This journey started last summer at the end of June (2008) when my husband and I went hiking at Crested Butte Ski area (above). Like a few other times of straining an elbow or back muscles, I thought it would pass after a few days of rest, though it definitely was more painful and visibly swollen more than anything I had experienced before. So it was a couple weeks of nursing it and not getting any results that finally made me go to the ER on the weekend. What a mistake. They were useless and it was foolish of me to go there. They told me to go to my regular doctor and charged me hundreds of dollars for a tylenol prescription.
The next week I got into my doctor which by then was mid July. She sent me for a x-ray which told her I needed to go in for a MRI. Another week and half later I had an MRI, a very expensive diagnostic. Just glad we have good insurance. From the results of the MRI, my doctor referred me to a orthopedic surgeon. She also referred me to a physical therapist which, next to the actual surgery, was the most important ingredient to my recovery. His manipulation of the knee immediately helped relieve some of the pain and the stretches and exercises he had me do started getting me ready for surgery. I learned the muscles that connect in the knee have to be strengthened before and after surgery to recover well. The PT started me on daily stretches and exercises for this.
Once in the surgeon hands, things clarified. From the MRI, he showed me that I had several things going on in my knee (meniscus tears and cartilage injury) that would need arthroscopic surgery to clean up. August was spent preparing for the surgery which was scheduled for the first of September. As you can read on my other posts, the surgery went perfectly. I elected to stay awake during it which was great. I didn’t have the possible after effects of going under full anethesia but had a longer wait in post op, about 3 hours for the feeling to come back into my legs, which was absolutely worth it. And I got to observe what the surgeon did in my knee on a monitor over my head. It was a little strange because the spinal block disconnected me from any feeling in my legs so it was more like watching TV and seeing him work on someone else’s knee. After surgery, I spent the afternoon in the recovery area and was released around 4pm to go home. The worst pain of the whole ordeal was later that night which was to be expected. I took the prescription pain killers that night but am glad to say I didn’t have to take anymore of those after that one night. I did have to keep taking tylenol or motrin for sometime for some pain and to help reduce the swelling.
The surgeon told me the following for a recovery timeline: a few days to a week back walking on my own; 3 months well into recovery; 6 months back to normal with full motion, no pain, as good as new. I’ve covered the importance of physical therapy for recovery as essential in my other posts on this topic, so I’ll finish up here with the following. It’s been over six months now since the surgery. About a month ago, I started going to the Rec Center to start getting some aerobic exercise, stationary upright bike and a little time on an eliptical trainer and doing circuit weight training. After a few weeks, the only tightness and pain in the knee which I felt when walking down stair steps stopped. It was like everything finally got back into place and all pain and other affects vanished just as the surgeon’s time table predicted. The knee is as good as new.
So we’re back here at Crested Butte for an early spring vacation in Colorado’s beautiful high country and I thought a perfect time to wrap up of the knee ordeal. Hope it helps others facing this experience. 
There’s just one more thing.
Pray.
This healing appears to have come through surgery and physical therapy, but I know that the final outcome would not have been possible without healing prayer. After all, “He bore away all my infirmities and carried away all my diseases and by His stripes I was healed.”
Jesus is the real Healer and I thank Him for mine!
Posted by Sharon 
