Bottom line: I need a rowing machine because biking is still a very long way off. Rowing is the only way I can engage the aerobic training so important to my general fitness. I’d love to have a kayak or some way to row on the water, but that’s not always convenient to use like cycling.
Today I had a visit with an orthopedic surgeon at the VA. Apparently I had gotten incomplete information and some bad guidance previously. I wasn’t supposed to quit wearing the brace until they told me to take it off; I had thought I was on my own because I couldn’t get much response from Orthopedics in the past. But God in His mercy prevented me doing anything outright harmful, so I don’t have to worry about the brace, because I’m far enough along the healing path to be okay. The patella is knitting slowly, but the lack of pain when the doctor pressed on it was a good sign.
The stiffness and swelling is long term and part of the process. I need to avoid seeking any greater freedom of movement. Bending to 90° is actually quite good at this point. We are talking a year or more of very slow progress. Without a full range of motion, cycling is simply not possible, not safe. That doesn’t relieve the City of their duty to replace my trashed bike, but it might be sitting a very long time once I get it back. And aerobic exercise is critical to my heart recovery from the tachycardia events, so I have to find some other way of getting the kind of exercise, and I figure rowing is just about the best way to do that.
Pray with me that I can find something I can afford that will do the job. I’ve used the junk toys before and want to avoid them.
I go back in six weeks to the Ortho Clinic.
May God heal you, brother. Please pray for me also, because I need deliverance from scrupulosity (religious OCD).