I have been through complete knee replacement surgery and have survived to tell the story!! 🙂

In my last post I described how nervous I was and the fear of the unknown was so very real.  But…and I shouldn’t be surprised……instead of fear, the last two months have been ones filled with encouraging words from friends coming at just the right moment.  They have been filled with thankfulness for my husband who has spent every day cooking awesome gourmet meals for me. The days have also given me another chance to experience the miraculous moments that only God can provide.  He definitely went before me in every place where I had fear and dread.  From the hospital staff to the surgeon to the housekeeping staff.  Every day I had significant improvement.  I even felt like God hand picked my physical therapists.  The encouragement I received from everyone I came in contact with was exactly what I had prayed for.  The more they encouraged me, the more I positively responded.

Since I am two months out from surgery I thought I would just note a couple of things that have impressed me in this time of healing.

1.  The things I feared became small when I faced them directly.  It’s funny but everyone told me I would do good and that they hadn’t met anyone who had regretted getting their bone on bone knee fixed once they did.  BUT I wondered if my experience would be the same as others.  Now that I have walked through it all I would tell everyone the same thing….get it fixed, you won’t regret it.  I had to actually experience it to say that though.
2. Prepare your body AND your mind.  One of the greatest battles I fought were the negative thoughts I had.  To battle those thoughts I read as much as I could about what was going to happen to my knee.  I watched You Tube videos and read blogs from people who had gone through the surgery.  I didn’t want to be caught not prepared.  And it really helped me.  Knowing what is happening to you is “normal” is half the battle.
3. Expect to have pain.  Even pain pills don’t take all the pain away.  But I kept telling myself that I had to go through the pain to get better.  I remember when the physical therapist told me to lift my leg out in front of me from a sitting position and I just looked at him and said, “I don’t think I can do that.”  He said, “Sure you can.” So, I trusted him and told my leg to straighten out. I was shocked when it worked AND it actually made my knee feel better!  My mind was telling me it would hurt and I had to convince it that it was okay!!  Weird, I know, but it worked.  From that time on I just did what the therapist told me to do and it made me feel better every time.
4. Patience is required for long recoveries.  And patience isn’t something I am good at. If I heard it once from the doctor and the therapist I heard it many times, it was “you are doing too much too soon!” I am in my third month from surgery and I still have to remind myself not to do too much.  I feel it the next day when I don’t listen.
5. Let other’s help you.  I’m not good at that either.  My husband served me every day.  He is now the live-in chef at our house.  My sister-in-law insisted on cleaning my windows and took me out for coffee several times.  Every time I had to depend on someone for help I was reminded of how loved and cared for I am.

So, if fear is keeping you from doing something that you know will bring good into your life just know that facing it is the only way you will get through it.  Fear has a way of keeping us from good things.  God will go with you and before you, I promise!