A Sore Knee

For those of you who may not know, the reason why I started this blog was to chronicle my recovery after knee surgery on July 5, 2007. My friends and family know how important running and triathlon training was to me and how devastating my knee injury has been. I would get questions all the time, "How is your knee?" or "Are you running yet?" I felt bad that I would either ramble on and on about my frustration or I couldn't really answer the question. I decided to start a blog my friends and family could reference if they chose to do so. It has ended up being a wonderful way for me to journal my experience and throw in other happenings in my life. As I mentioned early on, I knew the blog was probably more for me than anyone else. At the time I started the blog I never thought it would take so long for my knee to heal. I was sure I would be off and running within a matter of months. My knee pain has been one of the biggest frustrations of my life so far and there are days I have my own little pity party. That said, over the last two years I have been trying hard to put things into perspective. Outside of my knee injury, I am very healthy. I have a great job and my friends and family are happy and healthy as well. I am grateful for this and it is mentioned in my prayers every day.

Still, my frustration gets the best of me sometimes and the disappointment can be almost unbearable. My knee pain is still such a mystery! My knee scope (arthroscopic surgery) ruled out several common knee injuries which was good and bad. There was no torn meniscus, no ACL tear... good. But, on the bad side, there was no obvious reason for what was causing the pain. That is why they call it "anterior knee pain" or a type of "syndrome." The most my doctors could tell me was that it was an overuse injury and their guesses were that I have either Patellofemoral Syndrome (when the kneecap tracking is off in the femoral groove) or Hoffa's Syndrome (inflammation of the fat pad), maybe both. I may never know for sure. I'm continuing to try to be patient and let my knee heal and the aggravated nerves settle down. All I want to do is be able to exercise like a normal person again.

The latest... On Sunday I rode for 30 minutes on my trainer. My trainer is my road bike locked onto a base that makes it a stationary bike. 25 minute rides had been going well for more than two weeks, so I decided to add 5 more minutes. This is the direction I was given by my physical therapist. Yesterday that achy/burning sensation I get when I do too much returned. Ugh! I'm keeping in mind what the author of the book I read recently (Brain Training) said. He went through a similar injury and it took him 3 years from the onset of his injury (he was training for Boston too!) until he could run a marathon again. Some days were two steps forward and then another day, one step back. That is exactly what I'm going through. I can only hope with my continued patience, that my activity will slowly increase and eventually I will be able to get back to regular exercise. Of course, I would love to run races and train for triathlons again, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Hopefully, it will be sooner than later!