Cozy?

Bike Time: 20 minutes !!!
Distance: 2.79 miles

Today I rode twenty minutes on a stationary bike at the YMCA. It was a miracle I rode so long and with such not crappy form. I was able to get moving easily and my toes were not pointed down to the center of the earth as if the world depended on it. I didn't twerk my hips (twerk here meaning a cross between twist and jerk), either.

I went to the YMCA right around lunch time, and crossed paths with a young woman. The cardio room was busy, and three of the five bikes were being used. I snuck in between two people, and took my brace off. As I got on the bike, the young woman looked at me and said, "Knee surgery?"

"Yes," I said. "ACL repair."

"I am eight months out," she said. She looked like she was in her early twenties. She was clipping away on the bike next to me. I never would have guessed she had been injured. She was wearing shorts, but I didn't notice a Frankenleg.

We sat and talked about recovery. It makes me wonder how alcoholics do it, discuss their recovery. I guess that is why they have meetings. With an ACL repair, you don't need meetings. I wear my brace in public, and those who have been initiated tell me their stories and offer commiseration. I was shopping for fabric early this week with my friend Fiona. We stopped in Designer Fabric Liquidation* and the guy at the store told me about how he tore his ACL years ago in Vail.

"I was skiing in the back country with a member of the US National Team," he said. "I wanted to impress her and try to keep up. There were lots of bumps and I crashed. The best part was the Ski Patrol who picked me up was absolutely gorgeous! I kept looking up at him from the sled as he carried me up the hill and then back down to the main mountain." Fiona and I laughed.

"I think my Ski Patrol team were just regular people. No Ski God carried me down the mountain," I said.

"I never saw him again," he said, trying to make me feel better about the average looking team who helped me out. 

Back at the YMCA on the bike, the woman I continued to chat. She asked me how my physical therapy was going. I asked where she had her PT, and I told her about mine. I said I was grateful that my PT team was connected with my surgeon and vice versa. Sharing information between the two was not an issue, and there was a connected responsibility.

"I have a friend with a torn ACL whose physical therapist is one of her friends," I said. "I am not sure that would work for me. Your PT has to kick you in the butt and get you to do things you don't want to do. I am not sure a friend would be able to do that."

The woman opened her eyes super wide. "I had to switch physical therapists after six months," she said. "I had been seeing this person twice a week for six months. We got to know each other and became friends. And then the same thing you are taking about happened. My PT stopped giving me new things to do, and didn't adjust my program."

"Did you get too cozy?" I asked. 

"Yes," she said. "I needed someone who wasn't so close to the situation to step back and change directions."

"I can see how that can happen. One minute you are talking about your leg, and the next about your dog and kids." Part of the chatter is to distract the patient from the discomfort, but over the course of weeks, the conversation continues from appointment to appointment. In some ways, this makes PT more bearable -- you get to talk to someone who knows you. The same person can also measure and notice your progress from session to session which is good. They can also see your lack of progress from one session to the next, which is not so good.

"How did you sleep?" I asked.

"Sleeping pills for two months," she said.

We carried on like this for twenty minutes. The riding came easy today, and the conversation kept me going beyond my ten minutes.

"You look great," I said. I was impressed with her stories of her six mile runs. She wasn't back to her main sport, soccer, because of the stopping and cutting, but she was in good shape.

"You look great, too," she said.

I went out and rewarded myself for a twenty minute bike ride with a bowl of pho for lunch.

* The name of this store makes sounds like it would be in a giant ugly warehouse with dim lighting. In fact, it is a super cute shop on Stone Way that sells upholstery fabric.