“This whole notion behind the operation was to get myself healthy again so I can get back to the sports and the activities that I wish to partake.”

That does remind me, one other thing I’m grateful for also comes with a huge caveat. I had a situation a few weeks ago where I had to go to a doctor’s checkup regarding my knee. I underwent surgery in June 20th, and I’m still mid rehab. I have to spend two months on crutches. No weight bearing. And, you know, this whole notion behind the operation was to get myself healthy again so I can get back to the sports and the activities that I wish to partake. 

And, uh, when I went to my checkup appointment — usually it’s been a physician’s assistant who I’ve developed a pretty strong relationship with. This time, it was with the actual surgeon. Uh, the surgeon had me bend my knee once barely looked at me, and the appointment — without exaggeration — lasted about 90 to 120 seconds. Two minutes, uh, and it was over. And on his way out, he just mentioned, like, “All right. Yeah yeah yeah. Just, uh, biking’s good for it right now. No kneeling, no squatting, no running, you know, the bang bang bang.”

And as — he was saying this as he was backtracking — backpeddling out of the room, and I was able to stop him and be like “Hey!”  Uh oop, probably didn’t say it that abruptly, but it’s like “Um, do you mean…? No running during the rehab, right? Like right now at this point in rehab, don’t run?” And he’s like, “Well I don’t know if you ever should.” Meaning like, literally, for the rest of my life, and then he just walked out. 

You know, he did add, like, one more sentence. He was like, you know, “The bang bang bang could just, you know, lead it to tear again.” And then, then he walked out, and so I was left, like, shellshocked. Wrong word. Shocked. Just shocked without the shell. And so for a period of time, I was like “What have I done? I’m gonna go surgery just to be a 39 year old who’s never allowed to move quickly again?” And so much of my life is about — it’s a weird statement to make out of context, or even in context — so much of my life is about moving quickly. You know, it’s just — it’s what I do. I like running. I love basketball. I love just making moves in the kitchen random times. What is my life without that?

And so long story short, I was finally able to get in contact with my actual physician’s assistant, who is my surgeon’s partner, so you would think they have visions that are aligned with one another. But alas, that is not the case. The physician’s assistant approved. Basically said I, I could begin exploring running on October 20th, which was yesterday. I have not tried running yet. I don’t know if my knee’s ready. It was with a caveat of like “Yeah, October 20th is our date where I’d probably be fine with you exploring that avenue if you’re feeling ready for it, if your knee feels ready. I don’t know if it does or not.”

But what a drastic turn from my surgeon saying “I don’t know if you should ever run ever again. Especially not now,” he seemed to be suggesting to my physician’s assistant — turning around and saying “Yeah, yeah. We’re probably at the point of rehab or you can try running again on October 20th,” which is much closer to the plan we’ve had all along, I guess.

So, confusing, at times frustrating, but now, I guess, proceed with caution.