A Painful Lesson

You may recall a prior mention of my knees hurting after being on the treadmill?  Well, the truth is that my knees have been bothering me for several months. I started noticing a crunching sound when I would walk downstairs. And although I used to be able to do a  half-hour on the elliptical, I was finding myself aching after 15-20 minutes. To the point where I really did have to stop. 

Yesterday, I went to the orthopedist to get it checked out.  Turns out I have chondromalacia patellae in both knees. Most likely aggravated to this point because I got bold enough to increase the intensity of my work-outs so I could lose some weight. Hah! No good deed goes unpunished. 

My doctor says I should not go the gym for at least two weeks.  Additionally, no yoga, no Zumba, no kneeling, no squatting, limit stairs, walking only on flat surfaces, no hills. Which means I can't even walk around the block where I live! This, just when I was at the point of being ready to sign up for a personal trainer and really get things going.  The intial treatment was an injection of cortisone into my right knee. If it works for the right, left will be next - in two weeks. The doctor warned me that some patients experience increased knee pain after the injection. I didn't think much of it because honestly, the pain has been more on the level of irritating and frustrating rather than debilitating.  So I came home feeling quite sorry for myself (wallowing in a little pity party actually) because I was just getting serious about my personal fitness and the Universe has to go and throw this huge boulder in my path. As the evening wound down, my pain level increased. By bedtime I was riding a wave of pain with an undertow of serious depression.  I didn't sleep well. I couldn't get comfortable.

I woke up stiff and in pain. I got woozy trying to get down the stairs for breakfast.  All those things my doctor told me not to do? Couldn't do them even if I wanted to! I emailed my office to let them know that I would be working from home and would call in for our meeting.  I brought my laptop up from the basement so I wouldn't have to negotiate the stairs all day.  I iced my stupid knee. I worked. I called in for the meeting. I worked some more.  Then I got mad. What the heck Universe? I mean, come on, I'm trying to get fit and now this??? Seriously, I was pissed off. Which is a good thing. Depression makes me unable to function, freezes me in my tracks.  Anger, on the other hand, spurs me to action. And next thing I know, I'm thinking around this freakin' roadblock. Over it. Through it. Under it. Whatever. I'll be damned if I'm going to let an effing knee thing knock me off the path to fitness or sideline my journey! Sorry, that's the way I talk when I get angry.

We'll see how the knee feels tomorrow.  And assuming I can walk again, I'm heading to the gym.  No, I'm not going to do anything to aggravate my knees or worsen my condition.  But I can talk to a personal trainer. I can do upper body strength training.  Maybe there are some core strengthening exercises I can do that won't aggravate my back or my knees.  Surely there must be something I can do beyond sitting on my ample backside?!

So yes, yesterday's lesson about not giving up too easily apparently stuck.