PT Day 2!

Drove thru 60 miles of thick smoke today on my way to Las Cruces for my second physical therapy adventure. Spent much more time with the therapist asking questions and getting advice. He is the owner of the practice, and has been doing this job for 15 years. The fibrocartilage that will replace the debrided cartilage will never come close to being as sound as the original, and he says that running at all is not the greatest of ideas, and that running three days a week on dirt would reduce the damage to a more measured pace. Said I should expect a new knee bye 65! I went over all the stuff I do at the gym, and he said absolutely no to two of the exercises, knee raises and step ups on a bench, and said for now to stick to leg presses and leg curls only. He said the knee extension exercises with weights are really not a good exercise for anyone past about age 35! As far as running goes, he says I have to get to a point of three benchmarks.....full range of motion without stiffness (I am close, and hope to hit that in the next few weeks), full weight bearing on one leg doing squats without pain (got a ways to go there), full strength and mobility control over the leg (also a ways to go there!). So, running is probably a very limited three day a week soft surface activity going forward. That brings me to the issue of the bike. I would like to ride comfortably and longish on those other three days, and maybe even try a few of those charity rides in Las Cruces and El Paso in the next few years. So I found a bike I love that is way too expensive, and talked it out with my boy on the way home today. He is checking with some friends on a group ride tonight to see if anyone would have a comparable used tall guys bike. If not, I may just bite the bullet and do it, cause it is probably a one and done here. Once the knee gets too bad to ride as well as run, then I just have to fade off into that world of eating chips on the couch and vacuuming crumbs from beneath the cushions every few days. I hate that thought, but I also hate the thought of death, but that is also just around the corner somewhere. Anyway, the smoke I enjoyed is from a monster fire in the Gila that started as two small lightning strike fires that have joined, and in 10 days, has grown to the NEW largest in New Mexico history. It is over 170,000 acres and zero percent contained. The entire Gila forest is a total of slightly more than 500,000 acres, and represents 20% of the land mass of New Mexico. So fun breathing days ahead. There is an air quality warning for a 170 mile radius around the fire. So Suzy, stay indoors and turn up the air conditioning and oxygen, and check your oxygen levels often. Good thing this global warming hoax can't get perpetrated on the sheeple! I head back into Las Cruces on Friday for PT3, and maybe the wind will be coming out of the southwest a bit more and send it to those folks in Qarkie!