Ouch!!!

As I left my place of employment last night I noticed the bus that I needed to catch was sitting at the stop light just up the street from our location.  I decided that I should run to meet the bus since it was so close.  A sixty seven year old man who doesn't usually run, probably shouldn't run to catch the bus.  I got about ten steps, heard and felt something snap and my left knee went into terrible pain.  I had a hard time making it to the bus but I did and I found a seat and contemplated my next move.

I normally have to walk three city blocks in downtown Seattle to get to my transfer bus that takes me home to Federal Way.  I wasn't so sure I could walk that far so I began reaching out to family to see if I had an issue and couldn't walk to the bus stop, perhaps someone could pick me up and get me somewhere so my wife could come and get me.  I also contacted Mia to make sure she was aware of the troubles I was having.  As it turned out, I was able to make it to the bus stop (painfully) and catch my bus home.  Instead of walking home from the bus stop (3/4 of a mile) I decided to get off at the transit center and have Mia pick me up.  Seemed to me to be the safest place for her to come and get me.

I went home and had dinner but the pain was pretty bad and I felt like I needed to know what was wrong so we went off to urgent care in Tacoma.  Mia left me because the place was a zoo with a two to three hour wait to get into a room.  A lot of folks with the flu and upper respiratory issues.  I guess I was pretty lucky because I got in and out with a visit to the pharmacy in just over two hours.

The doctor walks in the room and looks at me and the first concern she has is how in the world she is going to access my knee without cutting my pant leg.  I chuckled and told her to close the door and I would just drop my pants.  I think she was wondering why someone hadn't already had my pants off but the gal that brought me to the room did nothing more than show me the room.  She never even closed the door.  The doctor and I had a couple of good laughs and then she inspected my knee motion and said the joint was fine.  She had me pose (I am not explaining that one) and suddenly created a whole bunch of pain that radiated up and down my leg from the thigh to the calf.  Of course I yelled and she yelled, Eureka it's your hamstring.  I had heard of pulled, strained and torn hamstrings but I have never actually experienced one.

The doctor said that if it was a torn hamstring I most likely wouldn't have walked into urgent care so her diagnosis was pulled or stained.  I asked her about the snapping sound and feeling and she said it is common with hamstring injuries.  Great, what's next? 

I was told I can continue to walk but that I should try to keep my weight off it as much as possible.  While I don't feel like an old man, I now look like an old crippled man with my nifty walking cane.

She gave me instructions to ice the back of my knee as much as possible during the first two to three days and provided me with pain meds to help me sleep.  Unfortunately I awoke each time I turned over during the night and while the pain wasn't real bad during the night by the time I got up this morning it was hurting again.  I can't take the pain meds for fear of drowsiness and I had to drive to work this morning.  I spent enough time sitting on my ass at home with the flu during the holidays and I just can't see myself sitting at home when this can heal and pass while I work.

So off to work I went.  Of course there was no bus involved in todays commute and I suspect I will be driving to work for the remainder of this week.

Life goes forward.  Hope all is well and thanks for stopping by.