The Tin Man and the Mouse

Last Tuesday night, I'm going through the Tai Chi warm-up at the beginning of yoga class and I hear this very faint squeak coming from somewhere off to my right. Squeak, squeak, squeak.
I ignore it and continue along to the yoga poses. Squeak, squeak.

I'm fallowing along with a sun salutation routine and as I fold forward to touch my toes, I micro-bend my knees and I hear that faint squeak again. I look to my right...nothing. Is it coming from somewhere in the air vent? Is there a baby mouse out in the hall?
It sounds like a tiny mouse-house door hinge in need of oil.

With every movement and pose, I keep hearing that faint squeak.

Near the end of class, we settle down with some sitting poses. So with my legs extended on the floor, I reach forward toward my toes. Again, I micro-bend my knees...
AND THERE IT IS! IT'S MY RIGHT KNEE!

OK, I know I'm a little rusty but my joints should not be squeaking like the Tin Man.



Apparently, now that the fluids have dissipated from my knee and the swelling has reduced, some lubrication has gone away too and that new plastic part on the back of my kneecap is rubbing against the femoral condyle (as it should be) and squeaking like a baby mouse.

OK, at least it's not clicking and grinding as it was before surgery but now I have a mouse in my knee.

A Fable:

Not long ago, there was a man who worked in the woods. He was a good friend to all the animals and was loved by all the creatures of the woods. His job was to protect them and keep them safe from harm of man's cruel environmental degradation.
There came a day when this woodsman was hiking through the beautiful mountains and he stumbled as his knee stopped bending and filled with pain. He needed a new part for his knee to be well again. When the creatures of the woods heard about his need, they had a meeting to decide who could help the woodsman's knee so the woodsman could come back to the woods and protect the animals.
The woods creatures found out that a very small piece was needed to replace the woodsman's worn out kneecap. Since the piece needed was small, the smallest creature in the woods volunteered to go live in the woodsman's knee to make it well and be strong again. That creature was a baby Field Mouse. She was new to the woods and very innocent in her ways but was also very brave and courageous. She happened to be nearby when the woodsman stumbled and was the first to tell all the other creatures of the woods what had happened to their faithful guardian. Fiona said, "I am the smallest of us all and I shall go to live in the woodsman's knee so he can come back to the woods and be among us to watch over and protect us." All the other creatures agreed and so it was. Fiona Field Mouse now lives in the woodsman's knee and the woodsman is getting stronger every day. Soon he will be back to the woods to guard and protect all the other creatures.



The End