2010 Season: Over before it started?

I injured my right knee just before Christmas, playing basketball at the gym.  I was just killing time while my wife finished up on the treadmill.  Went to change direction, planted my foot, but my knee kept going.  I felt a pop, then some searing pain, and I was on the ground.  I suddenly realized, as the high school kids I was playing with stared down at me with clueless expressions, that I was the old fat guy writhing around on the gym floor!  I ended up with a torn ACL, and tears in my lateral and medial menisci.  I put off the surgery so I could go to Gulfport for my job, and to get my interview with Josh and Melissa done.  There was no way in hell I was missing that trip!

Anyway, I finally had the surgery done this past Friday.  They grafted a piece of my patellar tendon, with a bit of bone on each side, into the center of my knee to replace the ACL.  Doing that required that they drill holes in my femur and tibia, to thread the graft into.  Then it's fastened on each side with screws.  The surgeon ended up trimming off a little bit of one of the menisci, but the other one had already started healing up pretty well.

Pictures of my knee, post-op, follow (Warning, kinda graphic!!).

Basically, I'm looking at 6 months of intensive rehab, so track season this year may not happen at all.  I'm going to make every effort to recover as quickly as possible, but it just has to heal, and that takes time.  The pain isn't terrible right now, surprisingly.  A portion of my lower leg, from my knee to about halfway down my shin, is still numb to the touch.  I assume the surgeon may have nicked a nerve during the operation.  Hopefully, feeling will return in that region eventually, but for now, I'm perfectly content for it to be numb!  I'm also on Percocet and Ketorolac, and just came off of Oxycontin on Tuesday.  So yay for drugs, I guess, but I hate taking pills, so I'll be getting off of those as soon as possible.  The Ketorolac will run out tomorrow.  After that, I'll probably switch to Ibuprofen, if I still need an anti-inflammatory.

Therapy already started Monday.  I'm doing a handful of muscle-activation and range of motion exercises for now, and a couple stretches, just at home.  I go back in for another assisted session tomorrow, then have my post-op with the surgeon on Wednesday of next week.  The staples should come out then, and my leg will look a bit less gnarly.

All of this simply continues the pattern of my on-track activities for the past few years.  In 2008, I got married in May, which pushed my track season start back to August.  In 2009, we bought a new house, which again delayed my start until August.  This year, depending on how quickly my knee is rehabilitated and I get clearance from my doctors, my track season may be delayed until August or later.

This brings me to an interesting decision.  Last year, I spent all of my track time trying to knock off the rust from the previous year, and saw precious little gains in terms of improving my riding.  In fact, I saw no gains at all in terms of lap times.  So once my knee is good enough to ride again, I will have to decide whether it is worth the time and expense to go to the track for a few weeks at the end of the season, or just to shelve it all for this year and come out swinging in 2011.  The bike needs new tires, a new exhaust, and a few other tid bits before it hits the track again anyway, so I might be better served just waiting, doing those things over next winter, and getting the most out of it next year.  But boy, is that ever depressing to contemplate.

Sheesh, 2011!  I'll be hitting the track on a seven year old bike!  I'll try to massage a few more ponies out of her, but chances are, I'll be increasingly outclassed.  As much as I hate to think about it, eventually, I'm going to have to upgrade equipment.  Still, I'm not particularly worried about that until I'm starting to race seriously.  No sense in blowing money on equipment when the rider isn't up to it, right?

But anyway, there's plenty for me to do in the mean time.  I'll be rehabbing the knee, then once that's good enough, getting back on the mountain bike.  I was in the middle of a weight loss program (and having some success!) when I dorked up my knee, so I'll need to get back on track with that, as well.  I'll do my best to keep this site up to date with my progress, and hopefully I'll have some more interview and article content to post as well!

Until next time...


~Cephas
THE FREE RADICAL