Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I was more careful to protect my knees than last Monday (having learned from pushing when I shouldn't have). I also incorporated some of what Emilie's been teaching me into my workout, along with the weights and a bit of cardio.

( details, including numbers )

I may be making a lot of little notes, mostly for my reference, as I work on, or think about, changing stance and posture.

( cut to avoid boring you )

My left knee started hurting more after I got home from the gym last night. cattitude pointed out that I really ought to go see the doctor about it.

So, this morning I emailed in sick, called my doctor's office to have the recording tell me when they opened, and then called about five minutes after they opened. I asked for an appointment "as soon as possible" and explained why. The receptionist asked "Can you be here by 10:30?" I said "yes," grabbed the spare brain, and called a car service, which got me there about 9:45. The doctor actually saw me around 10:30, which seems reasonable.

She felt the knee, moved it a bit, and told me that (a) it's basically stable, (b) she's fairly sure I don't have a torn meniscus, and (c) there's some arthritis in there in addition to whatever else is going on. She wrote me a referral for an X-ray, and a prescription for an anti-inflammatory (of the NSAID class, so I am not to take aspirin, ibuprofen, etc. while on this medication). Depending on what the X-ray shows, it's possible she'll send me for an MRI; my insurer tends not to approve MRI for knees without the person having an X-ray first.

I stopped at the nearby bagel shop for second breakfast (toasted pumpernickel with butter and a cup of tea), then took an assortment of buses up to St. Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers. It took me significantly longer to get to the hospital than I spent there: three buses, and I let the first Bx7 go by because it was quite crowded and I didn't want to stand on those hills), and then I think it was half an hour from the time I walked up to the reception desk at the hospital entrance to the time I walked out again after my X-ray. [Free plug, on the off chance anyone reading this is trying to decide where to get a walk-in X-ray and St. Joseph's is one of the choices.]

More buses, lunch, and I waited for about 20 minutes at the drugstore for them to fill my prescription.

I note that the knee felt significantly better by the time I had eaten my bagel than it had first thing in the morning, and then started hurting more around 5:00 (I'd had two ibuprofen about 8:30, and then no other meds until I got home, circa 3:30, and took one of the prescription pills). Oddly, this is after resting for a while when I got home.

Depending on how it is in the morning, I may take another sick day, or I may try going in and see how it feels after a block or so. (I have my current project on a thumb drive, as I often do, so maybe I can work from home.)

[Addendum: blood pressure at the GP's office was 120/80, which is a fine number, especially for someone whose knee hurts and who has something to worry about.]