July 29 – “Knee Report: Day Two”

OK.  The trip to the orthopedic doctor is complete.  The options have been laid out on the table.  I selected the one that was next in line, so how did it work for me?

Well, nighttime didn’t bring me the uninterrupted sleep I longed for.  Around 2:30 a.m. I woke to some pain in my knee again.  This time it was limited to a very specific area deep inside behind the kneecap.  There was an initial sharpness to it, and then the subsequent aching like you have after a cramp in a muscle.  It was nagging to say the least, so I finally got up and took some Tylenol to calm my head enough to ignore it so I could get back to sleep.  I did get two more crossword puzzles done while waiting for the Tylenol to kick in.  Finished the puzzle book I was working in.  Now I have a brand new one for our trip to Arlington today after church.

In spite of the less than restful night, I was dressed to go walking when Chris came in yesterday morning.  I was anxious to try it out.  She was worried that I not try to do too much too quickly.  I didn’t tell her at first that I had already walked to the end of the street and back when I went out to get the newspaper (not that big of a deal, remember?  One house away).  I did end up going one mile with her, though.  She continued on for three more.  One mile was definitely enough for me.  I could tell that I have been on an exercise hiatus for the last few months.  This is going to take a while. 

In the broad scheme of things, I have to admit that most of the excruciating, debilitating pain is gone.  There is still that one spot under the kneecap that catches every so often, though.  I guess that’s the torn meniscus Doc Kelly told us about.  So … this is me being upbeat and fired up about starting from scratch in my new exercise normal, getting in shape for our next round of surprise mini-trips to … hmm.  Any ideas?

Psalms 88:1-2 says, “O Lord, the God who saves me, day and night I cry out before you.   May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry.”

Father, thank you for the relief I feel so far.  Now I really need some help with motivation to get the leg (and the rest of the body surrounding it) back in shape.  Amen.