To Rehash MY Wounded Knee Saga...

To recap (that's a knee joke, son) the saga of my knee.

On the morning of Friday, October 23, I took my muzzle loader out for a short walk in the woods behind the Bolt Hole in the Adirondacks. It had rained pretty goo the night before and the wet leaves, rocks and mossy roots made the footing quiet but treacherous. About 300 yards into my walk, my left foot slipped on a moss covered root and I wrenched my left knee severely enough to fall. I didn't crack my knee on anything but fell on my right side. As I went down, however, I heard a nasty, nasty sound from my left knee. When I tried to get up, a shooting pain in the knee forced me back to the ground...twice. Realizing I had to get back to the cabin somehow, I resorted to using my rifle as a cane and hobbled back to the cabin.

Two hours later, after the ice pack I had placed on the knee had warmed to body temperature, the knee was not feeling any better so I grabbed a crutch from the store room and headed down to Utica and the Faxton-St. Luke's Medical facility where I spent the entire afternoon waiting, getting examined, X-rayed, diagnosed and prescribed medication. (But mostly waiting.)

While in the waiting room, I called Terry and told her to get up to the Bolt Hole post haste. I knew my hunting was over and that I would have to get back to the Aerie. I could drive, but loading the truck was going to be a b*tch by myself--especially since Saturday's weather was supposed to be a real gully washer. Terry got to the Bolt Hole around 7 PM and we discussed our options over dinner. Saturday morning we loaded both the Tundra and Terry's Jeep with all my gear and the food that couldn't stay and headed back to PA.

Monday I saw my local GP and got his opinion. He concurred with the ER doc at Faxton-St. Luke's that it was a severe strain/sprain and that I should start Physical Therapy ASAP. Which I did on Tuesday morning, October 27.

Now, four sessions of PT later, the knee is feeling much much better. They've got me doing all kinds of exercises to keep it limber and build up the muscles around the knee. I'm scheduled for two more PT sessions this week, the final one being on Friday. We'll see how much the knee progresses by then and determine how many--if any--more sessions I will need.

Thanks to those of you who have followed these words and who have wished me well.