Monthly Archives: May 2010

Knee Surgery 2 – Learning more

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been four days since my latest surgery to remove a rather large piece of cartilage from my left knee. You may have read that I had knee surgery on my right knee in March. So, this has been a few months of painful knees. I hurt my knee February 26. So, I’ve been dealing with some kind of knee pain for three months. Pain is good, however. If you think about it, when were some of the greatest moments of spiritual growth in your life?

For me, spiritual growth came during incredible times of pain. They may not have been physical pains, but they could be spiritual pains.  Mental pains that are brought on by situations in our lives. Perhaps they’re circumstances brought on through our family situations. All of these things have helped form the person I am spiritually.

This latest knee issue has actually been kinda interesting. Many friends have asked, “How can you do this again? What next?  Aren’t you frustrated? Are you depressed? Are you asking God why?

The interesting thing is, I feel incredibly blessed. If you believe God is sovereign (which I do), He allows these trials in our lives. It’s in His plan. If He thinks it’s important enough for me to go through these ‘trials’, shouldn’t I look for Him through them?  It’s interesting, though. I don’t look at this as a trial. I seems more a like a time out. You know, something you do in the middle of a big basketball game. Things are going great, you’re winning, time is running out — but the coach wants to make sure everyone’s on the same page. So, he calls a time out and talks it over. That’s how I view this. God wants me to take a moment, listen to Him and get ready to finish the task ahead.

I have a funny feeling that there could be a lot of ‘time outs’ because I have so much to learn.

The verses that keeps coming to mind are 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 which says:

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

It’s strange talking about my knee being ‘trouble’ because it isn’t something that was caused in persecution or attacks, but something God has been allowing me to go through.

So, what the ‘take away’ value from this?  I turn to James 1:2 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials fo various kinds.”

Here is a recent video I made on Saturday. If you don’t like blood or swelling, don’t watch it.

Knee Surgery update – May 26, 2010

Posted on by
Reply

What a great day! This morning I went to my physical therapy for my right knee. I bent my knee to 131 degrees. Not much progress on the bending, but great progress on the strength. I was able to bike 2.2 miles in 10 minutes on the bike, I did 30 squats with no pain. I actually saw my quad flex and bulge (bulge is a relative term).

Then, I went to the hospital for my second knee surgery. This one was on my LEFT knee. I injured it in 1992 (yes, playing basketball). But, back in April I noticed, what appeared to me, a second (but much small) knee cap.  The doctor had thought it was a bone chip, which he thought had broken lose from a bone spur.

Well, that’s not what it was. Through an arthroscope, the doctor was able to go in and identify a very large piece of cartilage. He told my wife it was about the size of a golf ball. So, he removed it and we’re good to go.

In terms of recovery?  He said it’ll be about a month until my knee is ‘happy’ again. But, I’m supposed to bend it and do straight leg lifts and keep it iced for the short term.

When I arrived home I started icing it, propping in up on pillows and walking a little. It felt (feels) pretty good. But, I noticed some blood soaking through the ace wrap. So, I call the doctor and he told me to stop doing any bending and walking on it and just allow it to heal a little. Tomorrow should be better.

Here’s a video of my day.

At around 7:30 pm tonight I noticed a rather large blood spot on the ace bandage outside my knee. This really surprised me because with my open knee surgery, I didn’t have hardly ANY bleeding. So, I called the doctor’s after hours service. He called back and told me to put more packing around the knee to help stop the bleeding and keep ice on it. I’m doing that. We’ll see what happens.

I’ve taken a little video about my day today, but nothing graphic this time….unless you don’t like the sight of blood.

Keep praying for my recovery.

Knee Update – More surgery to come

Posted on by
2

It’s May 23, 2010 and it’s been more than two months since my right knee surgery. I’m coming right alone. I’m not limping much any more. I’m still in physical therapy. I’m bending my knee to about 130 degrees. I haven’t had to ice it in weeks. However, it does swell up a bit when I’m standing still. Not sure why. It doesn’t seem to bother me too much when I’m walking.

In mid April, I had another doctor appointment. At that time he told me I was progressing well. He gave me three or four more weeks of physical therapy to get it back to normal. However, we did discover something ELSE. But, this time in the other knee.

In the early 90’s I had a similar surgery on my left knee. It has served me well for almost 20 years. However, when I was playing football last fall my doctor thinks a bone spur broke loose (after being tackled) and with the extra stress I’ve put on my left leg because of my surgery, it’s making its way out of the knee joint and into the side of my knee. It hasn’t really bothered me until a couple weeks ago when I was mowing the lawn. That caused me to make another appointment, at which time the doctor said it was time to take it out.

So, this Wednesday, I’ll be heading into surgery for another knee surgery. However, this time it will be arthroscopic. The bone chip is about the size of a nickle, so it’s not really small. But, the doctor thinks there will be little recovery time. He thinks I’ll be pain free in about five weeks.  But, I’ll be putting weight and bending it right after surgery. So, it should be A LOT easier than the previous surgery.

As for the other knee, I’m doing great. I’ve been mowing the lawn, riding my motorcycle, jogging a little (very little), and it’s getting better every day.

So, I’ve got a little bit of an adventure ahead of me again. Pray that all will go well, and once again God will be glorified through it.