Fair Weather Swimmer

The sun was out when we left our house heading to the beach. The end of the month is upon me. I've yet to do my ocean swim. If I don't get 'er done by the end of the month, I won't start trippin'. I know I've been capable of doing it for about a week. Nevertheless, I want to put my money where my goal is.

Suffice it to say, I got to the home break only to find gray skies and wind. Not quite what I had in mind as the setting for my first post-knee replacement goal. I will go back to check it on Tuesday.

Good things are happening, by the way. I awoke to much less pain than usual. Once I decided not to do the swim, I came home to sit on my bike. I've been getting the pedals around for the last week or two, but I've not been able to do so in my cycling shoes. This is big. Cycling shoes lock your foot into place. Your knee has no option but to bend the required amount in order to do a full revolution. I've been pedaling in normal shoes since they allow my foot to slide up and down the pedal, thus giving my knee an easier angle when necessary. Today seemed like the day when I might be able to return to the shoes I'd wear were I to ride the bike outside.

Well, you would have thought I'd won the Tour de France. I was that elated when I was able to get the pedals all the way around. Don't get me wrong. It hurt. I'm still at the point where most things hurt. It doesn't matter. You're going to hurt as you recover. If, like me, you've had previous operations on your joint, it will probably hurt even more. The battle against scar tissue wasn't won in a day.

Tomorrow I go to see a massage therapist who specializes in releasing scar tissue. I'd found him long before I knew I'd be dealing with scar tissue issues. I just figured the massage was a good idea because they cut through muscle when doing knee replacements. I assumed that would be the only scar tissue I'd have to worry about.

I'm still looking at August as the month I get back on a board.