How Do You Spell Relief?

 Years ago, there was a commercial for Rolaids that asked the question "How do you spell relief?" Instead of the obvious answer being R-E-L-I-E-F, the answer they gave was R-O-L-A-I-D-S  so you would purchase their product to provide stomach acid pain relief.

Today, I will answer that question with A-S-P-I-R-A-T-I-O-N. Since the set-back after my knee surgery (mentioned in my last post), my knee has been very swollen and very painful, making it difficult to walk or sleep. I have had very little movement in my knee since the surgery 11 days ago. 

Thankfully, while at my 2nd follow-up appointment this morning at my surgeon's office, the PA (Bob) suggested that we aspirate the blood from my knee in order to speed up the healing process. Jokingly, he said it would take until September for the body to absorb all of the blood that was pooled inside there. I agreed to go through the procedure, knowing that it would probably not be a very pleasant undertaking. I was right. Most of the pain was a result of numbing the knee before inserting a bigger needle to extract the blood. About 35 cc's of blood was extracted.

Call me crazy, but I had to take a picture of it. I was kind of amazed at the amount of blood that was extracted. Hopefully, my knee won't fill up with blood again. I guess that's a possibility. I really don't want to have that procedure repeated any time soon.

Right now, my knee is wrapped in an ace bandage,

 but starting tomorrow I will be wearing a neoprene compression sleeve like this to prevent the knee from swelling, only in a blue and grey color.

I'm confident that my knee will now heal much faster. I'm thankful for that. I'm tired of having to sit in my recliner for most of the day in order to elevate and ice my knee. I want to be able to be out and about and moving freely once again. The physical therapy I will be starting tomorrow should help. 

After two hip replacement surgeries and one knee surgery, I have been immobile for weeks at a time over the past year. Mobility was a blessing I took for granted until that blessing was taken away from me.  Here's to getting back on my feet again and being able to walk around pain free. That would be such a great blessing!

Post Surgery Setback

Last Friday, March 10th, I had arthroscopic surgery on my right knee to repair a torn meniscus. The bandage was so big that it looked like I had a volleyball on my knee.

After three days of rest as per my surgeon's instructions, I was getting around quite well. I was walking around without needing a walker, but then I had an incident that has set my recovery back several days.

Evidently, while I was asleep, I bent my knee too far and tore something inside (scar tissue or cartilage), which caused a bleed. I'm on a blood thinner to prevent blood clots from going to lungs (like what happened after my 2nd hip replacement surgery). Because of that, I bled too much internally and it has caused my leg to swell up. 

View of my knee from above

I saw my surgeon today for my post-op exam and he said that I should have the blood aspirated from my knee, but he feels that the injury is too recent so there is a likelihood that it would just continue to bleed and fill up again. Therefore, I have an appointment with him next Tuesday, where he will most likely do the aspiration unless the blood is absorbed before then. I'm not looking forward to that at all!

I thought that this surgery was going to be a quick one to recover from. That has not the case. It has not been easy or pain free. Thankfully, Alan has been very supportive and has been a big aid in nursing me back to health. What would I do without him? Jared and Kyle have both been here visiting us this week. They have  been very helpful to me as well.

My surgeon's PA told me today that once they were able to see inside my knee during surgery, they discovered that my arthritis was worse than they originally thought. He said I am 2-4 years away from needing knee replacement surgery. I'm definitely not looking forward to that!!!

I will begin receiving physical therapy next Wednesday in order to get more movement in my joint. Physical therapy is painful and I don't enjoy it, but like they say - "No pain, no gain."

*****

This week's study in the New Testament was focused a lot on the burdens that we carry with us throughout our lifetimes. Some burdens are of a physical nature, some are of a spiritual nature, and some are of an emotional nature. Some burdens we bring on ourselves as consequences of our actions, while others are just part of living life and we have no control over them.

In thinking about my knee surgery, I do consider it a burden that has not been easy to bear so far. I have felt the need this week to humble myself and turn to the Lord for His assistance in getting through this trial. It's so nice to know that He is there and that He is ready and willing to help carry my load. 

In Matthew 11:28-30, God says:  "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

I'm asking the Lord to help carry me through this trial. I know he can. When I am yoked with Him and my will is lined up with His will, He will carry 90% of the load when I can only manage 10% of the load on my own. He will always fill the gap whenever I fall short. The Lord gives me strength and buoys me up when I need it most. I'm so grateful for His strength which, combined with mine, will bear me up and deliver me from my burdens. 

Master, the Tempest is Raging

 In the New Testament (Mark 4:35-41) we find the story about how Jesus Christ, after a long and very tiring day of service and healing to many of His followers, said to his brethren, "let us pass over unto the other side."  They got into the boat and set across the waters. While Jesus was sleeping on a pillow in the back of the boat, a great storm arose - so great that the ship was filling with water. Can you imagine being in that situation? You, obviously, would be very nervous about drowning in the depths of the sea, and so were they. They woke Jesus up and asked him if he even cared that they were all going to perish. Jesus arose, rebuked the wind, and said "Peace, be still." At His command, the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

 

Not only did the sea get rebuked, but his disciples got rebuked as well. He says to them, "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?"

Regarding this incident, I gained a new insight from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in a book I'm listening to entitled "Our Day Star Rising". Most of the men on the boat were experienced fishermen. This storm must have been worse than any they had previously seen. No wonder they were scared! But Jesus rebukes them for their fear. Why would He do that? I love Elder Holland's explanation of that question. 

Elder Holland says that the answer lies at the beginning of the story where Jesus says "let us pass over unto the other side".  Elder Holland says, "if the living son of the living God says 'let us pass over unto the other side', we can be absolutely certain they are going to pass over to the other side. However much the wind blows, however much the rain pelts, however much stress the boat experiences, and however fearful it all may be, it is going to be alright. Peter, James, John, Bartholomew, and the rest, you are going to go to the other side because He said you would. Do you think for one moment that God in His heaven would let that boat go down with the living son of the living God and redeemer of the world on it with all he was and all he had left to do? They are going to the other side."

This explanation really helped me to understand more fully about exercising faith over fear. When the Lord says something, it is always true. He ALWAYS tells the truth. He cannot lie. Our faith must rely on His words and deeds. We must put our whole faith and trust in Him.

God has promised that in the Last Days His covenant people will be protected. We need not fear if we remain faithful to the end.  I love this quote by Elder Holland:

I 100% believe this to be true. I'm so grateful to be a covenant member of His true church on the earth. I don't know exactly what's in store for me as the last days approach, but I do know that everything will turn out well for me if I stay true to my covenants and stay true to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life. It is only through Him that I can return to my father. Of that, I bear testimony!

Escape Room

 Eric's family invited me to go to Provo with them to give an "Escape Room" a try. It is something I've have wanted to do. They had all done one before, but I never had. Thank goodness I wasn't trying to escape on my own, or I would not have escaped in the allotted time of one hour.

In order to escape, we needed to figure out who was sitting where at the poker table. Clues were all around the room and we had to solve riddles, find keys, unlock locks, and put our heads together to figure it all out before the bomb went off. We had a great team.

Nicole was the main mastermind behind our escape. Everyone else pitched in a lot more than I did, but I still had fun.

Phew! We escaped with 10 minutes to spare!

The BYU Creamery has the best ice cream, which we loaded up on before attempting the big escape. So delicious.