In my last post I shared that it looked as though I needed knee surgery to take care of a tear in my meniscus. My knee had been hurting for quite awhile and finally I made the connection that it had begun hurting after I fell in the MS 150 bike ride from Houston to Austin last April. I reached out to a doctor friend who took a look at it, scheduled an MRI and then, upon reading the report, determined that a tear was what was causing all the pain and that surgery was the most-likely next step.
I scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon whom my neighbor highly recommended and I was off to the races.
Yes, the surgeon agreed with my doctor friend. He explained why I needed surgery, what would happen in surgery and that I should back to normal in about 6 weeks. Before we selected a date, I had a few questions:
“I’m going skiing this weekend with my family,” I said. “Should that be a problem?”
He laughed a bit and said that skiing shouldn’t be any problem, but that my knee might hurt more than normal. I was glad to hear that I wouldn’t need to take any precautions.
“And what about the MS 150 bike ride this year? Will I be able to ride?” I asked.
Again, he smiled and said, “maybe.”
Ugh. I HATE to have to miss the MS 150!! Even if I fell last year while climbing a very steep hill (which is now resulting in surgery), I still LOVE that ride and all it stands for. I enjoy the two days of cycling (and all the training time– it’s some of my favorite prayer time) and I firmly believe in the mission of the MS Society, so I like to raise funds for them.
But surgery is needed, so under the knife I will go. And silly me for waiting this long.
I scheduled my surgery for early March, about 6 weeks prior to the MS 150, so it is possible I can ride this year, but I won’t know for sure until much closer to the ride. My plan now, to increase my chances of riding in the MS 150 this year, is to train before the surgery as much as possible and then be super-diligent on my post-surgery rehabilitation exercises.
My guess is that I MIGHT be cleared to ride the first day, but I doubt I’ll get to ride day two, which has steeper climbs. I hope I am wrong and can ride both days, but I’ll just have to wait and see. We have a stationary bike, and from what I have seen, cycling is often part of the rehabilitation process.
I’m planning to fundraise in any event and, if I cannot ride, then perhaps I can volunteer or bring my kids to the finish in Austin to see my husband and our friends cross the finish line. They’ve had to miss out on it each year in the past that both my husband and I have participated (That’s 8 years. Gary rode one year before me and I took all three kids to see him finish day one that year.)
It would be great to get the kids involved again. So I guess ride or no ride, good things can still be in store. I just hate waiting and wondering. But at least it is keeping my focus off of the actual surgery part. :)
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