An Early End to the Season

I've been battling knee pain for the past month.  Initially it was a "pinched plica" (a membrane of sorts) and I tried the anti inflammatory, etc.  I found a brace or two that helped a bit (see photo in the previous post), but on a recent business trip, it got worse and worse as I walked around.

So once I returned, I went to get an MRI and then to the Orthopedic Doc and had it drained.  Upon reading the MRI he realized it was a "stress fracture of the upper tibia" (a sort of deep bone bruise, he said).  I didn't get a copy of the MRI, etc., but the photo below looks almost the same.

Photo Credit.  www.radiologyassistant.nl

On mine, there is no hairline crack in the X-ray (why it was diagnosed as the pinched plica) and the white area on the MRI is closer to the joint.  The basic facts are I have to baby it until a brace comes next week to unload the joint and then wear that for 3 to 6 months to give the bone a chance to heal.

There's no way to boat with a cane this weekend, and once I have the brace... well there's some bad family history where (before I was born) an uncle drowned when he fell in the water wearing a cast.  As I said relating to alcohol, I really don't want "stupid boater" listed as my cause of death, so given the fast approaching end of the season, it's time to have Seas The Day hauled.


It's a tad disappointing... we were hopeful for a few more days on the water (perhaps even a week-long break).  Vicky returns to China mid-month, so we're really only loosing a couple of weekends together (weather dependent of course), and maybe a weekend or two of solo sailing (if I had pushed it to the end of the season).  Still, we had 20 days on Seas The Day this season which was four more than last year (when I switched jobs and we moved).

I never did get to try out the new single-handing rig for the spinnaker... something for next year!