Progress

Weight bearing minus six days!

And today I went swimming (for the second time)!

And I drove!

And I'm off the narcs!

Nice.

Added blessings (and a post I need more for myself than anything else)

It has been a month today since surgery. I'm not gonna lie. It has been harder than I had anticipated- longer recovery, more pain, and certainly more sleep deprivation than I'd hoped for. All that equals one discouraged and sad patient.

In short, it sucks.

However.

Muddling through the pain this afternoon in a sleep deprived, melancholy state, I remembered something.* I remember feeling hopeless (and with some just cause, I might add) regarding my knees this November when things started to go downhill rapidly. I'd done a lot of research and finally, in desperation, had emailed Dr. Michigan in hopes of his having something to possibly contribute. The following rollercoaster of relief, hope, validation, devastation, frustration, and renewed hope with Dr. Texas was an interesting combination.

Right now, I'm trying to recapture all that hope I discovered and hang on. I'm trying to keep perspective... or at least trust in the perspective of my family.

The worst pain is over. While I can't claim to be doing much more than hanging on to sanity (and even that might be a stretch), it pretty much can only get better from here, right? I'll eventually sleep, eat, walk, and be drug free again. I have some gnarly scars that will heal great. This is very likely the end of the vast majority of troubles on this leg.

Bigger still, the nerve injury has been cured- something I hadn't expected, not even dared hope for. I can't be too thankful for Dr. Texas for not only restoring my body but making it even better.

Perhaps more importantly yet in everything, I have a husband who has been so patient, so attentive, and so loving. That might even be the biggest blessing of all.

God is truly a god of hope and healing, isn't He?

*I think it was encouraged in part by tea, of all thing. A dear friend from Mercy Ships sent me a package this week full of tea and a book- perfect. I'll admit, I chose the first tea to drink this afternoon based on its novelty (Heh. Noveltea. Be quiet. I'm drugged.). It's a little ball of something (the head of some flower?) that fits snugly inside one of those tea diffusers.** At first sip, I had the very powerful image of walking through a greenhouse. I love greenhouses and love walking through them and smelling all the flowers and soil. In a pinch, walking through the outdoor lawn and garden section of Lowe's will do. Anyway, it always relaxes me. For some reason, it made me feel hopeful. Can't attribute it to spring because we're past that here in the Redneck Riviera. It's full on summer here in my book now.

**I had to google what they are called. My search terms? Tea dunking metal. We called ours "shrimper" growing up and used to make it "talk" and bite fingers. Ooooh my family.

The stuff middle school nightmares are made of?

Ha! I totally want to be this guy!

In other pressing news...

I realized something yesterday as I was crutching my way past the mirror post shower. I have left-sided frog butt.

*sigh*

I was going to post a picture to illustrate, but Google images has failed on that front. Or back. Whatever.

Imagine, if you will, pulling a frog upright by its front legs so that it's "standing" on its back legs. Picture how the legs connect to the torso- no butt, just flat, right? That, my friends, is frog butt.

I really need to build the muscles back up on the surgical side...

One year ago today, we lost two members of our squadron and two came home severely injured. More lives were lost and injured in the crash, but these four men belonged to us. I'd hoped the emotional intensity of it would have decreased at least a little by now, but I'm not sure that it has.

Today especially, the question of our troops getting paid in the midst of all this government ridiculousness just makes me more angry and sad. Many, many things can be closed for a while or delayed- your troops don't have that option. If they stopped working temporarily along with the museums and, yes, your trash pickup, we would all be in major trouble.

I would hate to think our men were lost and injured in vain.

Cool!

I really wish I could embed these two videos but the kid's parents disabled that option, so you'll have to take the extra mouse clicks to see for yourself. This three year old has a gift for memorizing poetry worth five minutes of your time to see :)

Litany is an impressive recitation. Walking Across the Atlantic is shorter but as heartfelt as a three year old can muster.

Oh right! The blog!

Things have been busy. Well, not exactly busy- more like drugged and painful, but I'm beginning to emerge. Rehab is hard and painful, but we're making progress. I say "we" because I don't know how in the world I'd be able to do this without Peleke. I didn't think I could possibly be more proud of him and love him any more, but then he goes and takes care of me like he has been! I'm a lucky, lucky girl :)

Unfortunately for this blog, I don't really have much to say that doesn't center on my leg or cabin fever at this point. Mostly my mind has been pretty blank and sleepy. Here are some pictures to tide you over: