Long Day

I left the house at 6:30 yesterday morning for a doctor's appointment. His office is about a one hour drive away from home, but since I have to drive from one side of San Antonio to the other it takes twice that during rush hour. Of course, once I got there I had to wait for 30 minutes until I was called. I can understand if the schedule gets backed up later in the day, but when you're one of the first appointments why on earth do you still get called 30 minutes after your scheduled time? Anyway...

I've had three operations on my left knee. Back in my youth I was a runner. I was training for the Houston marathon when I stepped in a pothole and hurt it the first time. The second time came during a softball game - I tripped over my beer can. (No, not really. The injury was caused by a slumble. That's a cross between a slide and a stumble.) The third time was when I attempted a spinning hook kick during martial arts class. Evidently spinning and kicking at the same time is trickier than it seems.

To make a long story short, there's not much left holding the knee together. The only remaining option is a knee replacement, which I'm putting off as long as possible. In the meantime I get periodic shots of synthetic cartilage - a gel-like substance made from rooster combs which helps serve as an internal cushion and lubricant inside the joint. It helps somewhat, but it has limitations and drawbacks. Two of the biggest drawbacks are (1) it is administered with a syringe that reminds me of those huge things we used to inflate footballs and basketballs, and (2) the shots come in a series of five, which means five consecutive weekly trips to the torture chamber doctor's office.

After escaping from Dr. de Sade, I stopped off at the shooting range on the way home. It was pleasantly uncrowded, given that it was the middle of the day in the middle of the week. A little downrange therapy left me feeling much cheerier.

I went from one range to another - that is, from shooting to driving. after the shooting range, I hit a bucket of balls at the driving range and managed to really improve my slice. The ball now goes much, much farther to the right.

By then it was lunchtime. A bacon cheese burger, along with a couple of beers, was the perfect lead-in to my afternoon nap. (It's good to be retired...)

In the evening my wife and I went to our daughter's National Honor Society induction ceremony. That was followed by dinner out, a little wine, some dessert, and home in time to watch the late news.

I don't know how much more of this retired life I can take...  :-)