Derailment

Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?  Exercise was killing me; or at least my entirely necessary knee tendons.  Years of muscular apathy/atrophy should not (apparently) be undone by throwing oneself into the sweaty fires of exercise.  Seriously.  Crying when you have to go to the bathroom because you know that you a.  have to sit down and b.  have to get back up isn't the way to live life.  The deep finger scratches in the walls down the stairs and around the toilet cubby could lead future buyers (no, we're not selling) to suspect something sinister was going on. 
I have been doing Physical Therapy for a month now.  I have learned that my poor little knees have held my bulk up for years.  No wonder I have no core muscles and my ankles swoon when I put any stress on them.  No wonder my thighs quiver and beg for mercy when I stand on one leg with my knee slightly bent, because that's all the give I have. 
After three weeks of learning strengthening and lengthening exercises, I have the go ahead to go back to the gym, with specific instructions.  No squats or lunges.  Rats.  Mostly upper body strengthening and walking.  Meanwhile I go through the whole growing litany of hip, ankle, and core strengthening exercises I get from the PT every day.