The Law of Averages

Pretty soon, something really great is going to happen. Not sure what, but I'm due.

Like a fish out of water

This morning, overcast but not too chilly, nervous but excited, I lowered myself into the water for a 30 minute swim. As I've referenced before, I have really been looking forward to this moment. I flopped and flailed, stopped pretty frequently to adjust the float between my legs (there to reduce my kicking), and was pretty tired in the end. But happy.

After some fiddling with the speed (I was in an endless pool), I settled into a reasonable rhythm of mostly arm swimming. Every few minutes I had to stop and adjust the float, as it would work its way down my legs until I couldn't hold it any longer. I also found myself kicking without thinking about it, which I could feel in the knee but it wasn't terrible ... mostly just nervous about doing damage. I didn't feel like a very good swimmer, but I felt like I was doing SOMETHING.

The crowning glory was the last 4 minutes, where I let the float go shooting to the back of the pool and actually swam the remainder of the time for real. I was surprised at how much harder it was to do this, and it was considerably more straining on the knee. But with careful monitoring, I kept going and finished it out. Good times - already looking forward to tomorrow's swim.

Two words: La - Zy

I'm not really a sleep in kind of guy. Angela on the other hand could sleep, and sleep, and you get the picture. After a long and taxing week, and also without any exercise plans to get out of bed for, we just sort of stayed in bed way longer than normal. So now I'm feeling lazy, unproductive, and over-rested. Oh well, not necessarily end of the world. Now I'm up, and can barely think with the loud music playing through the house - Miley Swift, or is it Taylor Cyrus...

Amazing San Jose Sharks playoff game last night. The Sharks, the 1 seed in the West, are getting all they can handle from a young Avalanche team. They beat the home Sharks on Wed, and last night it was looking like another upset, which would have been the death knell for the Sharkies. Throughout the game the 'Lanche took the lead 5 times, each time the Sharks clawing back. :32 seconds left in the game and the Sharks finally tied the game with tremendous pressure and a pulled goalie, sending it into overtime. More of the same in the OT and the Sharks win a great game. Very cool!

Good news for a close friend who took a great new job - always stoked to see people we care about make an exciting move - congrats Jason!

No swim for me yesterday - more a function of work slammage than it was related to the knee, but it was aching pretty good and I wasn't too bummed I didn't have time to swim. I'm really looking forward to Monday's foray back into the world of the fitness-seeking population.

Thursday update

Took the family to How to Train Your Dragon the other evening and we all loved it. Really fun animated movie for kids of all ages and stages of hair grayness. Oh, and if you happen to get a huge bucket of kettle corn to go with it that doesn't hurt either (although I prefer the old fashioned artery clogging butter popcorn if I had to pick).

So an update on my knee and other related stuff... It still aches, the brace stinks (not literally, just figuratively), my otherwise huge quad and calf muscles are atrophying at an alarming rate, the incision/scar is numb but itches (I know, weird), and I have been wearing shorts to work because it's more comfortable than putting the brace over pants. The good news is that tomorrow is the two week mark, which to me means one thing: I can immerse the wound in water. Note the difference between "immerse" and "get wet" ... I've been showering regularly ... :-)... just haven't been able to submerge the knee in water. Why is this a good thing? No, not bubble baths, it's because I can now start swimming!!!!! Very happy about that (at least until I get in the pool and realize I'm out of shape and it's going to hurt - but oh, such sweet pain!)!

Work's busy, and that's all I have to say about that.

Spring break for the kids this week, which means everyone's in a good mood except for when they've been in the house too long and are fighting. The torrential rain today didn't help, but good day anyway. The family joined me at Google for a good lunch, and that was the extent of my "spring break" activities.

I'm sitting on the couch with my surgerized knee bent almost all the way to 90 degrees! Feels very good to bend it after a loooong day in the brace. Also doing some leg lifts to try and limit the level of atrophy in my huge quads. It's nice to be able to move it and bend it (just not put any weight on it when bent) - makes me feel like it'll get better at some point. I'm looking forward to getting in the pool and starting some good exercise again after this Friday, which is the 2-week point from the surgery and the incision should be all healed up.

Enjoying the start to the MLB season more than any year in recent memory. Probably helps that the Giants are on their way to 6-1 once tonight's game ends in a couple innings. Also really looking forward to the NHL playoffs with the Sharks pulling down the number 1 seed in the West, and also hoping the Jazz can do something in the NBA playoffs. Great time of year! Oh yeah, and I actually watched quite a bit of the Masters over the weekend as I was trying to recover from over-using the knee at work on Thurs-Fri and icing the ache.

Brig had a great Start Wars bday party on Saturday, which was a hoot to see. We had 7 little guys running around in around in costumes, fighting in the back yard with lightsabers and having a great time. It's nice how easy a little kid party can be, and how much fun Brig had with his friends.

Brig's birthday!!!

Brig is kind of like our caboose kid. There was a period as we were thinking about one last kid where it was questionable whether we would or could have another child. It would be impossible for me to put into words how glad I am that we made the choice to have one more, and that everything worked for us to have a healthy little boy. He makes our family so much better in every way. We love him so much.

Yesterday Brig turned 4 years old - I can't believe he's that old. We've been noticing lately that he's growing bigger, and acting older. Not that it's sad, just that it makes us nostalgic for our cute cuddly little guy. He got a real basketball hoop in the back yard, a couple of kid sized basketballs for he and his buddies to use, and some Star Wars stuff that always makes him happy. He had a great day.

He got to celebrate with our whole family over video conference as we all gathered to find out where Mom and Dad are being assigned with their church calling. It was fun for everyone to sing Happy B-day to him and have him blow out candles with them. He also got nice calls from cousins and friends that made him happy. Stay strong, happy, and healthy bud - we really love you!

Oh, they're going to Argentina...

Surgery phase 2 (aka, spoke too soon)

Not sure if it was the drugs talking, or if it just took a little while for the knee pain to really set after the operation, but Sunday and Monday have been drastically different than Saturday was. More pain both in the knee joint, as well as sharper pain at the cut site, have combined to bring me back to earth. Yes, I foolishly hoped I was going to "beat the odds" and have an easy recover, but reality has set in.

Didn't go in to work today, which I'm not crazy about, but couldn't imagine having sat at a desk or had to move around like I would in a normal work day. We'll see how tomorrow goes...

Conference and Post Op

Really enjoying Conference this morning. Maybe it's because I have nowhere to go and nothing to do on a Saturday since I'm laid up from the surgery, but it's much easier to enjoy the Saturday session than usual. I love the spirit that I feel when I watch and listen. Wish we could be there to see Dad sitting on the stand. I particularly loved Elder Ballard's words to Young Women. There's nothing I would love more than for my daughters to idolize, and follow in the footsteps of their mother!

For those of you who haven't had surgery before, it's a very weird experience. Leading up to the surgery day it's kind of a surreal feeling of the event being way off in the future, even as it is days away. As it becomes a looming reality though, my anxiety started to build. It didn't help that everyone I talked to seemed to have a knee-surgery-gone-bad story - please note: just because you know of such a story, it doesn't mean you should share it with the guy just about to have surgery! It wasn't so much the anxiety of the actual day, but more the changes it would involve in the months following the surgery. It really helped that I got a wonderful blessing from Bishop and the bishopric in preparation.

I didn't go in to work yesterday morning, even though I could have gone for a couple of hours if needed. It was nice to be able to take the time to get everything in order: I set up the DVD player in the bedroom with a pile of DVDs I might be interested in watching, I gathered a number of books to read (including a last minute trip to the library the evening before), I lined up my pain meds next to the bed, I fixed the sheets on the bed to allow for no overhang on my side so I could slide my straight leg in and out without catching (an important but potentially overlooked preparation!), and I gave big long hugs to all the kids as they went off to school... just in case.

The trip to the hospital was kind of quiet because it was now real. We filled out the forms, then the nurse took us back for a pre-op consultation and prep. She shaved my left leg (I do a much better job, by the way), and had me write "YES" on the correct knee to verify that I agreed with the correct knee upon which they should operate. I answered the same questions about allergies, previous surgeries, and anything else remotely related to my health from about four different people, and then it was game time.

I was really grateful to be able to walk into the OR. In previous surgeries, I've had to be wheeled in on a bed, and that is one of the most demoralizing things that can happen to a guy. You feel so helpless and weak, so I was grateful to walk in and climb up by myself. I chatted with the orderly, and then with the anesthesiologist as he put in my IV. He talked me through the process and I remember grinning broadly as I felt the drowsiness coming on, and determining in my mind to stay awake as long as I could...

...Next thing I know my eyes are creaking open in the recovery room. It's always weird to just wake up and realize you've completely lost a couple hours of your life, while other people did things to your body. It took me about 20-30 minutes to feel less groggy, and for the weakness and queasiness in my stomach to abate (thanks to a couple cans of apple juice - my first nourishment of the day). Angela came back and picked me up, and it was home to bed.

So here I am, the next day, and I have to say I'm feeling better than I dared hope. I haven't had overwhelming pain, which I attribute as much to the cold therapy machine pumping ice water over my knee non-stop, as to the Tylenol with Codeine. My stomach is still pretty unsettled, but I was able to eat yesterday and today, and that's helping me regain my strength. The night wasn't super great, but it wasn't terrible either. I spent some time awake from about 3:30 to 5am, but not because of bad pain, just because of general discomfort.

I'm so grateful for our wonderful friends who have supported me and the family. We received a great dinner, multiple get-well care packages, and lots of well wishes. I've watched Forever Strong, read a bunch of my book Piston (life of "Pistol" Peter Maravich - very good so far), watched some of the Jazz-Lakers game last night, read Harry Potter to the girls (feebly I might add), and slept. One riding buddy brought me over some DVDs I can't wait to watch: documentaries on the Ironman Triathlon and the Tour de France, Spirit of the Marathon, and one other that escapes my mind.

All in all, I'm doing great. The Dr. said everything went well, and the prognosis for recovery looks excellent. Thanks again for all the well wishes, and the countdown begins to exercise...