A Knee Update

Hey everyone,

By now you may have heard that the day before I was supposed to leave for Great Lakes Leather Alliance, I took a tumble and damaged my right knee. Essentially, what happened was probably bound to happen at some point in the next year ...

Some backstory:

In 2007, I tore my left ACL playing ultimate frisbee. It was a frustrating process, but because of my bicycling-addiction, I had a pretty speedy recovery (read: about 6 - 8 months). There's a pretty high rate of ACL-tearing in female-bodied-folks who are super athletic, due to several factors, one of them being wide hips, yadda yadda yadda...

Additionally, there's a pretty steady rate of hurting the *other* knee at some point, because the stronger knee (read: non-surgery knee) winds up compensating during the recovery period.

Even though I quit frisbee and the more hardcore sports I was doing (because my right knee had started to feel funny... surprise surprise!), I still managed to do some pretty consistent damage to my right knee throughout the past year, and I guess it decided to give up last Wednesday. (I was carrying luggage down my front stoop stairs and just collapsed.)

So, what does this mean?

Well, with the exception of missing GLLA, I'm going to be back on my travel schedule this coming September. I took the doctor's recommendation, and decided that resting and icing and ibuprofen-ing was probably in my best interest, and I already feel worlds better than I did last week. I've decided to not have reconstructive surgery until after my title-year, if I have it at all, and instead wear a hearty brace.

So, what does this really mean?

Please be gentle with me. I am a tiny bootblack, and I love leaping into everyone's arms, but for the time being, we must treat my knee like a delicate flower. I've had knee troubles since my surgery in '07, but knowing that something really is wrong with my right knee, I need to be a little more cautious than my bouncy ways normally permit.

I'm not saying I don't want someone to beat the crap out of me or decide they can't negotiate a take-down scene with me -- I just need initial loving to be careful. I know that I have a large amount of people I like to tackle hello, and unfortunately, we must pretend to be pretty princesses for now.

Thanks for being so amazing, community and family. The past few days have been smooth due to the aggressive loving you all have given me, and the (at times, demanded) care you have laid on me. Love!