy, not wanting to be as sore the next day. Well, to compare… I’m working out three hours a day. The exercises that I do are not confined to my legs, but are, in fact, working just about every muscle group I can remember. (My NECK was sore last night, for God’s sake) I’m also not doing them at my own leisurely pace, but at the pace dictated by my therapists, which in this analogy are a lot like my own personal trainers, I suppose. This means that I’m working (if you’ll pardon the expression), balls to the wall every day for three hours. Then, after resting overnight and waking up sore, I get to do it all again…every day. My therapy goes seven days a week, no breaks. So, when I complain about having sore muscles, at least you’ll understand why. Now, complaining aside, here’s the good news: I broke my record for standing without holding on to anything yesterday. The record was standing at around 16 seconds when I got here. Yesterday, I stood for a full minute on my own. Damn straight. Progress is being made folks. I’m certainly not going to be walking overnight, but day by day, inch by inch…I’m always moving forward. Progredi Semper.