Max’s First Trail

This was one of those proud moments that, as a father, you’ll carry with you forever. I took Max to Lakeshore Park yesterday for some socializing and an introduction to trails. He was skiddish at first but caught on quickly. Within minutes he was chasing bikers and running around with a deftness that can only come with instinct.

Despite my sore knee, I couldn’t help but partake in a few quick jogs just to get a taste. He’s a great puppy, but I can’t wait until he’s older.

The Whole Sick Crew

It occurred to me how peas-in-a-pod the three of us are. Each morning, Mae, the Dog and I down our prescribed meds in order to avert the day’s potential ailments.

• Mae with her two anti-inflammatory pills for her lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

• Max with his de-worming elixer and special digestive-tract coating food and pills to help him smoothly pass all the tree bark he ate yesterday.
• Me with my own anti-inflammatory for my strained meniscus, the Zyrtec for my allergies and the coffee I need to wake back up from it all and the Tums I need to bring my stomach back to normal.

Fortunately for two of us, these fixes are merely temporary. Hopefully, with enough running and a healthy diet, Mae’s will be minimized in time.

The Prognosis

The doc pressed his palm against one side of my knee and asked me to push against it. In multiple directions “does this hurt?”, “does this hurt?”, “does that hurt?”, and “what if you stand there and step down with that leg first – does that hurt?” Most of it was “no” and “not really” – but a thumb pressed against the innermost side of my kneecap yielded a fairly excruciating shooting pain.

“Hmm” as he thumbed his chin.

“Well – you have three bands going through your knee. One of them, and I’m guessing the lateral meniscus, is either strained or torn. We’ll treat it as if it’s strained – you’ll be on anti-inflammatories for three weeks. If there’s no progress, we’ll do an MRI. If it’s torn, it could require surgery.”

“Can I run 13.1 miles on the 19th if I take it slow?”

“Your call. Listen to your body. Can you do it without training?”