During middle school and highschool, I played field hockey and somewhere along the lines I developed a Baker's Cyst on the back of my left knee. A Baker's Cyst is the build up of the knee fluid that develops when it produces too much in the joint. It happens in active people, people with arthritis and people with an injury such as torn cartilidge that goes untreated. But for the fact that there was a slight protrusion on the back of my knee, nobody could see it, it didn't cause me any problems and life was beautiful.
Until recently.
I have been running for about two years now--increasing both speed and distances--and, as I've stated many times before, it has been amazing; however, about three weeks ago, I did a 9.5 mile run around a Lake by my house and then two days later i attempted it again. At exactly Mile 6 on the second day, my left knee was shot. I was in excruciating pain--but it was weird. It felt like it had swollen up, but when I looked down at it, everything seemed normal, so I tried to push on. Big mistake. Big...Huge. By Mile 8, of mostly walking by now, I about died and Andy had to come and rescue me via Toyota Camry. It was horrible...so I iced it, heated it and stayed off of it for about a week.
I have been running for about two years now--increasing both speed and distances--and, as I've stated many times before, it has been amazing; however, about three weeks ago, I did a 9.5 mile run around a Lake by my house and then two days later i attempted it again. At exactly Mile 6 on the second day, my left knee was shot. I was in excruciating pain--but it was weird. It felt like it had swollen up, but when I looked down at it, everything seemed normal, so I tried to push on. Big mistake. Big...Huge. By Mile 8, of mostly walking by now, I about died and Andy had to come and rescue me via Toyota Camry. It was horrible...so I iced it, heated it and stayed off of it for about a week.
My next attempt at activity was a fail. Even walking for a long period of time on my knee was proving difficult and the realization that I may never be able to do something that I enjoy so much was breaking my heart. I finally broke down and called the doctor to see what we can do about this Baker's Cyst--a part of my body that has never caused me issue before. He has put me in touch with an orthopedic surgeon--my appointment is next week--and I am not too excited about it. I have been researching the hell out of fixing this ailment and it scares the crap out of me. It looks as if it is an out patient surgery...where they slice the back of your knee open and stick a giant needle in there to suck out the liquid. Oh...that's hot, right?
I am also not excited about the fact that I can't run. My last attempt was Tuesday night and I barely made it 2.5 miles. The Oklahoma Memorial Marathon is this weekend--one of the biggest races in our city--and I am pretty sad that I won't be able to participate...but I will be there bright and early--bells and everything--to cheer on my beautiful friends for whom I am so excited!
P.S. If you are interested in attempting a peek at my Baker's Cyst (which you probably are if you got this far in the post)...go click on my 'Sunday Bang' picture where I am shooting the gun to make it bigger and look behind the left knee. You can see it there--even with a bent knee it still sticks out a bit. Just imagine what it looks like when my knee is straight!!!
Update: My friend, Amanda, has talked me into running the 5K with her on Sunday morning. I am going to pay dearly for this...but as of 1:30 p.m. CST today...I am signed up...Things Just Got Real! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment