She Stinketh No More (Post-Op Day 4)

Hooray, hooray! 

Today was "you get to take a shower" day!

• Goodness, a simple little shower is such a wonderful thing after laying in the bed for 4 days! So glad the smell of funkiness radiating from my body has ceased. I even sat in a chair and fixed my hair! It's the little things, folks...

• Completed my 2nd physical therapy session this afternoon. The PT has said that she is "very impressed" with my progress so far. I'm bearing the majority of my weight with the aid of crutches and even made full revolutions on the stationary bike for several minutes. My range of motion is returning quite rapidly! Even though I was kicking butt and taking names at physical therapy, my knee reminded me very soon afterwards that it had only been four days since surgery and forced me to get back in the bed, ice, elevate, and pop some happy pills (read: rockstar status was short-lived).

• Had an unplanned visit to the OS office yesterday due to some weird circulation issues going on with the foot on my operated leg (turning red, tingling, feeling hot). Good news is that the ultrasound they ordered came back all clear which ruled out the possibility of a blood clot. In the midst of that itsy-bitsy setback, the doc was incredibly pleased to see the minimal amount of swelling present around my knee. One of the particular procedures he performed (a lateral release) apparently has a reputation of causing incredible amounts of swelling for weeks, even months, at a time for some patients. It's definitely encouraging to hear from both the OS and PT that my knee is grasping for an "overachiever award" at this point.

• All of these "wins" have confirmed further my reasoning for documenting my post-op journey. Before my knee surgery, I spent a lot of time doing internet searches of people's experiences with arthroscopy and lateral release. What I found was that the majority of people who took the time to record their experience publicly were the ones who had the worst (and sometimes bizarre) outcomes. My hope through this is that I can contribute to the many stories in internet world and document both a positive experience and outcome from a procedure that has been given a bad rap.

We shall see! So far, so good...

Just 36 hours ago... (Post-op Day Two)

...I was being wheeled into the operating room for my much-talked-about knee surgery (Arthroscopy and Lateral Retinacular Release, to be exact). It was actually a great morning that went off without a single hitch, despite its lack of my two favorite things: coffee and food. Seriously, the whole process was so incredibly smooth and quick. My procedure was scheduled for 7:00am and the first thing I remember from waking up from anesthesia was a clock hanging directly in front of me that showed 8:15am. An hour after that, they kicked me out and we headed home. Well, maybe not as extreme as "kicked out." They did tell me they were very impressed with all of my post-op schtuff, so they saw no need to keep me around. After a last pump of Dilaudid and Zofran, we were on our way. And this has pretty much been my view ever since we arrived home:

One Hundred and Ten Percent

About 9 1/2 months ago, I wrote a post about my "amnesia" tendencies that like to attack and knock me down for the count. Throughout the months that followed, God faithfully provided and saturated my memory with unforgettable blessings to suffocate my amnesia episodes. He really hit home promises in His Word, such as Be anxious for nothing (Phil 4:4), Fear not for I am the One who helps you (Is 41:13), and one of my favorites, how MUCH MORE will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matt 7:11). 

In so many ways God has proven to me that when He gives these promises to His children, He means them. REALLY means them. If his wisdom and love provided a way to meet my greatest need ever- to be saved from His wrath and reconciled to Him-- then He can surely handle the details of a month with little to no income. Or a broken down car. Or a struggling marriage. Or a knee surgery...

Straight Paths: Thoughts on Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, 

and do not lean on your own understanding. 

In all your ways acknowledge him, 

and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

The Scripture verse above is one that is quite familiar to our ears and frequently repeated from memory by many. It only takes a few moments of walking the aisles of retail stores to see it decoratively reprinted onto coffee mugs and greeting cards. Most of us enjoy the way these particular words easily roll off our tongues to offer wise-sounding advice. Many people often gravitate towards positive-sounding verses like these in Proverbs as a quick self-esteem boost, while others may use them as an explanation for undesirable circumstances in their life. Once we cast aside our flawed glasses of self and put on the lens of the good news of Christ, we can then see that these two verses are much more than a simple formula for worldly success, but actually a heavenly calling for eternal life. 

His Common Grace

Yesterday I was reading about the doctrine of common grace for a theology class that I've been taking for the past 7 months. The reality of those truths washed over me like a tidal wave of both conviction and worship. Did you know that the only reason we all woke up this morning-- believer and unbeliever-- and are breathing each breath is ONLY by God's grace?

God's Word tells us that the ONLY thing we deserve is death (Romans 6:23). Each moment we continue living, experiencing thousands of indulgences each day, is because of His astounding grace. A tweet from Paul Tripp this morning hit this truth further home for me:

Even pleasure preaches God's grace. Every day we all enjoy a symphony of pleasures we could've never earned the right to enjoy.

As humans, and especially as Americans, we are bent towards a happiness paradigm that distorts our motives and actions. We are so clouded by our sense of entitlement that we spend most moments of each day mistaken that we deserve all these pleasures and then foolishly covet the ones we don't have.

Lord, may your abundant and undeserved kindness lead us all to repentance today. Give us eyes to see that all of these blood-bought gifts are pointing to You and your glory. Your grace is truly amazing...