Mangled Knee!

I'm a bit behind in my posting, so all apologies. A week ago last Friday I fell at open skate and mangled my knee. Let me explain: I was testing out my wheels for the Smarty Pants boot camp. We always skate on a concrete floor, and I wanted to check which wheels would be good for the wooden floor at the North London Optimist Community Centre. It was a Christian skate, so when I fell down and screamed the F word, there was an added humour factor. My pal who was skating with me encouraged me to keep it moving. I skated to one more song (it was numb and tingly, and really hurt -- but I used my "game face"), and then we left.

The next morning I got up determined to skate at the boot camp. I did, although I avoided pack drills. I was too scared to fall again on the same knee. Good thing! The limited amount of skating I did filled my knee with blood and bloating. Still determined to "walk it off", I biked to Nia Capp's birthday party for a few beers.

Well, that was a bad idea!

My knee got so bloated and sore I could barely move it. (The picture above was taken after boot camp, pre-cycling, so it got even blacker than you see here). I spent the last week elevating it, compressing it, icing it, and finally went to the doctor. I'm off to get it xrayed today, just in case. It's looking a lot better, nice and yellow. The darkness has traveled down to my foot, which is a sign of healing, I guess.

On another note, the Smarty Pants boot camp was great. I was really encouraged that this practice, labeled "intermediate/advanced" was in my range of skill. This made me feel really good about my skating -- a double edged sword. Because who knows where I would be if I hadn't missed so much practice in the last two months? We have three bouts this fall (two away, one home) and I want so much to at least skate in November. This gives me about six weeks to train if my leg isn't fractured.

Cross your fingers,

Vansterdamn XXX