The Little Things
February 18, 2018

Well, here we are… 52 weeks/ 1 full year post knee surgery. I still regularly get questions asking about my knee, so I figured one year post injury was a good time to update you all! If you’re confused, head over to this post first where I talk about my original injury (and this post is an update on my injury). Ok- so where are things at today:

“Good-ish”. haha.

Here are some of the things that I still can’t do: touch my heel to my butt (which I can do with my other leg) (but my range of motion is probably around 96-97%), stand up normally off the floor (but I can from a position where I’m sitting in a chair), run, do squats/lungs, kneel on my knee, and walk around without feeling my knee.

Basically, I function a bit differently now than I did a year ago, and still have days where my knee is either uncomfortable or actually is in pain (even from things as simple as walking).

I’m thankful because there’s been so much progress though. I’m biking again (I’ve gotten up to 30 minutes on my bike trainer), I’m pool running (since November!), I’ve hiked several days this fall/winter, been able to walk on the beach again, and even add in some lower body/leg work strength training workouts (with modifications as needed).

I’m thankful for those things since it allows me to move and stay healthy and enjoy nature. I sure miss my long bike rides and running though!

beach wheelchair last March (from snapchat- haha)

Spending almost 5 months on crutches this year taught me a whole lot (for longer distances such as airports and various other locations I was pushed in a wheel chair). I learned that most ramps are really steep for wheel chairs, even though we don’t recognize it as we walk up them. I learned that you notice a lot more when you’re forced to walk very very slowly. I learned that I’m stronger than I think and am perfectly capable of crutching myself over Mayan ruins and down dirty and very rocky and uneven roads in Mexico.

I learned that the world is full of good people who will offer to carry things for you and open doors for you when you have no free hands. I also learned that there are some people who will let the door slam in your face even when you don’t have free hands to open it back up with. I learned that being able to get your own coffee should never be taken for granted. I still feel like it’s almost magical every time I can go through a food line for myself or go get myself coffee without asking someone to do it for me. I had to be so very humbled and ask for help OVER and OVER and OVER again, which is honestly quite hard for me to do.

When a door slams in your face, you have two options: sit down or search for another window or a new door. Lifting has been my “window” this year, and has allowed a physical outlet for me that feels helpful. In general, I don’t post pictures of lifting progress or body changes or anything like this, but after a lot of thought, I decided to post the one below in this post. I want to show that, in the face of setbacks and injuries, sometimes a new direction is needed, but that new direction can create good things in life too.

The picture on the left is from 2 weeks ago, and the picture on the right was about 3 weeks before I injured myself (and a few weeks after I started lifting). One bonus of not being able to do other forms of workouts- upper body strength!

Having POTS for the last 14 years has taught me a lot about going on in the face of physical and health issues, but this added to that learning. I wish this hadn’t ever happened, of course, but am certainly thankful for those lessons I’ve learned.

And let’s face it- life is beautiful… sometimes we just have to more intentionally look for it.

 

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