Frozen Peas and My Knee

I'm sitting around with a bag of frozen peas on my left kneecap. Clearly the end of the world is upon us.

One of the consequences of last Thursday's lengthy, rage-induced run is that I've killed my knee. It began bothering me a bit on Friday, and of course the solution my dumb self came up with was to keep on moving. It's like the Daft Punk sample of Kanye West's "Stronger" turned on in my brain and all I could think of was:
"Work it harder
Make it better
Do it faster
Makes us stronger"

How much harder, better, faster, stronger? Since Thursday, I've jogged twice more, done step aerobics and sweated my way through a Violet Zaki DVD that makes you do about 7,943 squats and lunges. Stupid, stupid, stupid! (Picture me banging my head on a concrete wall.)

Last night I woke up twice because the pain was bothering me. I took some Advil and, unfortunately, it didn't make a bit of difference. I spent most of today limping around the neighborhood looking bitter and geriatric. I mean, it took me half an hour to walk to pick up my sons from school today because every time I put more than a little weight on my left leg, bolts of pain shot through my knee.

On the way home after school, my youngest refused to walk up our hill. He claimed that his legs didn't work and so I needed to carry him. Of course I wanted to know who the heck was going to carry me since one of my legs actually seemed like it didn't work for real.

Guess which one of us ended up getting a piggyback ride???

To distract myself from the pain of hauling a 32 pound child up the hill on my back, I attempted to think about what an awesome hair day I was having. And then I remembered that that wasn't actually true since my hair was sort of resembling a rats nest.

Sooo, I came home, called my sister and complained about how I'm getting old and my body is falling apart. Seriously, I never had aches and pains like this back in the day. She was pretty sympathetic although she thinks I just need new running shoes.

I responded by launching into a complete pity-party about how my knee's jacked up but I'll never know for sure since 1) I don't even have a doctor, 2) I only went to the doctor when I was pregnant and 3) I haven't been to a doctor since my six-week checkup after my four year-old was born -- and what's wrong with me psychologically that I never go to the doctor? I told her how I'd even taken a bath in Epsom Salts just like an old lady.

She says, "Well my trainer at the gym says you 're not supposed to put heat on knee aches. You're supposed to ice it."

"Ice it?" I was skeptical. I thought heat makes things feel better.

"Yeah," she said. "Put a bag of peas on it. Heat is what old people put on their bodies to make themselves feel better."

And that, my dear friends, is the tale of how a bag of frozen peas came to be resting on my knee.

Comments

1969 said…
OUCH!!!! Yes, ice is good but you know what would be even better?

A TRIP TO THE DOCTOR SO YOU COULD KNOW FOR SURE.

1969 (the Mom) has spoken.
Sundry said…
Yeah, take care of your knees! Drop by the drugstore or sports store and pick up a fancy black support thing made specifically for knees. I have sporadic knee issues and I'm very protective of them.

My darling brother can hardly do anything any more because his knees are so messed up (due to years of being a roofer and working at steep angles.) It's really debilitating.

We love you and we want your knees to be able to carry you through all the other cool stuff you do for a lonnng time.
Jameil said…
my sister was a kinesiology major. heat for muscles. ice for bones. and please get thee to a dr.
Anonymous said…
I'm sorry your knee hurts. That sucks! They say that most knee injuries result from an imbalance of muscles. There's a great little program at runner's world: http://www.runnersworld.com/runnersbody/ It will help you figure out what's going on and what to do. My guess is you have an IT band injury. That's the most common to cause knee pain.

((hug)) Hope you feel better.
Lisa Johnson said…
Feel better soon! And you need to get yourself to a doctor, at least for a regular annual physical. Take care of you!

I took today off and have been doing some cleaning around the house and running up and the downstairs doing laundry? Hopefully I burned a few calories. I'm getting ready to look through some recipes to bake something. : )
Liz Dwyer said…
1969,
They're better today, thank goodness. I should go to the doctor, for sure, but I have to FIND a doctor first! I don't even know where to start, especially since I want someone who's female, and preferably African-American. I found a dentist who fit the bill and I love her. Hmm, I should ask her who she goes to for a doctor.

Sundry,
Having bum knees for the rest of my life is one of the things I worry about. I think I might get a support thing for them because they've never been super strong and I do a lot of running these days. Maybe I should switch back to biking at the gym or something less high-impact.

Jameil,
Clearly, the sociology majors named Liz missed that memo! LOL!

Claudia,
That's a REALLY helpful link. I hope it's an IT band injury. I used the diagnostic tool and the part that's been hurting indicates osteoarthritis! EEK! But it does feel better today, thank goodness. I'm still resting it even though it's driving me crazy to do so. No running until I'm completely pain-free.

Popular Posts