S&*% D@&% H#!!
There was one thing in particular that I didn’t want to hear when I saw the orthopedic surgeon/sports medicine doctor today. ONE THING. One thing was all I asked NOT to hear.
I heard it.
I have a torn ACL.
Here’s the weird part. According to the doctor, when someone tears their ACL for the first time, there is an artery in the ACL that bleeds profusely into the knee. Usually, the doctor said, he has to use a needle to take the blood out because there’s just so much of it in there. I don’t have that problem. He must have asked me at least three times, while he was wiggling my knee around and showing how it’s not supposed to move, if I ever had a knee injury before, if I had torn my ACL before.
I haven’t. He said that when someone tears their ACL for the second time, it’s like mine (very little swelling), so he thinks that maybe I had already torn my ACL in the past. He also said that it’s a possibility that I will wake up tomorrow with a lot more swelling and pain.
I’ve never really had knee problems though. I remember a couple years ago when we were moving out of our third floor apartment. My knee was bothering me at the end of the day, but it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed with a couple ibuprofen and a night of rest.
Mr. BBM went with me and asked all kinds of questions. I heard him ask about a partial versus a full tear. The doctor said that it’s not a partial tear, not with the way my knee was moving during his exam. It’s torn, plain and simple. It’s sort of feels like things just aren’t connected in there anymore which is exactly what a torn ACL is, I guess.
He talked about surgery options, and rehab options. It seemed to me like he was leaning more strongly towards rehab, especially since I don’t have all the swelling and I didn’t tear the meniscus too. He said that no matter what, I’ll be fitted for a good knee brace and that will be part of my karate uniform from now on.
He asked if I had any questions and I could only think of one: "I was hoping to maybe test for my black belt in February. Any possibility of that still happening?" I think I cringed while waiting for the answer.
"With surgery, no way," he said, "with rehab and a good brace, it’s still a possibility."
Doctors orders are to put no weight on it, keep it elevated, and ice it over the weekend; and then call them on Monday to tell them how I’m feeling, and plan the next steps.
I’m out for a minimum of a couple weeks. Grouchy BBM posts to follow for the foreseeable future.
Hanshi told me last night that injuries always happen in three’s.
Whiplash,
Sore wrist,
Torn ACL.
I am SO done. I hope he’s right.
S&*% D@&% H#!!
There was one thing in particular that I didn’t want to hear when I saw the orthopedic surgeon/sports medicine doctor today. ONE THING. One thing was all I asked NOT to hear.
I heard it.
I have a torn ACL.
Here’s the weird part. According to the doctor, when someone tears their ACL for the first time, there is an artery in the ACL that bleeds profusely into the knee. Usually, the doctor said, he has to use a needle to take the blood out because there’s just so much of it in there. I don’t have that problem. He must have asked me at least three times, while he was wiggling my knee around and showing how it’s not supposed to move, if I ever had a knee injury before, if I had torn my ACL before.
I haven’t. He said that when someone tears their ACL for the second time, it’s like mine (very little swelling), so he thinks that maybe I had already torn my ACL in the past. He also said that it’s a possibility that I will wake up tomorrow with a lot more swelling and pain.
I’ve never really had knee problems though. I remember a couple years ago when we were moving out of our third floor apartment. My knee was bothering me at the end of the day, but it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed with a couple ibuprofen and a night of rest.
Mr. BBM went with me and asked all kinds of questions. I heard him ask about a partial versus a full tear. The doctor said that it’s not a partial tear, not with the way my knee was moving during his exam. It’s torn, plain and simple. It’s sort of feels like things just aren’t connected in there anymore which is exactly what a torn ACL is, I guess.
He talked about surgery options, and rehab options. It seemed to me like he was leaning more strongly towards rehab, especially since I don’t have all the swelling and I didn’t tear the meniscus too. He said that no matter what, I’ll be fitted for a good knee brace and that will be part of my karate uniform from now on.
He asked if I had any questions and I could only think of one: "I was hoping to maybe test for my black belt in February. Any possibility of that still happening?" I think I cringed while waiting for the answer.
"With surgery, no way," he said, "with rehab and a good brace, it’s still a possibility."
Doctors orders are to put no weight on it, keep it elevated, and ice it over the weekend; and then call them on Monday to tell them how I’m feeling, and plan the next steps.
I’m out for a minimum of a couple weeks. Grouchy BBM posts to follow for the foreseeable future.
Hanshi told me last night that injuries always happen in three’s.
Whiplash,
Sore wrist,
Torn ACL.
I am SO done. I hope he’s right.
I’m NOT. . .
I am not writing about sparring tonight for the first time at my new dojo.
I am not writing about how I thought things went fairly well and that I was moderately pleased with how I sparred, despite my nerves, despite taking some kicks, punches and doing some stupid things.
I am not writing about how with 30 seconds left in the last sparring match of the night, I threw up a right snap kick and when I did, my left knee went completely backwards.
I am not writing about how badly it initially hurt and how my leg completely gave way and I found myself sitting on the mat.
I am not writing about how I stood back up because I thought I was o.k., because I wanted to finish the night off on a good note, only to find that my knee didn’t work right anymore.
I am not writing about how I held it together just long enough to take my pads off, and rei out, before the inevitable tears came because I CAN NOT BE INJURED AGAIN-NOT NOW-NOT WHEN I WAS FEELING SO GOOD-NOT WHEN I WAS FEELING LIKE EVERYTHING WAS COMING TOGETHER SO NICELY.
I am not writing about how I had to sit-scoot-boom like Lil C, down the dojo stairs because I didn’t trust that my knee wouldn’t give out on me.
I am not writing about how everyone in the dojo jumped to my aid, packing up my bag, offering to drive me home (not necessary thanks to having an automatic), and how my instructor let me put my sweaty, tired, defeated arm around his neck so he could help me out to my car.
I am not writing about what the endless webpages about hyperextending your knee say.
I’m just not going to do it, because tomorrow this is going to all go away. Whatever I did will be gone, because it has to be, because it’s not fair any other way.
Also, because I checked that little box with my ad company where I promised not to swear.
Edited to add: Thanks for all your well wishes and positive thoughts. I have an appointment at 11:20 with an Ortho/Sports Medicine doctor. Send all the happy thoughts you can for that time period and I’ll let you know how it goes. Unfortunately, no one waved a magic wand over the knee last night. I’m pretty bummed.
How to Make a Head McExplode
McDonald’s is our once a week, Mommy-can’t-take-being-a-short-order-chef-anymore, treat. Despite the fact that Big I is professing her undying devotion to vegetarianism these days, she will still make an exception for chicken mcnuggets, and I’m happy to oblige. We usually do this "treat" on one of our karate days.
It’s no secret that you’re not going to get 5-star service when you go to McDonald’s; but one would think, that with all the technology, they could get at least most things about your order correct.
Today, I ordered two chicken nugget happy meals and a Big & Tasty meal. I got my meal large-sized because I’m a pig like that I share fries with the kids. Just go with it. I was impressed because the girl even asked me what kind of sauce we wanted for the nuggets. That rarely happens.
Just as the girl was saying "Thank you and pull around to window two" I noticed that they had my meal on the screen as medium sized. Before I pulled up, I asked her if she could change it to large-sized and she said it wasn’t a problem.
I should have known better.
I pulled up to the window, handed my credit card to the girl and she ran it through. She handed me my receipt. If I had known that upsizing my meal was going to cost an additional $6, I would have told her to forget it. A quick scan of the receipt showed that they had charged me for two Big & Tasty meals.
I showed her the receipt and she went to get her manager. The manager took my credit card back, and refunded my money. She also apologized profusely. It was really no big deal. Besides, I was too busy breaking up a brawl in the back seat to really care too much.
Then the girl started handing me my drinks. Two chocolate milks and a large diet coke, along with two kids and a bag from Staples, complete with a very sore wrist, make for a very stressed mama. I asked for a drink carrier. Why did I have to ask for one? If you’re giving more than two drinks and there are only little hands to help, offer a drink carrier! It’s not that hard!
Still I stayed nice. McDonald’s was giving my kitchen the night off. I was still somewhat happy.
The girl handed me my drink carrier, and three bags. I quickly checked the happy meals and saw the appropriate items. Then, after already pulling away from the window, I quickly checked my meal. There was no Big & Tasty to be found, only a grilled chicken club sandwich in its place. I quickly ran in and asked for my Big & Tasty. Instead of exchanging my sandwiches they just told me to keep both.
I went back out to the car and home.
Upon arriving home, the girls and I were getting set up, and guess what?
No sauce.
No napkins.
No straws.
The good news is that when I pulled the receipt out, the manager had taken off not one, but two Big & Tasty burgers from my receipt which means that I got my burger and the chicken club for free. However, I’m going to consider it my reward for having to put up with the whining that ensured when the girls realized they had no sauce or straws, and also as repayment for all of the forgotten nuggets, sauces, and chocolate milks of days gone by.
Next time I think I want to go to McDonald’s, maybe I’ll just stay home and bang my head on a wall instead.
***The latest review is up at The BBM Review. If you’re a martial artist, you won’t want to miss this review, which tells you how you can get authentic kobudo weapons. This is another debut by one of the writers for The BBM Review so go and give him some love. (I’ll be adding my own review when I get my custom made purpleheart tunfa in a few weeks. Woo hoo!)
Back to Being the Pretzel Fall-Gal
Last night at karate class, we worked on kata and application, lots of kata, and lots of bunkai. I was partnered up with my instructor, a 5th degree black belt, and I spent lots of time being twisted up like a pretzel and tossed on the floor.
Today, my elbow is a little sore.
Did you notice I said "elbow"? I did not say neck. My neck is fine today! After months of not feeling right after that lovely whiplash injury, I was so relieved to wake up today feeling good. It was nice to be uke again as well. A couple week ago, one of my instructors asked me what "uke" means. I laughed and said, "Uke means hitting the floor." It actually means training partner, but hitting the floor is probably more accurate. It certainly was last night.
Being uke is great because even though it can be painful, you are learning first hand what a certain technique can do to someone, what it feels like. Although I could have done without the little wrist action thing my instructor did to me last night, I do know that if I can pull that technique off on an attacker, they will certainly be crying "mercy." I tapped the mat a couple times and declared "enough-enough!" Hey, I’m just glad I didn’t revert back to screaming. That’s what I usually do.
We worked on application for Pinan Yondan and Pinan Godan. We worked on lots of would-be breaks, many wrist and elbow joint locks and some back fist/side kick action as well. Unlike many times when I just try to keep up with bunkai being taught, I was actually coming up with some decent ideas for bunkai as well. My instructor seemed to like at least one of my ideas enough to stop everyone so that we could show the other guys.
Although I know I need to get faster, I feel like I’m definitely improving with bunkai. I’m starting to see things where I didn’t before. I’m able to throw someone bigger than I am, whereas I struggled to do it before. I’m learning that good technique is definitely the answer when you don’t have the power that the guys do. You don’t have to kick the back of someone’s leg hard to make them go down, you just have to be in the right position and work the small movements more efficiently. Since I am frequently the only girl in the advanced class full of bigger guys, learning this is crucial.
After working up quite a sweat on bunkai, we "cooled down" by running through a ton of kata. We worked O Nai Hanchi (I am not sure that I’m spelling the "O" part right, which means "great." I’m waiting on my fact checker to get back to me) which combines three Nai Hanchi kata’s into one. We also did O Pinan which I didn’t even know existed until last night! We combined Pinan Shodan, Nidan, Yondan, Godan and Sandan all into one. That was quite a work out. We also ran through Chinto, Sanchin, Seisan, Wansu, Ananku, and Niseishi. I was completely beat when I got home, the kind of good beat where you know you had a great work out and learned a ton of new stuff.
Best of all, that break fall lesson I had a few months ago came in handy last night, eliminating the need for a call to the chiropractor. It feels so good to be back to normal!
***The latest review is up at The BBM Review and is written by a writer across the great pond. If you’d like to hear his perspective on "Karate-Do, My Way of Life" go check it out!
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