Yesterday was a bad day for Toronto commuters. The weather was boiling hot (according to The Weather Network, it felt like 41c by noon) and transit workers staged a wildcat strike, so there was no bus or subway service. Luckily, I was able to bike it to the orthopaedic surgeon's office to get the news on my knee.

The news I received was good and bad.

The bad: The folks in Buffalo think I tore my ACL. The surgeon is apt to believe them (and rightly so. Also, I don't think I've mentioned this, but this surgeon is a great guy, very smart, and coincidentially operated on my mother several years ago when she shattered her wrist while in-line skating. But that's another story altogether).

There is a chance, depending on the type of tear, that it will heal on its own. But regardless, the surgeon recommended getting scoped. That way, they can at least have a look at where I tore the ACL/the severity of the tear. If I don't need anything done, then no procedure is performed and away I go. If I do do need some work done, they will perform it then.

So of course, this being Ontario and all, when will I get the surgery? Six to eight months from now.

But there was some good news.

The good: The best news out of all of this was I could still snowboard. Thinking back to when I originally did this, and remembering how I snowboarded four days in Whistler, this makes sense. Your ACL is important for lateral movement; not so much for when you're stuck in a snowboard, leaning forward and back.

The doc also said I should feel free to go about my normal business, and play any sport I like. Now, I think I will take it easy on ultimate - at least for the time being - but that means I will forge ahead playing softball, and resume running 5-10k.

There is also a minute chance this may heal on its own. I return to the doctor to find out in August.

The trip could have gone better, I suppose; the best news would have been to hear that there was no tear. But I can tell just by the way it feels that my knee is slightly unstable, and the doc confirmed that. But at least I'm able to continue with most things I enjoy, and can snowboard right up until the surgery.

We also had an interesting side conversation about Ontario health care, and how the knee topic seemed to be the most popular one on my blog. I told him that I didn't know how Ontario doctors handled the workload; when I saw him in the hospital, he was treating four patients at once. We both agreed the system could be much, much better.