Luke’s Notebook

On November 14th, 2006, I wrote an entry detailing my first YMCA workout in several months.

Well, over a year has passed, and… guess what? To this day, I’m still going! This is the first time I have ever been able to stay so locked in on working out. It’s encouraging to have been able to stick with it for so long, as I have been averaging four or five workouts a week.

So that’s the good part. The… not-so-good part… is I’ve realized that this is hard!! Gee, it’s not easy not being overweight. Honestly, it’s hard. Even now, where I am now, I still would like to be in better shape. Looking back at my stats, one year ago today I was 2.5 pounds lighter (189 versus 191.5), and on November 28th of 2005, I was hovering around 189, as well.

I don’t totally get it, though, because back in the summer of 2006, I had some days where I would weigh in at as low as 180 — even 179.5 (I remember that, because that was one of those once-in-a-lifetime things!). And back in the summer of 2006, I was NOT working out… at all.

So here I am, having just finished a year of pretty intense exercising, probably hitting the YMCA around 180 or 200 times. Yet I’m two-and-a-half pounds heavier than I was a year ago. Now, I understand weight can easily fluctuate a couple pounds one way or the other, and I also know that muscle weighs more than fat. So maybe one simple explanation is just that I turned a lot of fat into muscle over the last year, and if I hadn’t been working with weights so much, I probably would have seen a big drop on the scale.

I don’t know exactly what the case is. One thing I’m realizing, though, is it’s just hard! Food still tastes really, really good. It’s just hard to accept that I have to choose between eating what I want to eat and staying in shape. In a way, it doesn’t seem fair; yet, it’s the truth.

Lately — the past few weeks, in particular — I’ve felt like I have really had to fight to get myself to work out. This is scaring me, because it feels like I’m starting to lose the fire, the drive to go. And it can be really difficult to jump in the car and go work out after that flame is gone.

So basically, I’m just kind of fighting to keep active and to stick with it. With the cold weather and the holidays approaching, it would be a very bad time to slack off. I don’t have many outdoor activities to do, so life as a whole is more sedentary around here. I’d be in trouble if I stopped working out also.

I think I’m going to look up some nutrition details. I’ve never ever had any kind of personal trainer; I’ve just kind of done things my own way. I think the results have been decent, but I wonder if I’m doing things the hard way. Am I being inefficient? Could I improve on something? How would I even know?

Maybe I’ll just do some investigating, anyway. I don’t want to get obsessive, but at the same time, I wonder if I’m accidentally making things harder than necessary. Boy, wouldn’t that be a nice surprise! Because, really, food tastes very good!

It’s Thanksgiving, the time to be thankful. But thankful towards whom?

God is so good, so loving, so merciful. There is just so much to be thankful for that it really is kind of hard to know where to start. But what I can easily do is just say, “God… thank You.” I want to have a running “thank you” going on every day. I remember last Thanksgiving, I thought of the idea of making every day Thanksgiving — that is, trying to cultivate a grateful heart, to really just wake up and say “Thank You, God” every single day.

Now it’s time to start another year with that mindset, and I want to even make myself more thankful. It’s not even fair how good God is to us. Honestly, we do not deserve it. But, you know, God has such a tremendous love for us, and He just loves to bless us — not because we deserve it, but because He just cares about us.

So, thank You, God, for everything. You are so good. Thanks.

Today, I had my first doctor’s appointment since the surgery. I met up with the orthopedic surgeon who performed the partial meniscectomy on my knee. First, though, I had my stitches cut off by a nurse.

When the doctor came into the room, he asked me how I was doing and everything. I told him how I had been progressing, and he seemed real happy to hear it. I did relate to him that I have still been having quite a bit of pain, even in the same areas as before the surgery. He was not at all surprised, and he said that’s essentially normal, it’s to be expected, and it should just continue to heal over time. He seemed to think I was coming along great, and he wasn’t the least bit concerned about me still having some ongoing pain. He also noted that my right knee is still slightly swollen, which is nothing to worry about, either.

So that’s a huge relief to know that this is normal. I mean, the pain isn’t severe or anything — in fact, most of the time, it feel real good — but it’s just certain times, I can tweak the knee and really catch a sharp pain, very similar to what would happen before the surgery. I explained this to him, and, again, he reassured me that this is not abnormal, and he also reaffirmed that he thinks I’ll make a full recovery! I’ve got to be honest — those words thrill me! To envision a day where my right knee will be totally pain-free is pretty exciting.

The doctor also gave me some photos that were taken with the arthroscope during the procedure, including a before photo and after photo of the tear in the medial meniscus. From talking to him, it sounds like he ended up removing roughly 20% of the meniscus, which ended up being a real small piece that’s roughly three-quarters of an inch long. Again, even though I don’t have my full meniscus any longer, he seems to think this torn piece is insignificant enough where it shouldn’t affect anything in the future. Pretty exciting!!

As far as the future goes, he told me to keep on working it out just as tolerated. I told him I have basically been doing whatever doesn’t hurt it, and he said that’s a great approach and told me to just stay with that. Finally, we scheduled a follow-up appointment for December 11th, which will be nearly five weeks post-surgery.

I’ve got to be honest — after talking to the doctor, I’m very encouraged! Mostly, it’s real comforting to hear that it’s completely normal to still have some residual pain right now, yet it’s supposed to continue to heal.

I went to the YMCA this evening, and I actually did some running on the track. I was really pleased with how I was doing! I was really flying around the track, and my knee wasn’t really bothering me at all. Not bad for 13 days! I’m sure I could have tweaked my knee if I wanted to, if I tried twisting it or something, but it’s just real encouraging that I’m already very much nearing the point of being able to do everything I was able to do two weeks ago, before the surgery. And to think that it should only keep on improving… well, that’s real encouraging.

Tomorrow afternoon, I have my first post-surgery visit with the orthopedic surgeon. I’m really anxious to talk with him and have him take a look at my knee. Here’s the scoop so far.

By and large, I think I have recovered very well. The swelling is way down, is almost totally gone. The incisions have healed up fairly nicely. My range of motion is pretty good. As far as the healing is going, I think that’s very promising.

Functionality-wise, I’m doing real good. I’m able to work it out pretty good, as I’ve been doing some limited weight-lifting with it, working on the cardiovascular machines at the Y, and even doing a little bit of running without much or any pain. Really, I can do almost anything I could to before the surgery, although I haven’t fully tested everything. For instance, I haven’t done much in the way of squatting or jumping, and I’m pretty sure I’m not good enough to do those yet.

I’m a little more uneasy, though, about my knee condition as a whole. While my knee doesn’t hurt constantly, it’s certainly not pain-free yet. It does seem to hurt with certain activities, such as full extension, full flexion, and sometimes side-to-side movements. What kind of concerns me the most is that a lot of the pain is reminiscent of the injury pre-surgery. It seems to be at or near the same spot, and it can be pretty painful when triggered.

So that’s not good, obviously, but I have got to remember that it’s only 13 days after the surgery. Also, I know the doctor said that he would expect a full recovery to take six to eight weeks. Maybe this lingering pain is exactly what is expected, precisely where I should be. I’d say there’s a good chance of that.

Really, there’s just a lot of uncertainty. I should know a LOT more in 24 hours, though! In fact, it’s almost 1:30 in the morning, and my appointment is 1:30 PM on Tuesday. So in a little over 12 hours, I ought to learn an awful lot. I’m just anxious to talk to the doctor, have him look at my knee, explain to him what has gone on over the past couple of weeks, and then hear him share his expertise. I guess what I’d love to hear is that this is perfectly on schedule, that there should be pain, even in the same general area, a couple weeks after the surgery.

I’d better sleep. Tomorrow ought to be real informative!

Well, it’s been over a week since the knee surgery, and a lot has changed since I came home last Wednesday afternoon.

As far as recovering from the surgery goes, I think I’m doing outstanding. I’m able to walk on it just fine, go up and down stairs without a problem. Tuesday, I was at the YMCA and tried doing limited lifting with the legs. I seemed to do okay. I also was able to use the Stairmaster-like machine without a problem.

Wednesday, the range of motion was much greater than it was on Tuesday, which was already a big improvement since Monday. At the Y, I was able to ride the stationary cycle, and I also actually worked on the elliptical fairly easily. Pretty impressive for a week after being operated on! As a side note, on Tuesday I was cleared to go back to driving.

While this is all encouraging, I do still have a couple of things I wonder about. Mainly, my knee hurts. Not always, certainly, and not that severely, but it does seem to hurt, even in the area of where the tear was, on the inside of my right knee.

Now, from what I know, the doctor has said that the surgery went wonderfully, and that it was a cinch to clip off the torn piece of cartilage. So all signs point to it being fixed, the problem being corrected. And odds are that is the case, but I just worry because I still can make my knee hurt in that same area, almost as if the problem was there.

But just to look at it logically, I have these facts: The doctor has said that he found the problem and corrected it. What’s more is he said that he didn’t find any other problems with my knee. Also, this is just one week after the surgery. I’m sure pain is to be expected to some degree.

Furthermore, my knee is still slightly swollen, so that’s proof right there that things aren’t back to normal — and aren’t supposed to be back to normal — just yet. Also, I need to consider that even though the doctor evidently clipped off the torn piece of cartilage, perhaps the surrounding area is still kind of tender and recovering from such an invasion. Maybe they were just disturbed by all of the instruments and the fluids in the knee, and they just need time to heal up on their own.

Finally, what’s kind of encouraging, ironically, is that other parts of my knee can hurt a little bit, parts that were fine before the surgery. The reason I’m kind of happy about that is because it indicates that it may be more of a knee-wide thing, instead of related to that specific area of my medial meniscus. Because if only that were hurting and the rest of the knee were fine and not swollen, then I might have cause for alarm. But the facts as they are now don’t seem to warrant any kind of panic on my end.

So anyway, all in all, I’m doing exceptional. I’ll be honest and say I’m a slight bit concerned because of the pain, but I’m going to trust that, all things considered, that’s to be expected and doesn’t at all suggest that there is a problem. And so if that is true, then I am doing fabulous! It’s hard to believe that I’m so active, and just a week ago I was being worked on.

Oh, and the actual incision sites themselves are healing up real nice. They’re surprisingly small, which is very nice, and with every day that goes by, they look better and better. I don’t think it will be very long until they are completely healed.

All in all, I’m pretty optimistic! I wish I could warp to next Monday in order to ask the doctor about the slight pain, but I honestly think it’s nothing to worry about. And I am just so very thankful to be doing so well. The more people I talk to about it, the more blessed I feel to be so active so soon. Thank You very much, God!

Well, it has been roughly four-and-a-half days since the surgery to my right knee, and I have just been really amazed by the recovery thus far. I haven’t needed to use the crutches at all, and I didn’t take any pain medication other than the initial two codeine tablets right after the surgery.

I’m able to walk around with ease, and now there’s hardly any limp even. I’m able to go up and down stairs fairly easily. There’s hardly any swelling. I can flex and extend my right leg to a certain extent with no pain. The main cause of pain right now would be from the two incision spots on the front of my knee, as they are still healing after being stitched up.

So I’m just very encouraged. I’m not supposed to be driving yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I can get back to driving within a week or so. It’s a little tricky to have to be grounded like this, but thankfully it’s worked out pretty well to this point.

I’m actually hoping to go to the YMCA sometime very soon so I can get some working out taken care of. Obviously, I’ll have to lay off cardio work and leg exercises, but I should be able to still lift weights and do a good amount of different machines.

As far as when I’ll be able to be totally back to normal, it’s hard to say. Personally, I’m guessing within a week or so I’ll be able to do limited leg work. And at this rate, it might not be more than a couple of weeks until I’m able to do anything and everything with my knee. Time will tell, of course, but so far the recovery process has been extremely encouraging. From what I can tell, the surgeon did a great job, and I’m just very blessed to have had such a smooth recovery over the past several days.

It’s over! And it went so well, too.

Mom and I got to the hospital around 7:30 on a very chilly morning. We went to the outpatient surgery area, registered, and sat in the waiting room. Around 8:15, they called my name and brought me into one of the pre-surgery waiting areas, where they had me get all ready, giving me a fashionable purple gown and these booties, or whatever they’re called.

It wasn’t long until a nurse came in, gave me an IV, took my vitals, and went through all that good stuff. A bit later, I talked to the anesthesiologist, who talked to me about the anesthetic options. I ended up opting for the general anesthetic (meaning I’m put to sleep), rather than getting an epidural to numb me. He said that in most people my age, they do the general, and it seems simpler than having the epidural done.

The doctor came into the room around 9:20 or so, and I talked to him briefly. Finally, around 9:45 or 9:50, I got wheeled off into the operating room. I moved onto the operating table, got some sensors attached to me, and saw a good half-dozen people buzzing around the room, getting prepared. Once I was in that big operating room, seeing all of the equipment and everything, I realized that, yeah, this is the real deal!

Not long after lying on the table, the anesthesiologist came up and put an air mask on me. I remember a few seconds of that, and the next thing I know… it’s around 11:00, and I’m in the recovery room, slowly waking up. I look around and realize that it’s over. I look at my knee and see it is wrapped and iced up.

There was a nurse nearby, and she said that we’re all done with the surgery, that it finished around 10:40. I hang out in that recovery room for a while, just kind of struggling to stay awake and shake off the anesthetic. Finally, around maybe 12:00 or so, they moved me into another patient waiting room. It wasn’t long until Mom was able to rejoin me and stay with me, as I went through the final stages.

So I changed back into my regular clothes. A bit later, they gave me a drink and some graham crackers, as evidently they want to make sure you’re able to keep stuff down before they release you. A little while later, a nurse removed the IV from my arm and gave me instructions on how to use the ice pack, when to remove the bandage, et cetrea.

Then, a physical therapist came into the room and showed me the proper way to use a pair of crutches — how to go up and down stairs with them, and so on. She also showed me a few exercises I should do with my leg in order to keep the blood flow going and to avoid clotting or stiffness.

Finally, around 1:30 or so, I was free to go, and I moved from the bed into a wheelchair, and a nurse wheeled me out to the car, where Mom was waiting. We left, and ran a few errands around town — including to pick up my prescription for Tylenol 3 — a much stronger Tylenol, as it contains codeine. We ended up getting home around 3:00 or so, and I was able to test out my knee, as I had to get into the house from the driveway.

I ended up not using the crutches at all, as I was able to kind of limp my way along and then hop up the stairs. Since then, I have been resting and trying to keep my right leg elevated as much as possible. I have changed my ice packs out a couple of times, but I haven’t taken any pain reliever since the two tablets of Tylenol I took around 2:30.

I am feeling extremely grateful. So far, I have been pretty well pain-free all day. The worst pain I’ve felt today is when the nurse inserted the IV into my arm — basically the quick stinging feeling of getting a shot. Other than that, I have felt great. I haven’t had to use my crutches at all, and I’m getting around pretty good.

Tomorrow should be very telling, as evidently sometimes the pain is a lot worse on the second day. So I guess I’ll just see how that goes. If it does get bad, I do have this Tylenol, which should take care of the pain. Personally, I’m guessing that the pain may start to show itself, but really, I don’t know. So far, it hasn’t, and it’s been nearly 10 hours since I took the medication. Very, very promising!!

As far as recovery goes, I hear that the doctor said he guesses I should be good as new in six to eight weeks. I didn’t get to talk to the doctor after the surgery, but Mom said he came out to her afterwards to give her an update. He said it went very well, and that aside from clipping off the torn portion of the medial meniscus, he didn’t find any other problems in the knee. That itself is a nice thing to hear, as I was kind of worried there might be some preliminary chondromalacia problems, which is what Paul had his knee surgery for back in April. The doctor said that that wasn’t the case, so that’s nice to hear! Sounds like my knee should be perfect once this all heals.

So… I’m so thankful, for so many things! Just the fact that we have doctors, hospitals, anesthetics, pain-killers, ice packs — all this great stuff. I mean, I had my knee cut into today, and here I am, hours later, typing away on my laptop. I haven’t had any pain in it so far, yet the problem has been fixed! It’s pretty incredible stuff. God is so good.

Well, I think I’m going to get some sleep. Tomorrow ought to be interesting! But again… thank You, God!! I’m so blessed.

9:30 AM tomorrow morning, I’m scheduled to have the surgery. I need to be at the hospital at 7:30.

Well, here goes nothing. Don’t be scared, Luke. Don’t be scared. Just go with the flow. It’ll be over before you know it.