Hope you’re able to recover from it gradually.
Thank you. I think its about as OK as it will get, at least I can cycle now. Did a near 40 mile day ride with loaded rear panniers last year which was a huge personal triumph. It would have been nearer 30 miles, but I got a bit lost! :-)
About 10 years or so before, I was shopping and suddenly a searing microsecond pain shot through my knee. My car was 10 mins walk away but it took me half an hour to get to it as my knee destabilised and the joint just slid about. Followed by a decade of it struggling to cope with cycling or walking on any unstable surface (ploughed field, pebble beach etc) and with various local doctors telling me there was nothing wrong, that I should 'just walk on it anyway'. Also 2 NHS physios who did not care, 1 telling me there was no issue and that the sudden knee failure was 'just arthritis starting' and giving me exercises that made it much worse. They all refused to refer me to a specialist. I did have an Xray which showed no arthritis at all, but also could not show soft tissue injuries and they would not let me have a knee scan.
Finally diagnosed by a veterinary theatre nurse (ex army medic, poor guy worked N. Ireland and the Falklands war) who I met through another hobby - he told me in 5 mins of conversation I had torn one of the interior bands inside my knee joint and I would have lot of trouble fixing it due to poor blood flow.
Covid was fantastic, all that sitting around in the house and it finally fixed it enough for me to bike again. 10 or so years of very limited walking, no cycling. To be honest I feel so angry that no one would take my injury seriously. No one ever diagnosed it in any form at all. I am so grateful for some gains from Covid (though not for family members sadly dying from it).
So thank you for wishing me well. After my very bad experience with several dismissive local GPs, I actually feel quite touched if anyone expresses kindness over it, as I felt so disbelieved and rubbished for such a long time. Thanks.
