Medical Monday: Better Knee And Good Head!

   *giggle*
   Okay this is a Saturday but for the purposes of clearly delineating what this post is about and allowing the reader to either sit there, rapt, or move quickly on, I present to you another Medical Monday post! 
   I could almost have actually posted this on Monday but I really wanted to wait til at least Tuesday because that was the day I was getting the results of the excisional biopsy they did on my head three weeks ago. There was a spot on my left temple which an earlier punch biopsy had determined was squamous cell skin cancer. The excisional biopsy (a considerably larger removal of tissue around the affected area) determined that there were, indeed, no remaining cancer cells! So...basically...YAY! What I will have as a reminder of this procedure is about a 2 inch scar along my hairline (which will in the future be known as the "knife fight in the alley" scar!) I will now return to regular visits with my dermatologist and the adventures of The Old Man And The Sun will continue. I use a very light tone when talking about all this but, essentially, and as nice as it seems with its warmth and ability to gladden, the sun is a fucker....
   Now, back to my right knee.
   My physio appointments have ended and it is now my job to take care of and assess my knee on my own. It is quite clear to me that the knee is fine for hiking and trail-running, so that part is all good. What has not been so clear is whether the knee will hold up under the duress of sprinting and/or sports.
   

My taped right knee. I've learned how to tape
the knee so that the kneecap is tracking securely.

It was the nagging suspicion that it might break down while running full-out which took me to physio in the first place but I've had a hard time finding a way to test it comfortably. Some of this has been due to the weather, more of it has been due to the psychological barrier I've set up around possibly injuring it all over again.
   This past weekend, I decided to head to the nearest football field and try my damnedest to run hard on it. I wanted to run on grass---something has been telling me that if the knee gives out while I'm running my fastest on a hard track then I'm gonna be in much worse shape than if I'm on a soft, grassy surface.
   It sort of worked out okay.
   I headed to nearby St. Thomas Aquinas high school, slipped on a pair of football cleats, measured out about sixty metres, warmed up a little, and then tried running hard.

Where I ran--football filed at Thomas Aquinas

 
   The knee didn't give out and I was running faster than I'd run in the last two years. This was encouraging. There was no pain, just a nagging sensation that a part of my body was being asked to do something it had almost forgotten how to do. I am hoping that this sensation eventually goes away, with more training and practice. 
   However, I was not running at full speed. I was running very fast but not full speed and that is the remnant of the psychological barrier I was just describing. I have the funny feeling that I actually need to have a reason to run at full speed and I suspect this will only happen by getting re-involved in some kind of sports.
   Maybe ball hockey...
   Finally, to cap off the week that was, I made it out on to the Thames Valley Trail on Monday for a hike with my co-worker friend, Philip. Philip followed my last summer's tales of hiking the Trail end-to-end and was intrigued enough to purchase the guide book and also join the Thames Valley Trail Association. His plan is to do the trail as part of his Type 2 diabetes recovery so more power to him!
   

Philip's first visit to Kains Woods!

We met at the Kains Woods section of the trail, near the Oxford Street entrance, and left Philip's car there. We then drove to the other entrance off of Westdel Bourne and hiked the trail from there. It was pretty summery and an excellent day for hiking! We took a couple of water breaks and another break for munchies along the way. It was wonderful to see the very beginnings of the plant life starting to re-appear. It was also possible to see the aftermath of recent, almost historical, flooding in the area. Sections of Kains Woods go right through the Thames Valley flood plain and it was very clear that where we were walking was clearly underwater not all that long ago. The bases of the trees off to our right (the river was on our left) had piles of debris gathered around them, from where limbs, leaves and branches had been swept downstream and gotten caught. Quite the sight, really!

Piles of debris at the bases of trees!

   At the end of the hike, Philip seemed to have managed well and we agreed to get together again and hike another portion sometime soon. Looking forward to it!
   
   

Medical Monday And My Trip To The Track

   The day before yesterday was yet again a Medical Monday and I got together for another physio session with Alison. 
   With each progressive visit, Alison has gotten me to the point where my "bad" knee is now my left one, as the right one (the one she's been working on) actually has been feeling pretty good and normal.
   Now, "normal", in my case, is an interesting term. My goal in acquiring a physiotherapist was so that my knee would end up feeling like it did before my injury last spring. Before the injury, I had the knees of a 64-year-old man who'd played sports his whole life and for about 40 of those years had been a goalie of one sort or another. Those are not necessarily good knees to have. At the same time, I was happy with them and what they could do. They still gave me grief fairly often but it was grief I could deal with.
   Alison, I think, would like me to have good knees and despite all the physiotherapy in the world I don't think I'm destined to have real good knees. All I want is for them to be an acceptable level of crappy! So this is what I'm aiming for.
   Alison and I do have one common goal, however, and that is to get me back on a track and running sprints. Where we're at now is me heading to a track and seeing just how fast I can run on my newly improved right knee.

The track at STA. I was the streak in lane 2!

   To this end, twice in the last two weeks I have headed to the nearby track at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School here in London to test things out. 
   The first time was a little problematic---as I got up to "speed" suddenly there was a sharp pain travelling down the outside of my right calf, not dissimilar to a shin splint. At this point, I shut her down. The second time, just this weekend, I managed to get travelling at about 85 per cent speed without having that same pain. This enabled me to sprint three or four more times but never full-out. I think there's a bit of a psychological block to really laying it all out on the line---more than likely the fear of blowing the knee right out. As unlikely as this is given the stress tests performed on it regularly in physio, I think I'm still giving in to the fear. 
   So, at this point, we've made a fair amount of progress and have cut back on the frequency of physio visits. My next visit is almost three weeks away and my task between now and then is to continue to do all the exercises I've been given and spend as much time as I can trying to run as fast as I can! 

The big bloc of missing numbers in the
middle is when I stopped doing leg and knee work

   At the same time that I've been attending physio in a faithful and regular manner, I've also done a pretty good job (for me) of hitting the gym on a pretty consistent basis. I started going back to Goodlife Fit4Less again just before Christmas and really didn't want to be one of those "resolution" gym-goers. I'm at the point now where I actually look forward to it. I carry around a little clipboard and chart with me (and manage to look pretty geeky) as I go from machine to machine, partly to track my progress and partly just to remember what weight I left off at on any given machine. So far, I've just about finished my first chart and it's pretty cool to look back and see the numbers slowly rising! One of the telling signs for my knee was the fact that I missed a whole bunch of sessions of knee work due to the pain but am now able to resume them more or less where I left off! Yeehaw!
   Finally, so you are totally up-to-date on this Medical Monday post, my little carcinoma surgery is now set for April 3. I'm quite happy for this to be happening as soon as it is, we're headed for New York City in June and my biggest fear was that surgery would rear its (my?) ugly head right in the middle of that. So, no fears! There, all caught up!

Medical Monday: Part Two--My Therapist Takes A Knee

   Today was another Medical Monday and, quite frankly, way too long in coming. I'd finally decided to see a physiotherapist for my bum right knee and today was the day we met for the first time.
   I decided to go to the local office of the CBI Health Group for my physio. There are all sorts of good places for physio in London but CBI is literally a three-minute drive from my place and the easier a place is to get to, the more likely it is I will get to it.
   I filled out the usual info forms and then Alison, my physiotherapist, showed up, introduced herself, and took me down to the physio room. 
   After hearing my sad story, watching me both walk and run, and bending the knee every which way possible, she came up with a theory.
   She noticed from my gait that I had a bit of a hip drop. This has caused the IT band to stretch into a position it is not accustomed to and has caused misalignment on that right knee. The tendons, ligaments, and meniscus appear fine so she is reasoning that the knee is not tracking properly and bone is wearing on cartilage.
   Part of today's treatment involved the use of a TENS machine and taping of the knee before I left.
   The TENS machine (and I'm guessing that most of you have had some sort of experience with one) works by attaching electrodes around the area of your body which is in pain and then running electrical current through that area. Basically, it creates a very strong, tingly sensation. 
   The TENS technician applied the electrodes to my knee and then turned the machine on, asking me to let her know when I could feel it. It took awhile but I could finally feel the tingling and told her that she could turn it even higher. Well, she did this and before I could say anything, the whole inside of my right thigh started to spasm! She turned it down quite quickly and got it back to a comfortable level. She then left the room.Now, what I wasn't expecting was that the machine, all on its own, would suddenly make my knee jerk and spasm. I was about to call someone when it stopped. It was fine for awhile and then started up again, causing more spasms. I finally figured out that the machine was simply cycling and giving my knee a wide range of different intensity levels. 

Home with a tape job! Not sure what's
taped to what, but the knee feels good!

   After the TENS, Alison returned and taped the knee. She figured the tape would last a couple of days and I am curious as to whether it will help or not. One thing I can say, though, is that tonight the knee feels great! I was sent home with exercises to do and was also told what and what not to do at the gym.
   So far, so good. It is such a good feeling to finally be doing something constructive with the stupid knee. Hopefully, running soon. Then....sprinting!

Kinda Two Blog Posts In One

   I got out and ran on a road last weekend for probably the first time in two months. In the meantime, I've spent a fair amount of time on nearby trails but this always turns out to be a pretty time-consuming endeavour and today I had the will but just not the time.
   For comparison's sake, I ran the same 5K route in the neighbourhood I usually do. I was a little worried that the legs wouldn't be up to it, not having done this kind of running in awhile, but they held up just fine. Didn't try to run fast, just wanted to be tired when I was done and this certainly was accomplished.
   About a third of the way through, it occurred to me that I'd forgotten my phone and this gave me cause for concern---my phone always seems to act like a safety net for me, should anything untoward happen, and I feel a little naked without it. I guess the fact that I was running along busy streets made it seem pretty safe. Unfortunately, it also meant no pics.
   Took a couple of very brief walking breaks and ended up getting it done in slightly over 43 minutes. This , of course, is really slow and I know it, for sure. At the same time, I'm almost 64 and I weigh 226 pounds. At one point today, I was passed by a young girl who looked as though she might have weighed maybe 116. I realize that all things are relative but I wonder if she would have passed me if she'd been carrying her 100 pound brother on her back! And for those of you out there who weigh substantially less than 226 (almost all of you), please take a minute and imagine running with a knapsack weighing whatever the weight differential is between yours and mine and (just for the fun if it!) maybe toss in the age difference at the same time. Then, let's go running together!
   Of course, the above is all sorta bullshit and we all know it but it is a bit of a mental game I play with myself when I occasionally get a little down about my running times. It enables me to tell myself I'm actually doing fine and at the same time it kind of reminds me about how fast I could be running if I maybe lost 30 pounds!
   
    Now, this weekend, I opted for something a little different. I decided to head to the nearby high school track and run some laps. We've had snow here in London but it was just a little and soon it was gone again so it was quite possible to run on a track outdoors in early December and that's a little unheard of in these parts. There's a Catholic high school called St. Thomas Aquinas less than 5 minutes from where I live and so I headed there. The high school I went to, Oakridge, is less than a minute further up the road but the whole track area there is cordoned off due to re-sodding (I think) this past summer.

The first straightaway

This was all very "last minute"
so no spectators!

   I had no real plan for this apart from running about 5K on a track. As well, part of my reasoning for wanting to visit a track was that lately I've been toying with the idea of becoming involved in the sprinting part of running and I wanted to be somewhere where you felt a little more athletic. Somehow or other, being on a track with markings and stands kind of fits the bill.
   I started off by checking out the 100 meter track markings. I turned on the Garmin and started walking one of the lanes. I saw what looked like the finish line up ahead but, according to the Garmin, 100 meters came just short of it. When I stopped and looked down, however, there was  clearly a blue line drawn across all the lanes and I took this to be the 100 meter finish line. I looked back to the start and thought that's a long ways away to be running it in anywhere near 12 seconds or so which is the time I'd be aiming at being able to sprint some day, according to my age. I kind of tucked that thought away for the moment and started to run.

The football field, and , way off
in the distance, the trees of
Kains Woods, one of my
fave places to trail run!

St. Thomas Aquinas. Known
around these parts as STA.

   I ran all the way to the far side of the track and came across the straightaway. I hadn't really planned doing anything differently there but I saw the lanes and this long, straight track with lane markings and I started to sprint! It wasn't a flat-out sprint but it was much faster than I would have run in any 5K race, unless perhaps I was trying to pass people at the end.
   When I reached the other end if the straightaway, I was exhausted and stopped to catch my breath. From there, I walked around that end of the track and came back to the original straightaway I'd started on. At this point I still had no real plan for this run but knew I was at least supposed to be running, so I started up again. Eventually, I made it back to the far side of the track and decided I would sprint down it again. And, once again, I was exhausted. I walked around that end if the track kind if gasping and muttering "holy" over and over again (with the odd "F" word interspliced) and then it occurred to me I was running on a Catholic school track and this sort of gave me the gasping giggles. 
   This, then, became my routine today---a mixture of walking, running, and sprinting. Finally, at about 4.5 K, I called it a day. It was a marvelous way to get in a little speedwork and being on a track will make any future workouts there fairly easy to change up. Why I waited until December to start using an outdoor track is a little beyond me but if this winter is anything like last winter it might actually be doable more often than not!