I was going to talk about my doctor visit yesterday, but the sad news about Joe Schraff kinda made my good news seem a little out of place in the universe. However, yesterday was my appointment with my orthopedic surgeon to go over the results of the MRI of my right knee. As it turns out, I have been given a total go ahead! I have a small tear in the lateral meniscus, but it insignificant enough to not require surgery. I crashed in '96 or '97 during a night ride, when I was working for NiteRider, and tore my right PCL. There is still a bit of play in the knee from that, but it didn't show up in the MRI... so it's pretty good. All in all, the knee looks great and I am going to begin some official physical therapy. My right arm and thumb are both rehabbing well also. I am, however, going to be wearing a brace on my right arm at night that is designed to straighten the arm a bit more as I sleep. I have very little pain in the arm, but I am still unable to fully straighten it and the muscle strength is nearly gone. When I ride, the right arm gets tired and becomes weak almost immediately. So I will need to begin doing some very light weightlifting to strengthen the arm muscles again. The thumb- though ugly- is healing really well and the new "nail" is growing in and shoving the old, severed nail off. It looks gross, but it works and I have feeling in it so I am making an effort not to complain.
As silly as it may seem, since I have begun riding a little (about every other day), I also shaved my legs this week for the first time in 3+ months. I have no races on the horizon, but I needed to shave my legs- it's our badge, our secret handshake, our "wassup"... and it feels really great to have them back. In the past 26 years, there's only been 4 periods of time where I haven't shaved my legs; the first year and a half out of high school because I had hurt my knees and ankles running track and field, after I hurt my back and tore the PCL in '96/97, when my daughter was born 7 years ago and then just after the crash. I identify with the shaved legs much more than I do the furry ones and I am very happy to have them back. Another silly and trivial thing is that I have my earrings back in as well; after the crash, they had to pull them out for me (since I was unable to stay conscious) when I was having all the MRI's and CT scans in the hospital. But since I had my last MRI a few weeks ago, I got some new earrings and put them in this week. It's a meaningless thing... except it is another step towards regaining my self and sense of identity in this world. Small things really do mean a lot some times.
Now for the silliness;
On 08/08/08, this might just be one of the proudest moments of my life. Yep- I've got 666 messages in my inbox. That's actually down from the nearly 800 I had at one point...
This is the doodling of our Inside Sales Supervisor- Dave Law. He has a pad of recycled office papers that he keeps his notes on during the day and doodles on while on the phone. He also draws some of the illustrations for the various brands at Haro, as well as did the artwork for my Koi fish tattoo. To say the boy has talent is an understatement. I might take this concept and turn it into a fun Masi T-shirt in the future... you just never know.
This weekend will have a few bike rides in it, though they may just be grocery runs and short errands... but I'll be pedaling instead of driving as much as I possibly can. I might even get to the gym and start that weightlifting regime. But mostly I have lots of neglected chores to catch up on... now that I physically can vacuum, I am going to vacuum. I'm a bit of a pack rat (shut up) and I need to do tons of cleaning before I leave for Vancouver on the 17th... and begin the "silly season" of travel and tradeshows. If I don't clean now, I won't get the chance again until around February! I know it's not exactly glamorous... but it's life- and I'm happy to be getting mine back!
I hope you all have great weekends too. I'll get pictures as I can, I promise.
Tim
