3 Dec 2024

It’s officially ski season!

We got over a foot of snow on Friday.

The first local resort (partially) opened on Saturday.

The sun shone brightly on Sunday.

So what did I do?

I went to the spa.

Ugh.

Of course, I do love a good Spa trip. But, I’d rather be skiing.

Unfortunately my knee doesn’t feel the same way.

I injured it surfing months ago, and was really hoping it would be fixed by the time December rolled around. My physio said it seemed good to go, but the muscles needed strengthening. I guess not.

I thought it was feeling pretty good last weekend on the slopes of Verbier, but as the evening settled in, it started to stiffen up, and I awoke on Monday with a fair bit of pain.

Time to get an MRI.

Something I’d avoided because I have no idea how the French health system works, or how well my insurance works. Stupid really, but sometimes I’m stupid.

Thankfully, it turns out getting an appointment with a doctor is easy - just log on to https://www.doctolib.fr/ and search for your town. It spits out a list of doctors, the times they’re available, and you can book a slot.

Twenty six euros later, I had a diagnosis of a likely meniscus tear, and a prescription for an MRI scan. That’ll determine if I need surgery.

My friends say I couldn’t be in a better place to get knee surgery. Being in the mountains, the best knee surgeons in the world work here. I’m not sure that makes me feel any better. There’s no way I can stay in my apartment if I get surgery. I’m living at the top of a tight, spiral staircase. Getting in and out would be impossible.

Even without surgery, the Google says 6 months isn’t unusual for recovery times for “old people”. Old being over 35. Guess that’s me then! It’s impossible to know if I’m going to be able to make the most of this ski season, but it’s not looking great today.

It’s frustrating to get these relapses when I had started successfully getting back on the trails only a few weeks ago, and feeling good about it. I guess the heavy boots and varied movements of skiing just pushed it too far.