From the Editor’s Desk: Mid-2026 Health Check-In Update ⭐

A few weeks ago, I wrote about three pending health-related issues I needed to resolve while we were in Pennsylvania. I wasn't expecting to provide an update this quickly, mostly because these things often drag out interminably, and we've since come back to Mexico for a short (for us) one-month trip. Basically, I figured it would be a while.

But that's not what happened. I already have some updates, and it's mostly good news. Excellent news, really.
🦵 Knee
The most concerning issue, perhaps, was my knee. I had torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in both of my knees, separately, over a two- or three year period in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and I had had both surgically repaired. I went on to play basketball regularly into my early 50s, and that was that. I've never had any issues, major or minor, with my knees, but I have had this cloud of sorts hanging over me ever since the surgeries because I was told they would one day result in some form of arthritis, something I could just put off until I was old. That, I am good at.

But as I wrote back in May, something finally happened. In late December, I think, my right knee started giving out in a way that was disturbingly familiar to the experiences I had had over 30 years ago with my torn ACLs. I hadn't worried too much that I would ever reinjure one of my surgically repaired knees, especially in recent years since I'd stopped playing basketball and don't ski all that often. But now I was worried that I had somehow reached the expiration date on one of them.

This is problematic for all the obvious reasons, but I rely on regular lengthy walks when we're in Mexico City to keep my weight down and my cardio fitness in reasonable shape, and the high altitude here helps too. But our last two big trips here, for a few months in late 2025 and then four months in early 2026, were a wash. Or worse. My wife had broken her foot last year, slowing us both down, and then I had my knee issue, making it even worse. And sure enough, I've gained about 15 pounds over that time, cutting into the weight loss I had previously achieved. No bueno.

I caught up with my doctor during an appointment when we got back to Pennsylvania in late June and explained this situation and the other issues I was experiencing. And so she yanked on my knee, as my surgeon had done multiple times over three decades ago, and with the same result. "Oh yeah," she said immediately. "You tore the ACL." So she referred me to an orthopedic specialist, and I finally got that appointment, which was surprisingly difficult, last Monday, just three days before we flew back to Mexico.

I had a few surprises waiting for me.

Before I even saw the doctor, I had some X-rays, which seemed pointless to me since a tendon or ligament tear would only show up on an MRI. (In both knees, my torn ACL was replaced with a tendon from the front of a lower leg.) That went quickly; these things are much more efficient than they were when I...