April 1st is one of my favorite days of the year. It’s kind of MY official beginning of Spring. It’s also a day that’s full of practical jokes, which is quite fun. This year I wasn’t able to do any practice jokes because of my knee surgery. However, I was able to accomplish a couple of things today.

Today also marked my second post-op doctor appointment. Today I was hoping to get word that I could start physical therapy on my reconstructed knee. However, the appointment didn’t go completely as planned.

Since I still can’t drive, my wife took me to my appointment. We were on time.  But, the doctor office WASN’T on time. That’s a great way to get me irritated. We sat for nearly 30 minutes waiting to get in to see the doctor. With no where to put my leg up, it was very uncomfortable.

However, I finally made it back to see the doctor. First, they removed my brace. Then, the staples that have been in my knee since March 17. Then the doctor came in and gave me the news. He told me the healing is looking pretty good, “But, let’s go another 10 days. You can start putting a little bit of weight on your leg. Don’t throw away the crutches yet, but start putting weight on it. And, by the time I see you in 10 days, hopefully you’ll be able to put all your weight on it.”

I asked, “Can I start doing leg lifts?”  Doctor Dean said, “No, not yet. That’ll put too much pressure on the repair. Just start putting a little weight on it. Don’t bend it yet. And, we’ll get you into physical therapy after that.”

That’s NOT what I was hoping for. I was really hoping I would be able to start therapy. I actually teared up a bit. I was so ready to start working hard a my recovery. Now, I just have to do more waiting.

Then, I thought to myself — “Self, why don’t you just start working hard to putting weight on your leg. Work hard at that and NOT over do it.” That was all I needed to get me motivated and out of the dumps.

I’ve found this whole process has been a roller coaster of emotions. When I first started out, I was bound and determined that I was NOT going to feel sorry for myself. When I did, I was going to focus on others who were worse off than me. I was going begin reading the Bible and try to make it all the way through the Bible in a month. I was also going to be encouraging to as many believers I met on Facebook or other social media websites. You would think those would be easy goals, right?  Well, I haven’t been very successful.

In the first three or four days of my recovery,  I read all the way through Numbers. But, for whatever reason, I just STOPPED. Every time I started feeling pain, or emotionally uneasy, I would start praying for friends who were worse off than me, or Christians who were facing incredible amounts of abuse because of their faith in Christ. But, when I started thinking about WORK and politics — I just stopped. I feel like such a failure.

Then someone pointed out to me, “Greg, God gave you a great gift. He gave you the desire to seek after Him. You had four successful days. Four days you hadn’t sought after Him before. Now, you just need to start over.”  He’s right. I never thought of it that way.

So, what does all this mean? It means I’m two weeks into my recovery. It sounds like the doctor believes it’s going to be at least another six weeks until I’m not feeling much discomfort. I have four days of searching after Christ, under my belt.  So, that mean I’m WAY ahead of where I was.

If you want to see what went on at the doctor’s office, watch this YouTube video below.