Knee recovery and my yearly sabbatical

So my knee surgery went pretty well.....

The doctor is confident that it's going to heal up very well, and that eventually, I'll be able to fence without a knee brace. (That would be a first.)

When they got into my knee, it was immediately apparent what had been causing my pain for all these months. Apparently, your kneecap is supposed to sit in a "dish" sort of thing. My kneecap, however, was perched on the upper rim of my "dish". This was causing in to slide out of place, and was causing my pain. He ended up cutting some stuff in my knee in order to move my kneecap 2 cm, and make it sit back down in my "dish". I know 2cm doesn't sound like a whole lot, but when you think about the general size of your kneecap (which is really only about 5 or 6 cm total), it is kind of a lot.

So the healing is going pretty well. The swelling has gone from melon sized, to approximatly a grapefruit, and the soreness gets a little bit better every day. I'll probably still have a bit of a limp for a while though.

The hardest part is that I really want to fence. I know I can't do it now, or really even make an attempt for at least another 2 months. *sigh* I feel like a useless lump at the moment. I guess it gives me plenty of time o concentrate on my refereeing skills in order to get my rating up.

This weekend, I'll be taking my yearly sabbatical to Asheville, NC for the Bele Chere Festival. No husband. No child. Just me and my three closest friends in our mountain getaway. The festival, and really the majority of the the town is full of a bunch of hippies and lesbians, and their art, their music, and various other things to see and do. It's one of those fantastically relaxing and mellow places, and I wish I could go every weekend. *double sigh*

Anyway, there's the update on my recovery.

Where for art thou?

For Elizabeth (and anyone else who might care): I am back. Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, but the weeks leading up to Nationals were crazy busy, and then I was at Nationals in Atlanta for the entire 10 days. The recap:

My nerves really got the best of me in my epee events, and I did terrible. It was a bit better the second day, but I know I can do much better if I get my head under control. I actually did better in the sabre, which was a complete surprise since I really don't practise the weapon at all. I had a wonderful time though.

My teammates did very well bringing home the bronze medal in Div. 1A Men's sabre, 8th place in Div. II Men's epee, and the GOLD in team Men's sabre!!!!!! I was so proud of our boys.

I had several fantastic coaching moments, bringing people back from behind and such. I've actually been considering quitting the competition part of fencing, and just concentrating on coaching and refereeing, since I'm much better at those aspects of the sport. I guess time will tell.

I took the National referee exam, and passed all 4 sections on the very first attempt!!!!! I'm really excited about that, and I can't wait to take my practical exams and get my rating up. I know I'm a great referee, so I should have a much higher rating than 10 in no time.

Our hotel was terrible. I even found a used crack pipe in my bed. Very scary.

Tomorrow, I go to the hospital for my pre-op bloodwork and tests before Friday's knee surgery. I'm pretty apprehensive about the whole thing, but I'm hoping the knee will be fixed once and for all, and I'll come back as a stronger and more agile fencer. I'll be out of the sport for 2+ months, but I'll be continuing to blog about my recovery and therapy while I'm not fencing.

I'm running a referee development class in my area in August, so hopefully, it will keep me from going stir crazy while I'm away from almost all other things fencing related.