I’ve had recurring injuries to my right knee over the last few years. I’ll twist the wrong way or put too much strain on it–then I buckle or fall down–and I’m limping for a week.

It’s keeping me from being as active as I want to be. I know I’ll never run again or play high impact sports like soccer or karate. Really, I just want to be able to hike into the backcountry and rock-hop my favorite trout streams.

I finally got serious about having it looked at. After numerous referrals and insurance company hoops to jump through I got an MRI done. The doctor did not have good news to report.

My right knee is really mangled. I have a weak/damaged ACL, torn cartilage, a bone spur underneath my knee cap, and a cyst. Wow. My doctor said that I need to take care of this now, or else I may not be able to walk in 10 years.

So what’s next? The easy ACL repair is not a good option. The Dr does not want to destabilize my knee further by repurposing my patellar tendon. So we have to use a harvested ACL. That means from a cadaver. So I have to wait for a really big guy, like myself, to die so I can have his ACL. Weird.

But it needs to be done. I’m looking at missing four weeks of work. Rehab will be many months. And it’s going to hurt–a lot.

I’m looking forward to being much more active again.