Marvelous Meniscus!!!

So, I went to the ortho doc this morning, and I felt like I was awaiting serious test lab results...the suspense was killing me! Surgery or not, surgery or not...just tell me already!!

He brings up my MRI scan on the computer (pretty cool) and said my MCL is SEVERELY sprained and inflamed...it looks ballooned 5x the size it should be. Probably why I can't straighten my knee all the way, huh?!?!

And....the Meniscus is FINE! Thank you for holding up Meniscus. You're one tough cookie.

So, no surgery required which is great. No TRI either which is poopy, but hey, there are other TRIs out there this year. It's all good. It will be 3 whole months before I'm able to do normal physical activity though. So I get to be super patient. And, I'm thinking milking this injury for all it's worth and having Ryan wheel me around in a wheelchair at Disneyland for my bday (since bday peeps get in for free!!!) so we get to the front of the line. Shhhh, don't tell!

P.S. I totally have the same injury as the Lakers Center, Andrew Bynum. Yeah, I keep up with NBA athletes so I know all the scoop...haha, yeah right. I didn't even know who Andrew what's-his-name was until today. But, it is quite glamorous we share the same injury. I wonder if he's sporting the gimp walk too!?!?

Mighty Meniscus

Yeah, I wasn't familiar with the "meniscus" either until only recently unfortunately. Went to Mammoth last weekend and had a fabulous day skiing. On Day 2, which would have been a 2nd fabulous day of skiing, I instead did a not-so-graceful splits in my skis (1st run of the day mind you on a "green" trail) and my left knee twisted underneath me.

After I balled my eyes out for 3 whole minutes (not because of the pain but the thought I may not be able to participate in the TRI I've been training for), I skied down the rest of the run, and my knee has NOT been feeling too hot ever since. I walk with an awesome limp. It's great. My new nickname is Gimpy. Loves it.

I went to the ortho surgeon this morning and he said it could be two things: (a) just a sprain/tear to the MCL which would require no surgery, or (b) MCL tear AND Meniscus tear which WOULD require surgery...but only a few weeks rehab. I'll know next week after the MRI scan. Woohoo!!

Although I'm hugely disappointed about not being able to participate in this upcoming TRI, I consider myself lucky considering other injuries to the knee could require 6+ months of rehab. And my ski accident could have been A LOT worse. A LOT. My heart goes out to Natasha Richardson's family and friends. So tragic.

Quackity-Quack

So, aside from our neighborhood feline, Max (who we call Maximus, Maxxy, and when he's bad....Maxi-pad)...we now have two new animal residents of the bird variety in our apartment complex. A ducky couple! They're pretty darn cute. And they hang out by our pool all the time. I make "quacking" noises whenever I walk past them. I'm totally THAT girl.

And each time I see this cute duck pair, it brings a smile to my face. They're adorable. However...they weren't so adorable at 7am this morning! Granted, I should have been awake anyway and been throwing on my gym clothes for my daily TRI training session, but heck, I'm entitled to snooze atleast 15 times, and, the "cute" ducky duo were NOT helping. The first couple "quacks" I heard were endearing. And when it reached about the 50th quack, I was ready to throw a shoe out the window at them. I was NOT happy.

Is there a way to remove a duck's voicebox by chance? Only kidding!!! I would never even fathom such a thing. Geez. Relax. Hehe. If they could just schedule their "quacking" sessions between the hours of 10 am and 5 pm, that would be much appreciated though.

I'm a fan of stones

Hot stone massages that is. We had a girls' spa day and I decided to change it up and go with a hot stone massage. I had never had one before...I usually go with the standard "use and abuse" you deep tissue massages to work out the knots in my back.

And let me say...I LOVE hot stone massages. I thought it'd be really gimmicky...like, ooooo, let's slap these hot stones on you and charge you $50 extra bucks for leaving pock marks essentially all over your body and the stones stay hot for all of 7 seconds. And I was pleasantly surprised because the masseur kept reheating the stones and actually massaged WITH the hot stones which felt so freaking cool. I may just have discovered a pricey indulgence. Oh geez.

So, I've gotten a lot of massages in my day...especially given my chronic shoulder injury...and I always feel weird with male masseurs. I had a dude who gave me the hot stone massage...and he was probably in his 50s or 60s....I couldn't decide if that was more or less creepy. And he wasn't inappropriate in any way (if he had been, he would have received a welcoming knee to the groin region). Oftentimes, I'll request a female masseuse so I don't feel weird in any way, but male masseurs can typically apply more pressure.

Maybe next time I ask for a flaming male masseur, so I get the best of both worlds?