I'm Still Standing

For those of you that did not know, I recently had surgery to repair what we thought was a simple meniscus tear. Unfortunately, my surgery didn't go as well as I had hoped. When they got into my knee, they discovered that at some point or another I had broken the upper cartilage in my knee. I'm thinking it must of happened here a few years back when we had a terrible ice storm here in Kansas. I went out on my front porch to observe the damage from the storm and my feet came out from under me. I fell hard on my left knee to the sidewalk below clearing three steps. I remember it bruised up real bad and hurt like heck, but never occurred to me that I actually broke anything.

In June this year, I was out jogging with my dog and tripped over a broken piece of sidewalk. An MRI showed a meniscus tear and we began treating it right away. I was given a Cortizone shot. The shot lasted all of about 1 week. Once I resumed jogging, the pain came back. After consideration of my options, we decided to treat the tear aggressively with surgery. On August 19, 2010, I went in for arthroscopic surgery to repair the meniscus. The meniscus tear was so bad that it had wrapped and folded between the joints. Long story short they had to do a total meniscectomy and removed the piece of broken cartilage. So where most people have this nice round cartilage between their knee joints, mine is cut straight across. And with no meniscus in my left knee, I am left without the cushion that buffers impact to the knee. The worse jolt was being told that I would never be able to run or jog again. I'm sure I cried a lot in the recovery. Plus no more high-impact exercise. The doctor told me I will at some point have to have a total knee replacement. He could only estimate, but his thoughts were anywhere between 2 and 15 years. I will have to be extremely cautious with my left knee. Any further injury to that knee could result in a quicker need for more surgery. So pretty devastating blow. Especially considering how much joy jogging brings me and that this joy was only recently discovered.

Final Knee Repair

He did suggest that since I was so active, I consider taking up cycling. At first I was so upset about giving up jogging that it didn't even appeal to me. But I love the outdoors so much and really being able to bring a sweat. So where there is a will, there is a way. I will find my way through this and once again find my place in the sun...sunshine that is.  I was so hoping to compete in a 5K someday. But I suppose now I will look for a way to be the best I can be on a bicycle. I'm sure they have competitions, too.

I watch Oprah, the day after my surgery and the guest speaker said we should be thankful for every devastating blow we are given in life, because out of those dark disappointments real character is born. There is a higher power and for every misfortune there is a plan. It is hard for me to see beyond it right now, but I truly believe God would not hand me something he did not think I could handle. In that I will take comfort and look for ways I can help others be better. I truly believe this is my calling in life as I find so much joy in it. So I will find my way through this and I will still BRING IT!

I am more determined than ever to make that transformation. I still believe I can get a MAJOR transformation bringing it low-impact. So starting tomorrow, I'm already outlining the path I'm going to take through this. This week my focus is going to be on getting the knee moving again with resistance bands. Not to mention bringing in some Yoga. Team Beachbody has supplements to help me through my recovery. Namely the P90X Recovery Formula and Shakeology.

I've been a model patient through my post surgery recovery keeping with the knee exercises and only using my pain medication when it was absolutely necessary. I am happy to report, was only twice! I did allow myself one day to mourn my injury...but that was it! I'm a fighter and I'm not letting this stop me. It will just open an avenue of new and exciting possibilities and now more than ever nutrition will be front and center of my focus. So now my focus will be on making the BEST transformation possible through my recovery. I still think I can be the next 50 Year Old Bowflex Model/Spokesperson...LOL! Or who knows, maybe someday the next Team Beachbody personality. At any rate...the sky is the limit.

So don't feel bad for me, it truly will be a blessing and not a curse. I have faith that something good will come from this. I just wanted to update you all. And don't think for one moment I'm sulking in the corner somewhere...I'm not. I'm still here and as of today...as Elton John would put it, "I'm still standing!"