Well in two days, it'll be a month since my ACL Revision. I am very happy I did it especially at the start of the summer. My brace is so heavy and hot that I don't think I could stand having to wear it during July and August. It also hasn't been quite as painful as my first ACLR, which is great. I'm also not taking as much pain medication as I did before my surgery. I can't believe I actually feel better!

I can finally put 50% of my weight on my bad knee, which is nice. After doing the same exercises 3x a day for a month, the exercises get soo boring. I'm hoping that when I see Dr. Noyes in Cincinnati on Tuesday that he'll allow me to put even more weight on my knee and to finally be able to use a stationary bike! I won't be able to make a full rotation yet since my ROM is only up to 100 degrees, but it'll certainly help increase my ROM and give me something new today!

I get really excited thinking about what I'll be able to do in another month or two. I should have at least another month of physical therapy appointments, which are boring but quite necessary. Once I finish my therapy sessions, my mom is going to pay for a personal trainer at Lifetime (where I have a gym membership right by my house). A trainer there has had many knee surgeries herself plus tons of qualifications so I'm hoping she can help give me some exercises for my whole body that won't place a lot of stress on my knee since most exercises in fitness magazines aren't so hot for mr. knee. I really want to lose some weight because I'd love to get back to my pre-knee injury days. When I was active in high school, I weighed 15-20 pounds less than I do now (almost four years later). And while I'm certainly in the normal range, I want to be more fit. It's just hard when you can't do anything cardio (including swimming and biking) and you don't eat a ton either. So I think having a personal trainer will really help with me getting more fit at least and that's all you can ask.

Now that I can drive, I feel much more independent and not so trapped within my house. I'm hoping to make it to Ann Arbor and Bloomfield Hills/Farmington within the next week or two. All my friends live at least half an hour away (from high school and college) so it's been a tad lonely. This also means I can attend my HopeKeepers meeting next Monday! One of the group leaders (who has Lupus) called me last week to ask how I was doing and I want to find out how Sharon did on her knee surgery, which she had a day before mine.

In one of my RestMinistries daily devotionals that are emailed out to the group, it said this:

Chronic Pain Syndrome causes a wide range of emotions, because you are not in control of the pain, it shows up daily like clock work. When pain shadows me and I cannot focus on the daily tasks of my day, I focused on HIM and The promises of His word.  It is so wonderful to focus on the One who knows me and can soothe my emotions and my pain.  He delivers His Scripture promises into my innermost being and they settle in me embracing my spirit. This has caused me to draw even closer to my LORD God because of my "mortal body state of affairs.

Sometimes when I'm really hurting, I do focus on God and it really helps, but other times I don't and I need to work on remembering to think of Him and pray instead of relying on my own ways.

Bible Verse of the Day: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 2:9 NIV)