The Power of Jade Stones

I write this in NY and I am frankly surprised that I am here.  This July trip was planned a long time ago for a week of some baseball, a lot of friends, and a little bit of business.

Last Saturday, my summer vacation was going the way of hoola hoops and moon rocks.  My knee was in bad shape.

Not my bad knee.  The one that was operated three years ago for a torn meniscus.  Nope, the other one.  The one that has been bad since a high school gym class decades ago.  That's the worse knee of the two.

Working with my incredible trainer Christina, I have been buying time.  I'm way too busy to lay out for a month or so getting, as my father would say, "foreign parts" installed in a joint or two.  But, a few weeks ago, the really bad one flared up and it was enough to go to my internist.  I chose him over my orthopedist because you virtually have to be carrying your limb in a Nordstrom's shopping bag to see him on short notice.

My internist figured it pretty quickly.  I can walk fine.  I can sit as well.  But a flex in one special direction feels like a dagger being inserted by a common criminal.  

"What little meniscus is left is obviously torn."

Thank you for that.

Because meniscus surgery is now and suddenly being looked down upon by most physicians, he wanted me to work with my trainer to calm it down.  And we did.  Despite the fact that I climbed Mount Hollywood Bowl not once but twice in the same week.

And then, last Tuesday, I was getting into my car and the knee bent in that one special direction.

I had to close my car door so most of Culver City wouldn't think I was being murdered.

Back to the internist with thoughts of cancelling my trip.   And would a cortisone shot make a difference?

"There's no place to really shoot the cortisone into."

Thank you for that.  Again.

The advice one more time was to calm it down as much as I could over the weekend.  Lots of ice.  Extra strength Tylenol.  Luckily, it was an oddly rainy July weekend in LA.  It was extra easy to stay home.

Leaving on Tuesday, I wanted one final go-round with Christina on Monday.  I wanted her to pull me together as best as I could be.  Held together with that yellow duct tape you find at crime scenes.  She had a unique plan.

Massaging both knees with warm lotion and jade stones.

Hmmm.

My trainer is into the holistic health universe so I was game for anything.  It was a cool sensation.  Very not so cool in temperature.

When I got home Monday night, I was not even feeling the sharp twinges I had been experiencing Monday afternoon.

Pulling myself to LAX and then dragged myself out of JFK.  All was good.  

As I write this, my really bad knee is in that very special direction.  Nothing.

Right now, I am vacationing as planned.   And wondering just what's behind those magic rocks that my trainer pulled out of her bag.

Dinner last night:  Sausage and broccoli pasta at Tuscan Brio Grille in Danbury.