General Anesthetic

Tomorrow I am going under general anesthetic for the 5th time in 4 years. And once again I am getting more parts of my knee removed so that I can function and run occasionally. I developed another tear because I did not rehab correctly after my last surgery and decided that hammering on the bike was completely normal. I now have another tear near the center of my knee. Some people get nervous about surgery but I have actually had more knee surgery than visits to the dentist in the last 4 years. Its pretty easy and comfortable. Couple of celebrex first. A bed to chill out in and get wheeled around in. A quick chat with the doctor in the O.R. then you wake up thinking it hasn't started yet but in fact its been finished for an hour. No dreams just a blink.

What has me somewhat concerned is the question of whether or not I should bother with trying to be able to run. Obviously my body is telling me something. 12 stress fractures, 5 knee surgeries, a blocked nerve in my back that kept me out for a year? Maybe this machine is meant to do something else. But then there is the addiction. That is the challenge because none of the injuries I've sustained in  he last few years would have happened had I accepted that I no longer tolerate hard training and that I should just enjoy the running subculture for what it is. I should just run local races and dive headfirst into the craic afterward. That is what I intend on doing this time. If my knee is fixed its only one part of the problem because my left knee, as anyone who reads this knows, is forever cooked. BUT I can tolerate small running loads and my right knee is the one preventing me from even doing that.

So the plan of attack is to finally get my right knee fixed by removing the remaining meniscus. Take full recovery time, as in pretend I have no interest in running. Ride the bike and compete on the bike. Then as the summer approaches build up to running 40 miles a week in 5 runs and run local 5ks to show the new upstarts that it takes more than fancy running gear to drop the old folks.

It should be good but then again it could also be a big waste of time. Either way I am fired up to finally fix this knee because running aside its been a kick in the balls for the last year. Every expo, every event, and every time I wake up dehydrated it hurts bad. This shouldn't be the case. The doc will give me video of the surgery which I'll post here. Technology = awesome. They can stick a camera in to record the process, I love that stuff.

Peace and much love,

Kel