Helath Care or Sick Care?

Only a few years ago, I was invited on a 3 day backpack trip on the Timberline Trail around Mt Hood. Easy, right? A car shuttle would be provided--I'd be back at the lodge every evening...Off I go on the adventure of the summer. Economical, too. Close to home. Then, in the middle of day two, my knee swells, giving me unbearable pain. I can hardly bend it. What kind of body is mine, that can’t deliver such simple performance when I want it to? The knee can hardly even bend, and bearing weight is out of the question.

How could this happen to me. I exercise an hour a day, four days a week; I should be in tip top shape. I’m no ‘weekend warrior.’ What's going on? I want to finish the hike but can’t. More experienced hikers say ‘Even if I pushed it, I shouldn’t. Doing so, could cause me irreparable damage. Disgusted, I all but crawl back  to my ride home when, on day three, I can do no more than see my team off to the first bend in the trail. No third day victory celebration for me. I moan ‘What went wrong?’

Lack of training--that's what' For the faint of heart, that would be the end of story. No three day hikes for old guys. Doctors orders, right? Too long in the tooth, McGoo. Especially don't do terrain.

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While my isolated incident hardly applies to the entire society, one could equitably ask on the broader level, Which is better: To take measures to educate the public on good health practices or to devise means so that all candidates who want... or need one ...are eligible for mandatory Arthroscopic Knee Surgery, irregardless of their walk in life, irregardless of their health practices?</h1> <h1> </h1> <h1>While more wizened and empowered minds than mine contemplate questions of such magnitude, I humbly withdraw into the tiny little world where I live. Once again this year, 'the Urge strikes.' Wouldn’t it be Grand to hike across the Grand Canyon?
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There is only one tiny little problem. Am I able? I have heard the tales of 75 year olds hike from one end to the other and then repeat the journey the next day the other way. Men and women have done this, and do it annually. But the last time I attempted to do a big hiking three day trip, my body failed me. The last thing I’d want to have happen this year is to become stranded at the bottom of the Grand Canyon at the end of day two (It would be a three day hike).

While the rational thing to do would be to let go ‘The Urge to cross the Grand Canyon’ I can’t do that. I decide to ramp up my training schedule. I supplement trips to those five hours a week at the gym with seven and seventeen mile hikes with climbs of 3,000, and 5,000 feet. Oh the pain.

Also, it hardly seems enough.

Who can I turn to for the education I need? Who can tell me what it takes to make knees like mine perform? Could I consult my healthcare provider? Would they nix the idea? Would they say “Look what happened to you last time...”

As I ponder this situation, I remember my health care provider’s new advertising campaign. How dare they turn me down! Why their very advertising campaign sprawled out over radio, in media, on the broadsides of busses...is a corporate mantra that sings  'Thrive.' Surely, when a business touches our very souls with promises with passion this intense, they must mean it, right? They verily sloganned busses all over town with implications of "Knee Enhancing Exercise and Conditioning Procedures for the Amateur Athlete." Will they deliver on this promise?

I schedule an appointment with my physical therapist. I am clued in. They do deliver. I get the fact sheet on Power Knees. Who says the medicos only see the sick? No, true healthcare providers equip you to TheeRive!!! Yes! Hip, Hip, Hooray.  Grand Canyon here I come. Halle-Thee-Rive-Luah!