Dunkirk NY – During the time I was in Washington state taking care of my daughter, my right knee was giving me trouble. Not much trouble, mind you, but enough that I was being careful with it. I had my Surface 604 ebike with me, and I had begun to take rides with it along the bike trails that surrounded the Lacey area. I also began to take CBD pills. Both of these actions seemed to begin to ameliorate the pain, and I found that as time went on there was not as much pain as there had been. By the time I got back home, the pain seemed to have lessened dramatically.
I don’t really want to attribute the easing of the pain to the CBD. I ran out of my supply bought in WA a few weeks after returning home, and I have not purchased any more. At the end of September, when I went in to see my orthopedist for a follow-up, he really put the notion of having the operation right into my lap. If I wasn’t feeling any pain, he said, then I could delay the procedure if I wanted to until there was pain. On the other hand, I’ve really scheduled out my last four months around this procedure, so why not just go ahead? He did say that the situation was a bit unpredictable, and that the lack of pain was probably due to the tear being in a position that was less irritating. If you think of a cracked mug, the crack can either be in a position where it fits together and can somewhat hold liquid, or the fit is no longer lining up correctly and the liquid leaks out. Either way, there is still a crack in the mug. That’s my situation, and right now the tear is lined up in such a way that there’s little pain.
I decided, since I had made all the plans and cleared my schedule for Nov., to go ahead and get this done. It’s preventative, in a way, since having the tear cleaned up will insure that it won’t come back. My knees are actually in pretty good shape all told. There is very little arthritis around the knees, and I’m definitely not a candidate for replacement. But getting and keeping both knees strong is important to me so that I can continue to walk and bikeride. I still dream of achieving some large physical accomplishment such as hiking the Appalachian Trail or the Finger Lakes Trail or perhaps a long-distance biking trip, and solid working knees are key to those dreams. By the time spring returns, I hope to be in shape to where I can make even a reduced version of those aspirations a reality. -twl