“I had trouble walking for any great distance, and sometimes my knee would go out while going down the stairs. I had a mantra, “My leg is killing me! My leg is killing me!” Just running around the yard with my kids was something that I did not enjoy. That’s hard when you’re a young mom and you have two boys that want to play games and run around the yard. It hurt constantly so I was taking a lot of pain medication before surgery. I had really wanted to put it off as long as I could because I was so young.
When I had decided I was ready for a knee replacement, I was seeing a surgeon locally and I told a friend that I was going to need a knee replacement. He suggested that I look into the 3DKnee that Dr. Andrew Hodge had developed. The more I learned about it, the more convinced I was that this was the knee for me simply because of the amount of time they had spent designing the knee, and they expected it to last a lot longer than the knee components that were currently on the market. I was 44 at the time so it was really important to me that the knee last as long as possible because subsequent replacements are generally not as successful.
Because I was younger and fit, more than the average knee replacement candidate, I thought I would recover really quickly. Unfortunately, I had an allergic reaction on my skin which I don’t think anyone could have anticipated and had nothing to do with the actual knee device, but it threw a real wrench into my physical therapy which is so important after the surgery. About eight or nine weeks after surgery, I had to have a manipulation. My surgeon, Dr. Barry Waldman in Baltimore, was always very calm and confident that I would be back to my old self but I just had to give it time. I was a little impatient but within six months I was actively riding my bike again and eight months after surgery, I completed a metric century bike ride which is 65 miles.
Part of what led to me needing a knee replacement was that in my late teens, I found out I had a non-cancerous tumor in my right tibia that also caused me a lot of pain. Through a series of six operations to remove the tumor, it really just compromised my knee joint to the point that I didn’t have any cartilage. I had surgery three times in college, once after I was married, and then for a span of about 20 years, I was following up to make sure the tumor wasn’t reoccurring. I knew I was a candidate for knee replacement; it was just a matter of time and trying to hold off as long as I could.
I am riding in America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride in Lake Tahoe as a part of Team in Training® to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society because I’ve had a number of friends and family who have been affected by a blood cancer. Last time I rode in 2006, I was riding in honor of a friend and neighbor, Nick Palmiotto, who had Multiple Myeloma at the time, which is a blood cancer. Unfortunately, last October (2007) he passed away. Like many of the participants, we write our honored friend’s names on our jerseys. Nick’s name is on my jersey. Sadly, I’m going to be adding the names of a high school friend’s mother and son who both have blood cancer and a college friend who has Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
Team in Training is the primary fundraising arm for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They’ve raised over $850 million to fund research for cures for blood cancer and to support the families and patients with blood cancer. Team in Training primarily trains endurance athletes to participate in century bike rides, triathlons, and marathons. They have a very specific training program so we start with small distances at first and get together every Saturday for large team rides. I’ve been clocking over 100 miles a week just to prepare. The rides become longer and longer and our next group ride will be 90 miles.
America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride in Lake Tahoe is 100 miles. There are about 3,000 people that are going to be riding; several of those are Team in Training participants. There will be a lot of climbing, hills, and mountains which I have not done before on a ride like this. This is just a ride, not a race, but it will take approximately eight hours to complete.
The terrain for the training rides is similar to the terrain in Tahoe. Some of the places we have trained are in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In Tahoe, there’s a climb called Spooner Junction and it is about 7,000 feet. It comes very late in the ride and I imagine we’ll be very tired by that point. The training that we do is so great and really prepares us. It’s a great sense of accomplishment.
For people who might be considering knee replacement, I would recommend that they do some research, be very comfortable with their doctor, and understand the physical therapy requirements because it is important that you continually move your knee and work through the pain. It is a little painful, but know that things can be better than before the knee replacement.
My life is better from the simple standpoint that I don’t have daily pain. I rarely take any kind of medication for pain except on the days I’m taking longer bike rides. After an 80 mile bike ride, anyone is going to be a little achy, but I have to anticipate the soreness and stiffness. If I had to choose, I would absolutely do it all over again because I know what the outcome is. For me, it’s 100% improvement; it just took me a little while to get there.”
Update:
In June 2008 Carol successfully completed America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride! In June 2010 she again completed a century ride around Lake Tahoe. She looks forward to many more rides in the future.
Team in Training is one of the world’s largest athletic charity organizations. If you are interested in being a part of Team in Training or sponsoring an athlete, go to www.teamintraining.org.
