Injuries are not fun. There’s the obvious things like pain and discomfort but then there is also the mental torture that many athletes go through.
“What did I do wrong in my training?”
“Should I continue to run through it or rest?”
“Do I need to see a sports Doc?”
These are just some of the questions that race through the mind of an injured athlete. I spent almost 3 months dancing around a knee injury that wasn’t getting better and something had to change.
Hoping for a Miracle
I found myself endlessly searching symptoms on Google, trying new products like KT Tape and CBD cream but in the end I knew that this one was not going away. It wasn’t easy to do, but I sent the dreaded text to my coach “I think it’s time to see a Doc.” He agreed. I went to see a local orthopaedic surgeon that put my collarbone back together after a nasty bike accident in October of 2019. It didn’t take long and he made his diagnosis, “you have a torn medial meniscus.” It would need to be confirmed with an MRI but I knew this may not end well.
What’s Next
That was not the diagnosis I was expecting as it had not come up when searching my sympontons. Now, with more focus, I went back to researching treatments and reading both stories of success and failure. Assuming the MRI results were to confirm Dr. Ulmer’s initial opinion, I would have to make a decision if surgery was right for me. Training continued, but my future felt very uncertain.
“Will I be able to race this season?”
“Will I ever run pain free again?”
Immediate answers will not come, but with thoughtful actions and hard work I am hopeful for the best.
If you want to hear all the details of my MRI results, check out Episode 2 of my YouTube series: Knee Surgery to Ironman in 115 days.
Watch the Trailer: https://youtu.be/U26_ALUOboI
Watch EP 2 | MRI Results – Torn Meniscus https://youtu.be/wjzuxsvMRoo
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