Canadian Thanksgiving is today, Monday, but we ate with the family one day early - Sunday.  Some other family members, our bikes, are waiting in Austria for us to come back, and we are sure they are happy there. We joined them in spirit at the Thanksgiving table, as Dodie's sister prepared Weiner Schnitzel - from turkey of course. And Dodie sat at the table, just like everybody else with real knees!

Rejoining our bikes started to look a lot more feasible during the previous week, as Dodie's knee continued to improve. Last night she straightened her leg on the bed, and we gladly observed that it was flat - neither a hand nor a finger could slip underneath. That's a bit of an achievement. We began to discuss exactly when she could start riding her bike outside again.

So how sad when morning came and Dodie found the knee puffy, too warm, and red. Even though this is not France (where it seems every day is a holiday), today was truly a holiday in Canada. What to do? We did not have to think long, it was off to the hospital.

It seems most people can not bother to be sick, early on a holiday, so Emergency was mostly empty. They took Dodie in and took a most serious approach to this balky knee.  

First they threw every test in the book at her.  But these were not rapid fire. Rather they would do one,  wait for the results, mull it over for a minute, and call for another one. Each one they dreamed up, we could see, added about an hour to our stay. Finally, after about six hours, they called in an orthopedic surgeon.  At least Dodie did not have to feel that she had gone in for no good reason!

By this time it was mostly clear that there was no blood clot, and no deep bone infection. The most likely suspect was an infection under the skin. The surgeon was reluctant to open the skin (by inserting a needle) and considered waiting for additional blood work to come back (in two days). But finally he decided to go for it, and aspirated some fluid from the joint. In two days, that fluid too will be analysed.  Meanwhile, it's a course of antibiotics. Depending how the tests come out, they might tweak exactly which drug is used.

The bad news is physio is cancelled, and bike training is cancelled. The good news is that they did not dump Dodie into a bed for IV treatment. With any luck at all, her recovery will still be on track. In two days the tests will be done, then its back to the surgeons to see what they think. Fingers crossed!