Bilateral TKR The Historian - recovery diary

[TheHistorian]

I have to drive 3.5 hours to West Virginia tomorrow for a bike ride Saturday. I'm going to attempt the 25 mile "Offroad" route on the CASA River Century. It uses the C & O Canal Towpath, and features two aid stations. If I conk out early, I can always get a lift back from the aid station. I'll be sharing a hotel room with a friend Friday night and then staying at the Hostel across the river from Harpers Ferry Saturday night. I'll drive home Sunday.

For the drive down and back I'll stop at least once an hour to walk a little, do some knee bends, etc, to break up any clots that might start to form. I'll bring a camera so I have additional reasons to stop. I can always find something to photograph.

Here is a link to the stretch of towpath I'll be riding. Keep in mind I was once able to ride up to the Antietam Battlefield from the towpath. I can't do it now.

broken link removed: https://bikewashington.org/canal/canal_g.php

I've scrapped my participation in the ride. I'm not up to the long drive yet. And I feel like a loser for backing out. In my defense I'll say I signed up in January thinking my surgery would go off as planned. Instead I had a delay of six weeks. Had I been operated on in January I'd have probably been able to go.

 

[Phoenixx29]

Don't feel like a loser! You're only just over 9 weeks or so out of major surgery. If you're not 100% up for it then it is probably the sensible thing to do not to take part in that ride. Just think, if you would have gone ahead and run into difficulty - that could set you back weeks in your recovery. I'm sure there will be other opportunties to get on that bike of yours. Hope you'll feel better for the next ride!

 

[zjrog]

Remind me never to p*ss you off.

No trouble. That guy I used to be is long gone. No reason to let the negative energy consume me the way I used to let it. Little people that try to make their troubles mine, no longer get to me. I use "little people" in general terms, not to be descriptive of anyone in particular. As a larger guy, I know some take offense to being called "little".

As the character Bruce Banner used to say, "don'tmake me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry." I don't like me when I get angry...

 

[Pleinair5]

I've scrapped my participation in the ride. I'm not up to the long drive yet. And I feel like a loser for backing out. In my defense I'll say I signed up in January thinking my surgery would go off as planned. Instead I had a delay of six weeks. Had I been operated on in January I'd have probably been able to go.

Oh, Man, historian, your surgery and mine were pretty close and I have not dared to get on my bike yet. I think you are amazing! I don't think any one of us can know where we'll be at any given time when we waltz into the hospital for this knee procedure. And you had both knees done! You are anything but a loser---I think you are an inspiration to many on this board. And in a little time, you are going to be all over the road on that bike.
I am determined to try mine out this weekend but I would never have been brave enough to sign up for what you did.

 

[TheHistorian]

BTW I want to make it clear I don't object to people here advising on medical and recovery matters as long as they aren't, like Job, speaking without knowledge. Aside from one guy who seemed to have odd thoughts about fat people I've not had any problems on Bonesmart.

 

[TheHistorian]

Don't feel like a loser! You're only just over 9 weeks or so out of major surgery. If you're not 100% up for it then it is probably the sensible thing to do not to take part in that ride. Just think, if you would have gone ahead and run into difficulty - that could set you back weeks in your recovery. I'm sure there will be other opportunties to get on that bike of yours. Hope you'll feel better for the next ride!

I've gotten cr*p from able-bodied people before because I, say, cut short a ride because of a knee problem, or was offended at a rude remark or action - the woman who blurted out "What's wrong with your back?" in a spin class, or the volunteer at my second 5k who tried to get me to stop running because he thought I was injured. The "loser" self-flagellation mentioned above is but an echo of that. But its a strong echo. The hardest part of recovery isn't going to be getting my legs working again, but banishing those echoes.

One reason I set 'extreme' goals isn't just because they are fun, or because a man's reach should exceed his grasp, but because there's an element of "I'll show them" in it. In retrospect, my riding a century ten months after learning to ride a bike wasn't just enthusiasm, but also a refutation of all the negativity I received as a beginning cyclist. I need to watch that I don't carry that baggage with me on my new knees.

 

[TheHistorian]

And in a little time, you are going to be all over the road on that bike.
I am determined to try mine out this weekend but I would never have been brave enough to sign up for what you did.

Well, I hope to stay in my lane, and not be all over the road. But thank you for the thought.

The 25 mile ride under ordinary circumstances wouldn't be a problem. The C & O Canal Towpath is flat save for inclines at the locks. Now is a different matter. BTW last time I was on the C & O was 2009, when I rode from near Harpers Ferry to Antietam Battlefield in Sharpsburg. THAT was tough. When Whittier wrote about "the hills of Maryland" he wasn't kidding. The climb up at Taylor's Landing was brutal, and I confessed I walked a stretch. Here I am at Burnside Bridge with my steed Roark.

 

[BJ Mac]

So, did you go out and ride, even though you opted out of 'the big ride'?

 

[Jamie]

Historian.....I have to say in all truth and honesty that your journey has been and continues to be an inspiration to me. I look forward to your posts! So don't every let these idiots get you down!

 

[Roy Gardiner]

Historian.....I have to say in all truth and honesty that your journey has been and continues to be an inspiration to me. I look forward to your posts! So don't every let these idiots get you down!

Hear, hear on all points. llegitimi non carborundum as we might be allowed to say.

 

[Phoenixx29]

What Roy said.

You seem to have had a bad time of it - but really those people are not worth a second thought. What goes around comes around. One of these days they will get what they deserve. I know it's hard when you're at the receiving end of insensitive comments. Even more so when you're feeling down any way. I have had my own share of those.

But you have done so well! You might have set yourself some tough targets to beat, and perhaps you haven't quite got there and you are disappointed about that. You said you wanted to "show them" - and I am sure you will! Maybe it will take a bit longer than you planned - but "show them" you will.

You have achieved so much is such a short time and you truly are an inspiration. I have not been on a bike (other than my stationary one) for over 15 years, and have never even considered that I might be able to cycle again. Your story has given me hope that maybe I might. Most likely not 25 miles (I wouldn't have been able to do that when I still had "good" knees :th_heehee and most certainly not anywhere where there are hills!

 

[Ditzzeechick]

You are one week later in your recover than me and I cannot make a revolution on a bike!!! My left knee is the culprit but thankfully my PT knows that it's 105 and isn't ready to bend any further and isn't pushing. I've re joined my old gym so I can use the pool. I'm hoping that will help my ROM continue to increase. Was it Roy who said at 5 mos he was only 95? I'm going to keep at it and know it will improve so don't let the naysayers get ya down. If you have any advice as to how my tight thighs can help me to get that left knee to go in one full revolution I would appreciate it!! I was born and raised in Bawlmor. My niece, sister and BIL did the 30 mile ride from D.C. to Baltimore today. Windy!!

 

[TheHistorian]

So, did you go out and ride, even though you opted out of 'the big ride'?

No, I slept most of the day for some reason. Ditto today, when I skipped church and canceled lunch with my mother. I'm both massively tired and sore, even though I haven't been doing much. Next follow up with the surgeon is tomorrow, I'll see what he says.

 

[TheHistorian]

Most likely not 25 miles (I wouldn't have been able to do that when I still had "good" knees :th_heehee and most certainly not anywhere where there are hills!

Most people are capable of riding 25 miles. It's 12.5 out, 12.5 back. Turn it into an adventure. As for hills, you'll never meet one you can't walk.

 

[TheHistorian]

Historian.....I have to say in all truth and honesty that your journey has been and continues to be an inspiration to me. I look forward to your posts! So don't every let these idiots get you down!

But they outnumber me. :rolleyespink:

In 2009 I rode on a group bike tour on the Great Allegheny Passage and C & O Canal Towpath from Pittsburgh to DC. I had knee problems the first few days, which prompted a member of the group to insist I needed an electric bicycle to tour. Leaving aside the logistical problems (where do you charge the darn thing?) it was a rude comment. Once the group split up - meaning I split from the group - I got better and rode a metric century (100K) pulling 40 pounds of camping gear. :yes 4:

 

[Jamie]

But they outnumber me. :rolleyespink:

:hysterical: Boy, it would seem so, wouldn't it!!! But it sounds like you handled this situation perfectly. I guess these folks think their rude comments are helpful, but it blows my mind that anyone would say such things to someone in public that they didn't know all that well.

Congratulations on a successful ride!!

 

[TheHistorian]

BTW my walking has improved. While I still waddle a bit I no longer look like I've followed the advice of the soldiers in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience:

You hold yourself like this,
You hold yourself like that,
By hook and crook you try to look both angular and flat.
To cultivate the trim
Rigidity of limb,
You ought to get a Marionette, and form your style on him. ​

 

[rubysue]

Hi, Historian - It sounds like the cycling forum is typical of so many on-line forums and why I think BoneSmart is different.

I have been a regular on a cruise forum for a few years. Some aspects of the forum are great, in that you can meet other people on the same cruise in advance on the board in a roll call and work out private tours and you can also get great hints about various ports and what to do. You can also write reviews of a cruise, which is fun (and no comments are allowed on the reviews).

However, I have run into the most self-centered, elitist snobs that dominate a forum thread on the generalities for a particular cruise line. They treat anyone with less than a thousand posts as an ignorant pariah, regardless of how many cruises they have done or how much experience they have traveling. I have had a couple of particularly ugly encounters with these fine folks when discussing disabled issues. I was even accused of faking a disability, by a couple of people I have never met or cruised with, telling me I did this just to get around the rules for dressing "properly" for the evening (this occurred when I was defending someone else who is permanently disabled for admitting to wearing footwear that doesn't meet the approval of these elitists. I also wear "comfortable" shoes because of my RA). I was also accused of using a disability as an excuse to get ahead of other folks disembarking the ship or to use the elevators. One of these fine folks admitted that he couldn't stand the sight of someone using a walker, wheelchair or scooter to get around a ship (it interfered with his aesthetics). He has also made extremely disparaging remarks about other people's weight.

These "gatekeepers" on this particular thread also mislead new posters with incorrect information and pass judgment constantly on someone's trivial personal decisions (e.g., doing a ship tour instead of a private tour). They have chased off many casual posters with their attitudes.

I don't participate very much on this particular cruise line thread on the cruise forum anymore, reserving my energies for the roll calls and port threads.

That's why I love BoneSmart - we are all in this together and know what it means to have a debilitating or disabling condition.

 

[zjrog]

Fools and idiots, not worth arguing with them. They will only bring you down to their level, and they have more experience than you.

Resting is never bad. Sounds like you just needed to catch up a bit.

 

[TheHistorian]

:hysterical: Boy, it would seem so, wouldn't it!!! But it sounds like you handled this situation perfectly. I guess these folks think their rude comments are helpful, but it blows my mind that anyone would say such things to someone in public that they didn't know all that well.

Congratulations on a successful ride!!

It was amusing. We had a woman with two knee replacements and epilepsy running SAG for us and riding short distances each day. When it started raining and didn't let up, flooding the C & O Canal Towpath, it was the two of us who charted the alternate route for all these 'elite bike tourists.' The two disabled people were the ones who knew what touring was about. :hysterical:

Tour thread is here, with my story in installments:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthre...the-2009-Bike-Forums-Montour-GAP-C-amp-O-Tour