something new

I have a new knee. It's something the Gardener and I talked and prayed about for a long time and then the time seemed right and the decision was made.  And for the past several months I've been preparing. Everything in my life has been impacted by the coming surgery. I had a long list of house projects--some since I retired from nursing that never got done, and I was determined to get most of them done. I knew it would be a long time before I would feel like washing windows or scrubbing baseboards or . . . so I needed to work on my list.  Check. Check. Check. The list dwindled.  I was nesting like a woman ready to deliver her baby. Finally I checked off the last thing and everything was ready. The Gardener and I took off for a day to enjoy the color in the mountains.

The week before surgery my fear intensified. I've heard many horror stories of the pain after a total knee replacement. My fear was mostly about how I would deal with the intense pain. (I'm not sure nurses always make the best patients.) The last time I was in the hospital  was in Africa, many years ago and it was a faith-stretching experience then, where God gave me peace in such a tangible way I could almost touch it. He did that again for me this time. I felt like I was floating in His love and warm arms. I was relaxed when the big day came.

My knee dressed up in ice and in its stretch machine.

I did not have general anesthesia but a spinal with "twilight." I remember getting the spinal. A man in scrubs held me firmly curled up like a ball to expose my back for the spinal stick. I remember saying, "Now I know how the babies felt." I'm sure they thought I was already "lulu" but I meant it. Many a time as a baby nurse I had to hold a wee one in such an awkward position as we did a spinal tap. And now I was experiencing it. I felt the stick, and the pressure, and thankfully nothing more.

A week later I'm doing well. I feel like I'm back in school when my physical therapist gives me a good score and applauds my hard work. The Gardener has been a wonderful caregiver and a strong taskmaster when he coaches me with my exercises and stretches my knee. That's when the  tears come. Such pain, but it is worth it as the   flexibility increases.  Recovery is busy -- nurse and PT visits, naps, six hours each day in the knee bending machine, icing, exercise,  E  T   C. . . But it is better than I thought it would be, and I am so, so grateful to be on this side of it and on the way to taking walks again and riding my bike. I'm thankful for blog friends who have checked on me. And I'm thankful for God's presence all along the way.