I met with Dr. Meeks this morning and set a date for surgery.
I woke early enough to enjoy a good long shower and a necessary encounter with my razor. In need of a haircut and still bushy from my weekend at Potlatch, I did my best to fight back the fur and the fuzz. I spent a good amount ot time examining my bathroom, contemplating how navigable it will be when I am post-op. I may have to be quite creative to sit atop the throne.
My 8:45 appointment was a surprise to the good Dr's staff. I'm told he is unavoidably detained in a meeting. I chat briefly with Judy Walsh. She presents me with my MRI results. The pictures will have to wait for the Dr. I am instructed to return at 10:30 and I head back toward JP for breakfast at Sorella's (buckwheat pancakes are in order). I enjoy a tasty breakfast and pour over my MRI report and review the questions I plan to ask the good doctor. I envision a fast paced dialogue where I am granted detailed knowledge of surgical techniques and recovery strategies. I will scribble notes furiously and be enlightened as to the ins and outs of arthriscopic surgery. I have another cup of coffee.
Still 45 minutes to spare, I decide to complete the task I began at the bathroom sink this morning and head to Rocky II's barbershop. Rocky is glad to see me and begins his spiel about how slow business has been. I am only the fourth customer in the chair since he opened at 7 AM. Rocky complains about the Dominicans in the neighborhood and their 7 days a week open late hours barbershops. He tells me they are unlicensed, unschooled barbers. I ask Rocky when he began cutting hair. He reflects for a moment and tells me it was back in the old-country when he was 9 years old. He started by shaving customers with a straight razor. He was most nervous the first time he had to shave his father.
I make it back to Meeks' office and eventually am led to an exam room. Fittingly enough, it is the room with the fabled picture of Ben Worthen laying out for a catch in the 2002 World Championships for DoG. Dr. Meeks did Ben's shoulder. I study the picture and wonder if my rebuilt knee will lead to similar feats of flight.
I meet with the doctor moments after he gets into the office. Donning his white lab coat, he extends his hand. We shake and introduce ourselves. Meeks is a jovial man with a flashing white smle. His manner is relaxed and attentive. His face and neck match the red color of my bare feet and legs--sunburns as proof of our long weekends outdoors. A young, well dressed resident named Jason joins us as Dr. Meek's reviews my MRI films and briefs me on his surgical technique. Having done my homework, I ask him about the allograft options, how his tissues are sterilized, and how the reconstructed ligament is attached.
He sets my mind at ease and tells me there is no indication of cartilage damage. I tell him that I am wary of cutting healthy tissue and he agrees in a manner that says, "But of course." Doctors, Mechanics, any specialist for that matter, must get a lot of overly basic and redundant questions. But when it is my first experience with a sugery, a rebuilt transmission, whatever the unknown I seek an expert for, I want that expert to hear my concerns.
I tell the doctor that I want to return to an aggressive and competitive level of play, ideally in time for the tournament in Brazil (only 4 months away). I think I see a touch of reality reflected in the Dr's eyes. This is not a simple recovery, no matter how good the surgery or how cocky I am.
I am prescribed 3 weeks of P.T. 3 times a week, prior to my surgery. I will go to Scott Waugh, the PT for the Bruins for this. Conveniently, his office is across the hall from Dr. Meeks' I also select a date for surgery. 6:30 AM August 5th. The day after I get back from the Phish IT festival in Maine. Going out with a bang.
At some point in the last 1000 years, barbers used to do this kind of surgery. I should have checked for a 2-for-1 special at Rocky's. My knee is stiff and I am running behind in more areas of my life than I am comfortable with thinking about right now. Healing is a mind-body-spirit process and I am the administrator of a bureaucracy right now, it seems.