Limping along

I must be getting old. About two weeks ago at the start of a hike I managed somehow to mess up my knee. I am not sure what I did my best guess is I put a severe sprain on it. I have been reluctant to go to the doctor for a $7,000 MRI to tell me there there is nothing they can do so I have been limping around the newsroom taking the occasional "gimp" and "cripple" comments from coworkers.

Most of the assignments have been painful but not to hard to cover with the bum knee as mostly it is just walking. My easy days ended when we got a call from a roofing company about the work they were doing on church. At the scene I was invited to come up to the roof and see how the progress was going. Normally I would have jumped at the offer but on a sore knee and unsure footing I thought about declining. But just like they say in Zombieland it was time to "nut up". Up the ladder I went.

You take your knees for granted a lot but they really do come in handy on assignment. The little things like kneeling down for a low angle shot or standing on my tippy-toes to get the highest view I can seem damn near impossible. I was already asked at the office if I wanted a ride on "Wah-mbulance" (get it?) so I knew I needed to head up stairs. The worst part is balancing the knee leg on the ladder rung as I swung over to the roof. Poetry in motion it was not but I was up top and had a great perspective on the work.

I thought about following the crews onto the tile portion of the roof but the slope and treacherous footing would have sent me tumbling down. It's not the fall it's the sudden stop they told me was the bad part of dropping off the roof so I stayed with the flat roof areas and tried for some artistic shots.

I'm not sure when my knee will heal (if it ever will I wonder) but I do my best to limp along on assignment. I know it must be bad when yesterday a timer at the finish line of the track meet I was covering asked how bad the leg was. I honestly thought he was talking to a runner who had just crossed the line but he was asking me. Yes it is fun to be the walking wounded in the newsroom but I guess it beats being in a leg cast at home.