Are we sitting comfortably?
Innocently enough one Friday evening, about 6 weeks ago, I was sitting on the sofa with my leg tucked underneath me like I have done thousands of time before. But this was one too many times for my worn piece of knee cartilage. I was left with excruciating pain and a leg that couldn’t bend or straighten as the tear had folded itself into the joint - not ideal for rowing, to say the least.
A week later - after the arthroscopy operation - I sat down in the hospital, and watched a DVD of my lateral cartilage being removed in a saline solution. It was a bit like watching an underwater wildlife program with a big shark eating away at a white piece of flesh. This was confirmed to me when the consultant referred to all the ruptured skin and veins as “seaweed” as it was being hoovered out of my knee joint.
The recovery time was Christmas / New Year time but 9 weeks on I still have a swollen knee with not enough flexion to even be able to get on a bike. This is a full time athlete’s worst nightmare. Not being able to train tests your mental strength to the fullest. But I do know one thing - it will make any successes in the future that much sweeter…..so watch this space...
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