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

Aqua Bike races. Oh the choices I have

Thanks for all the suggestions for Aqua Bike races I could do this season.
Now I just have to decide which one...or two...or...
What the heck, I should just do all of them.
I have to go now and call my travel agent.
Good thing I've got tons of frequent flier miles to use up.

April 3-5, 2009


June 28, 2009 (added here after SWTrigal's comment)


August 1, 2009


August 21-23, 2009


September 12, 2009


November 7, 2009


Anyone else doing any of these races?

What the...? are you kidding me?

I quickly googled Aquathlon and look what I found.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Aquathlon (underwater wrestling).

I should try this.

Aquathlon is wrestling in the water. “Aqua” means water in Latin. “Athlon” means wrestling. Aquathlon was created by Igor Ostrovsky, a coach of swimming and underwater sports. Aquathlon includes several disciplines: Aquathlon classic style, Aquathlon free style, Aquathlon scuba style, Aquathlon combat style, and Aquathlon gymnastics. Aquathlon is sometimes referred to as scuba combat. Competitions are not held in Aquathlon Combat Style. Aquathlon Combat Style is suitable for the training of Navy commandoes.


Prohibited behaviour:
Punching; chocking; tearing off a swimsuit or a mask or fins intentionally.





But we triathletes know better, don't we?
The sport of aquathlon consists of a continuous, two-stage race involving swimming followed by running.
The International Triathlon Union (ITU) and its member federation organizations sanction competitions and govern the sport.
The ITU holds an aquathlon world championship, typically held in the week before and at the same location as the ITU Standard Course Triathlon World Championship.

I think what I was actually looking for is the Aqua-Bike race format.
Geez.

Some knee-tails

623 Tries asked, "Just wondering. Why did the doc say you can't run anymore? Is it a cartilage thing or a structural thing? Maybe you could post more details?"

It's a cartilage and plastic thing. Structurally, all is well.



Approximately 25% of the posterior (back. 'reflected' in picture above) of my patella is plastic. The rest of the patella and knee joint are normal cartilage and ligaments. With every step and bend of my knee, the patella tracks (rides) in and along the front of the knee joint/knuckle (Patellofemoral groove) which are normal cartilage. The plastic portion of my patella is slightly harder than cartilage. That difference in hardness between the two surfaces will, over time, result in some wear on the joint groove and thus loss of cartilage on the joint.
This plastic was the fall-back option of my surgery. The first option was to remove the rotten cartilage and bone from the patella and then take some cores of natural bone and cartilage from a spot on the femor (Distal femoral condyle) and plug those cores into the void on the patella. Known as 'Oats procedure'.
However, the void on my patella was too big to accept the Oats procedure so we put a piece of nickle-sized plastic in the void. This should last me 20 years if I don't run on it.
If I were to run and continue with iron distance triathlons, or any long distance running, that simply puts extra wear/miles on the Patellofemoral groove and thus a shorter life on the cartilage do to the plastic wearing on it.
The orthopedist didn't say I can't run anymore at all but that would be best if I didn't run. He did say I could run very short distances on flat surfaces. Any downhill running puts even more pressure on the patella against the Patellofemoral groove and thus, additional wear on the joint. He said if I choose to run more, the life of my current knee would be less than 10 years.
So I have a choice here. Keep doing iron distance training and tris for the next few years or lay off the running and do all kinds of other sports for the next 20 years or so.
What happens after 20 years? Most likely another surgery to replace worn out cartilage or a full joint replacement. We'll see.
For now, I'm staying active with no-knee-impact sports I just got an invite to help out at an outrigger canoe race in Santa Barbara next week.



Maybe I'll enter and get my ass handed to me. Paddling could be fun.

Knee knews

4 weeks after surgery.


Most of the excess fluids have dissipated.
Range of motion is about 90%.
Still some swelling and general misshapen ugliness.
Icing and elevating every day.
Minor aches but no pain.
Stationary biking is fine.
Cross country skiing is great.

Donated 5 pairs of good running shoes to a charity.
Kept 4 pairs for myself...just in case.