Guess What I Did Yesterday?

The only thing I could think of was a Jackass-type introduction to this stunt. And the key word here is "jackass." Yesterday, my PT Mike cleared me to skate for the first time since suffering my knee injury four months ago. What better excuse to take Kyle out to the rink for a day of male bonding?

Of course I was given very specific instructions:

• I had to come in to get my knee taped beforehand.
• All skating had to be done in a slow to medium speed.
• Stop and rest at the first sign of serious pain.
• Don't put your tongue on the goal: it'll stick there.
• Don't just do laps. Skate like you were playing a game.
  

No worries on any of those restrictions. Hell, slow to medium would be a step up for my game. I'm almost as slow as Vinnie when I'm healthy! Sorry, Vin. Kyle and I stepped onto the ice, and I was immediately in my happy place. This was gonna be great!

I gingerly started to take a few warm-up laps. Very slowly - Kyle was doing circles around me - and without any swift or severe moves. After the warm-up, I got to a half-decent speed and tried to clear my first obstacle: turning. I grimaced and braced for the worst . . . and it didn't come. I turned rather quickly without any pain. Whoo hoo! I was so happy, that I let Kyle do his favorite thing in the whole wide world: checking Dad into the boards:


Yeah, that grunt was me. Little monster packs a punch. When I was ready, I got up to a decent speed again and tried to clear obstacle number two: stopping. I skated toward the boards, and performed a power stop. Done! No pain, no instability, and a goodly amount of ice shavings thrown in the air. Sweet! "Someone get my my sweater and a puck! I'm red' to go!"

The only thing I really needed to accomplish now was a quick, push-off start. This was crucial, because during quick starts from a stopped position was my malady. The knee would give, and I would go down like a five dollar ho. Heh. If I breezed through this, I could make a decent argument for playing in a week or so. This was huge. I gritted my teeth, got set, and hopped into the push-off start at a speed just under game conditions.

And then I felt it.

The knee didn't give way, thankfully, but there was pain in the left knee. It wasn't huge, but it was enough for me to know I wasn't ready to play. Not like this. Once I felt the pain, I stopped what I was doing and disappointingly sat on the bench. No hockey for me. I could do all the things I needed to do on the ice - I even practiced shooting with Kyle - but I couldn't sprint from a stopped position. And if you can't do that, you can't help your team.

The good news is that I'm not back to square one, and I can give all of this info to Mike on Monday so we can work on it. Hell, a few months ago, I couldn't stand on skates. Now I can stop, turn, and skate without pain. That's real progress. I'll be back, but it's gonna take a little longer. The season lasts until April, and if I can be back by the New Year, I'll be happy. That being said, if I can't play this season, that's okay, too. My knee is more important right now.

And hey, the disappointment didn't last long, since I got to play ice hockey with my son. Here's the boy taking a shot. I'm really proud of his progress so far.


If nothing else, this got me out of the house and kept me busy. Two things I sorely need after this week. Today should be even better, with Kyle's soccer game, Fish's birthday dinner, and Poker Night at Randal Graves' house all on the itinerary.