It turns out, this surgery was a little more difficult to recover from than my others. I’ve had four surgeries on my legs in five years, unbelievably.
I wore a knee brace for six weeks, 23 hours a day or so. I was very ready to sleep without it and physical therapy has been very painful. Think tears in my eyes, at least twice a week. I got to take my wrap off after two weeks, and then finally in week six I got to leave the brace behind. It took another week for me to feel comfortable walking. At the end of seven weeks, I could walk a half mile and go up and down stairs – awkwardly, but making it happen!
Interestingly, my surgeon made a video of my procedure if you’d like to take a look.
I am hoping to be back to normal activities by summer. It’s slow and steady progress, but I am thankful for great medical care and a supportive family. The kids even come hold my hand while I’m cringing through home exercises!
With Jim home for three weeks while I was recovering from knee surgery, we were spending a lot of time in the family room. Jim has not liked our couch since… we bought it, ahem, and we haven’t liked the arrangement of our family room since… we moved in.
Our friend Kristin was over visiting me, and I mentioned that I had wanted to move the TV to above our fireplace and add a mantle since… we moved in. Jim agreed it was a good idea suddenly, and Kristin said, let’s rearrange and see if you like it! So they moved the couch (after I hobbled off and out of the way) and things got very exciting.
We loved the new arrangement, and soon Jim was brainstorming a new mantle. Meanwhile, the kids enjoyed having a TV on the floor!
Jim and I coordinated stain for the mantle over FaceTime, got a new TV, and mounted it above the new beautiful wood mantle and shelf.
We were planning to wait to buy a new couch. But then… Jim was home watching Maverick’s hair accumulate on the dark brown microfiber and hauling out the vacuum daily. Then I discovered Sactionals, and we started watching reviews and doing some research. Jim stopped into the Love Sac store. And the sales person recommended a fabric that would be pet friendly and match our yellow lab. 😉 So we ordered one! While we were waiting, I took a trip to Hobby Lobby during basketball practice one night and decorated the wall next to the new TV spot. We also very much enjoyed the updated, brighter space.
And then we had to change the wall color, because our new couch was going to be approximately the same color as the wall. And the carpet. So Jim FaceTimed me from Sherwin Williams and we got some paint samples.
The couch started arriving in boxes in just a week! We stacked them up in the entry and waited for the weekend.
Jim decided to put together the couch after work one night. He started at 10 PM and finished at 2 AM. And we discovered we were missing two covers. Oops! Saturday morning we decided on our wall color, and I started painting. With my knee brace. And a ladder. Don’t tell anyone!
Soon we were all settled in. We absolutely love it! It’s bright and beautiful during the day, with those south-facing windows, lighter walls, and lighter couch. It’s super cozy in the evenings, with the fireplace and the much more comfortable seating. Yay!
We have two family members deploying soon, and we got to celebrate them by attending a ceremony and letting the kids see the helicopters and give one more hug. As a wise woman posted, “It’s not goodbye, it’s see you later.”
We waited all winter, and the snow finally came over Valentine’s Day weekend in February. It was Maverick’s first snow, which was super fun to watch! I couldn’t do a lot in the snow, but I did get to enjoy watching everyone else enjoy the snow, and sit by the fire while we hosted friends for cocoa. In my new hat!
In January, Haley started back in fourth grade weekday afternoons. In February, JT started back to school (middle school!) twice a week all day. It’s been really fun to ride school buses, see friends, and everything else that comes with school outside of the house.
In September, I had a hip surgery to repair my torn labrum and reduce the bone in my hip socket that was gouging into my labrum. I’ve been recovering really well from that, and was hopeful to be able to snow ski in February and March. And then!
On December 10, I was spinning on my stationary bike in the shop as part of my therapy plan, and I felt a POP in my left knee. And then searing pain. I stopped pedaling, frustrated, and reported it to my physical therapist the next day. He had me see my surgeon (they’re at the same practice, and my surgeon was available for me to pop in, amazing) and everyone was very concerned. My surgeon did the arthroscopic debridement on that knee two and a half years ago, so he knows what is inside my knee, or at least how it was that long ago. He said that it felt like and sounded like that I lost more cartilage and, if it wasn’t better in a week, to go get an x-ray done.
So by December 17 at my next appointment, it wasn’t better. It was worse. I got an xray done, and the next Monday, December 21, I saw my surgeon for my hip 12-week checkup. He said, let’s get you an MRI as soon as possible. His scheduler got me an appointment immediately after my check up! On December 22, my surgeon called me to deliver the news: “It’s pretty bad,” he said. “I hate to ruin Christmas, but you’re missing at least 2/3 of the cartilage in your left knee. It’s just gone. It’s only going to get worse, and you can’t do therapy to fix it. You also can’t regrow cartilage. I’m going to suggest a surgical repair.”
So on December 28, he saw me for a surgical consult – and scheduled me for January 15. He didn’t want to wait at all!
I had this procedure done: an open-knee surgery for osteochondral grafting of articular cartilage using an allograft. And a bone marrow articulate concentrate injection in my patella (BMAC). And a lateral retinacular release. Now I have a leg immobilizer on for six weeks, and another six month recovery plan. I’m praying this is my LAST knee operation for a very long time. I’ve had four surgeries now (with the same surgeon) to fix my joint issues. He said I should get a little statue in his office for being a frequent customer. Ha.
Crystal Mountain moved to an online reservation system this year, and we’ve had trouble getting spots reserved. We grabbed a couple of midweek sites, so Jim planned to go up by himself for a few days. But as it grew closer, JT realized the he could go too. So a boy’s trip became the plan instead! They left Wednesday evening after school, and woke up to lots of great snow, pancakes, and skiing.
They came back Friday evening after two days and two nights of enjoying the winter weather together. What fun!
Unfortunately, the wifi in B-lot isn’t good enough to do much. Both boys planned to work remotely while there, and it didn’t really happen. Good to know!
Since we were going to miss our nephew Preston’s family birthday dinner, and we wouldn’t see him on his actual birthday either, we offered to take him Polar Skiing for his birthday instead. We figured he would jump at the chance to ski in the freezing temperatures, especially in front of his girlfriend, and we were right! Ha! So the four adults ventured out to the lake for a couple hours. Jim and Preston both skiied, and the ladies enjoyed nursing our injuries (we both need surgery!) under the heated boat blanket. What gorgeous weather! Afterward, we invited them back to our backyard for chili and muffins and bonfire. Our nieces dropped by two, and we played games by the fire and talked for awhile until we were all too cold to continue.
One living being who is NOT bothered by cold water is Maverick. He does not care, at all. We took him to the beach on New Year’s Eve to tire him out before we would be gone all evening, and he went straight into the salt water with zero hesitation. He swims in it like it’s a bath. It’s amazing to watch, having never had a water dog before. I can’t get over it! We took a few photos and videos too, since it was a beautiful day. I dared the kids to jump in, but they didn’t bite.
Wrapping up the Year of Different for our family, Jim worked New Year’s Eve (and New Year’s Day) and had to spend the night at work because of a short turnaround. Since we weren’t going to attend any parties, the kids and I decided we would go spend time with Jim in between work and bedtime. We ended up having so much fun. The kids were thrilled to leave our town for something new, and to mix it up with a new idea for the evening. We started on the ferry, and then swung into Trader Joe’s to “supermarket sweep” for snacks. The kids just piled things into the basket and then we checked out. It was super fun.
Then we met up with Jim, and he took us to a taqueria he likes for food to go. We also drove Snowflake Lane for fun – and by the fancy car dealerships, which JT loved.
We also got a tour of Jim’s new office at work, and left him with a little Trader Joe’s treat before we came home. We watched the ball drop in New York and then gave hugs to Grandma Cole and trickled off to bed. It was really very nice! I stayed up until midnight with Maverick, thinking he might be bothered by the fireworks. He wasn’t. In fact, he snuggled into his spot behind the couch and just waited patiently for bedtime!
The Keene Family 