Bilateral WHAT?!

So for the past few years I've had pretty bad knees. My dad had his first knee replaced when he was in his 40's, and unfortunately I have a lot of his physical traits. Monday I finally decided to go to the doctor, so I drove out to a specialist in Golden. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but I still didn't think there would be much wrong. I thought they'd maybe give me some knee braces and physical therapy exercises. After some X-Rays and an examination the doctor gave me a severe bilateral diagnosis of Chondromalacia. To explain it in the simplest terms; Both my knee caps are tilted outwards and have moved out of the center of my knees to the outsides, causing the cartilage on the outside of my knees to ware away. Of course, this causes extreme pain, and my right knee has come to the point where it doesn't even always stay in.

Resting my legs completely straight. See how far over and pointed out they are? Kinda gross, huh?

Left Knee.

Right knee. By far worse.

Treatment? Surgery, on both knees. Recovery time? 2 months. When? Well, here's the catch. I can get it now and miss the first two months of the ski season, or I can wait until April/Mayish and risk having a really painful but full season. It's extremely hard to even walk without wearing my knee braces, but I have decided to take the chance and plan for surgery in April. I came out here for a lot of things, but the biggest was the riding. I have Fibromyalgia, a condition of the Central Nervous System that causes all over body pain, digestive issues, cognitive issues and well, a lot of other issues, so a little knee pain is nothing I can't get through.

On a more positive note, A-Basin and Loveland are officially open for the season! I'm super stoked and hope to make my way over to A-Basin this weekend. If you're still planning on buying a pass, you can now by Summit Passes online as well as Epic. But if you're looking to buy a Colorado Pass, you can head over to the gondola station on Main St. in Breck to buy it. They're open Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm. The season is here, get on it!