Yup, crutch. This has been my reality for the past 3 weeks!
I had a knee surgery exactly 3 weeks ago (haha, during this time of day too) to clean up some debris around the kneecap. If you saw me limping around PATH, that debris was the cause.
I almost called off the whole thing beforehand because I was scared about the costs! Thankfully (oh ye of little faith) so far, the costs have been fairly manageable, largely because God sent a check that I wasn't expecting in the mail. Praise Him.
My second fear was the whole idea of being under anesthesia. Never had a surgical procedure done before. Thank God for the steady, practical nurse who helped me get ready. She summed it up perfectly: people tend to fear a loss of control. That'll preach, right?! So since I'm currently typing this blog post, obviously I didn't die on the operating table. I remember being wheeled into the room and being asked to scoot over to another bed and I laughed while scooting because Whoa, that anesthesia stuff is working already!! annnnnd I was out like a lightbulb after that. The whole thing took about 30 minutes.
Third fear was of the pain. I had a prescription for one of those strong pain pills that people could end up addicted to. So thankful that I didn't need them for very long. The pain was very minimal and the pills were so strong, they made me sick! The doc cleared me to take over the counter meds as needed just 2 days after the surgery.
So that brings me to now: physical therapy and a crutch. It was 2 crutches at first but my amazing PT, Wendy, felt that I was okay to use just one. A week after surgery, I was feeling confident and somewhat more steady so I went a few days of not using it as much. I mean, I walked like a zombie but hey, I was getting better, right? BAD MOVE. I paid for that mistake! AND back to 2 crutches for you, Jen. And now I'm back down to 1.
This experience is an interesting one. It's gratitude and frustration and patience and annoyance and I could go on....
I can't move around as quickly as I want.... getting ready to go out takes forever. The swelling isn't going down quickly enough. I hate how the crutch draws attention to you. I can't power walk (a.k.a my normal speed of walking). Physical therapy is good but sometimes uncomfortable when doing crazy leg treatments in a public space. People are constantly asking your progress when sometimes you don't know of any. Constantly answering the question, "What happened to you?".
Arggggghggghghhhgg.
I had one of those "I wanted new shoes complained about my shoes and then I saw a man with no feet" moments. I was driving to lunch last week and whining in my head about my annoyances. And then I started to listen to the radio. It was Dr. Dobson's Family Talk show and the lady on there had cancer that was spreading all over her body. Her story was so sad yet inspirational. So then it was like, "Okay God. I get it." There are soooo many more people in worse circumstances than me. I'll get through it eventually.
In conclusion, I'll post this pic of my desperate trip to Target on the Saturday after surgery. I needed thank you cards and other stuff and it felt an amazing 58 degrees outside and I wanted to be out in it so I got chaffuered to Target and dropped the crutches in the cart and made the cart my personal walker. talk about a run-on sentence.
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