I turn 40 in a few weeks.

I’m no stranger to the trick knee, having “enjoyed” such for most of a decade so far. Unpleasant, sure, but it’s manageable, isn’t it? Stairs aren’t your friend but level surfaces don’t cause much difficulty.

Yesterday morning, my left hip started going wonky. As in, “walking hurt like hell all of a sudden.” What’s weirder is that stairs don’t trigger the pain much but walking across level ground becomes rather excruciating. Like, say, the walk to the store and back.

And I woke up with the same pain this morning. This had better subside, and soon…