I almost posted this on social media just to let people know their prayers were being answered. Then I decided to have a better record of what happened I would create a blog post instead.
A little background. Almost twelve years ago I had a knee replacement on my left knee. I had waited almost eighteen months to have it as I was helping my brothers care for our mother. I walked those eighteen months with the help of an unloading brace. I could barely walk without the brace. It was a miraculous piece of lightweight technology. By weeks end, I would be getting to hobble and limp but a quick visit by to see Mr Don Green at DonJoy (he would make adjustments to the brace) and I walked out standing tall again. Finally, three months after mama died I had total replacement on the left.
Since childhood and through childhood illnesses our doctor used to tell mama we had the strongest central nervous systems he ever saw. Our bodies bounced through illness that made most children gravely ill. Our bodies bounced back from breaks, strains and sprains. We never knew why and I often wonder now if it was simply a praying mother.
Fast forward to adulthood and we all three seem to have some auto-immunity issues. Some worse than others. Mine seem to be minor but they are there. My doctor explained that even in mild form, it is sometime as if your own body is fighting you. I have joint pain, swollen joints and I choose to keep going because, well. . . I refuse to take every drug they offer. I have always felt that God supplied every need we have on this planet. The cure for disease is here, we simply have to discover it. Yes, and sometime that may mean medication but not now, not for my symptoms which I would describe as moderate at worst.
Back to that knee replacement over a decade ago. After surgery it immediately became evident that something wasn't right. It didn't want to bend. (Later I would explain to Don, it felt like someone had gone inside my knee and bound it tight w/tape and rope.) What I would learn with therapy was I had budding scar tissue and adhesions. As my surgery was done, my body felt invaded and began to form adhesions which was causing me problems in bending and extending the leg. An average therapy session meant stretching and manual manipulation of the knee only to get less than a 65 degree bend. This went on for months and months. They tried contraptions on my leg that I slept in, my leg was bent to the highest I could tolerate and then held there. I was supposed to sleep with this thing on my leg. I could not even turn over in bed with it on, without the help of my husband. Then a manipulation under anesthesia (MUA) and they got 114 degrees. Praise God. The manipulation was on Friday and I was sent home w/a machine to bend the leg (CPM) I was on the machine all weekend. By Monday when I went back to therapy, adhesions had already grown back. They were floored! As one therapist after the other tried to manipulate my flexion on the knee, massage it, move the kneecap... they were just amazed. They said, "this can't happen." "I've never seen anything like this in my life."
Finally in three or four weeks when we got my leg, through great pain and work to almost 90 degrees, I asked the doctor to release me and let me live my life. He was disappointed and wanted to clean the knee up again and try again. I said no.
Remember the scene in Sleeping Beauty when Maleficent covers the castle with thorns. That's how I imagined my knee. They grew from Friday to Monday.
It's been almost sixteen months since I ran from a neighborhood dog and leapt to my porch, tore my meniscus from the bone, had a repair, non-weightbearing for 3 1/2 months. I was bone on bone when we decided in January to do the replacement on the right knee. Here's the difference this time though.
I decided it was time to trust Jesus completely. We all struggle with trust and we leave things in Gods lap, then we take them back (as if we think we can do better), then we leave them again. Not this time. Lord, we've done this once and it didn't work out very well, is what I thought. This time, I'm leaving it in your hands. When someone asked me about my knee and told me they were praying, I asked them to pray specifically for no adhesions and no scar tissue formation. Everyone complied. They didn't all understand why but they said that's what they would pray for.
I ask my church family to pray for no adhesions or scar tissue. I asked on my social media pages for the same. Friends agreed.
Four weeks ago today I had the right knee done. Yes, it hurt and it continues to hurt. The nerves are refiring and the muscles are so very tight, due to almost a year and a half of not doing anything. It is expected. However, from the very first day there has been no feeling of binding up or tightness that felt anything but normal. I have not felt the tight roped in, bound feeling. For those that may believe the first knee replacement was just a fluke. I have other joints operated on that also formed scar tissue. I have a thumb that is stiff and no longer bends after a cyst was removed. It bent during therapy but in the weeks to come grew tissue. It's almost completely straight.
God answers prayers all the time and if we come to him with our requests, He does what only God can do. I will not tell you it's been a breeze, that wouldn't be true. (God never said life would be easy, he said we would not be alone, if we trust him.) It's a tough surgery to recover from. The therapy is grueling but after three weeks of home therapy and last week my first full week of outpatient, I have a 90 degree plus flexion on the knee. They measured it at 95 at one point. I will keep pushing but most of all, I will keep trusting in the God of heaven and earth. Some say, why do you trust a God you cannot see? Because I have felt and experienced Him move in my life. I have felt him close when I thought I could not go on, he has carried me when I could barely breathe. I have experienced his divine protection and I feel his presence with me daily. I rise most days with a song in my heart before my feet hit the floor. That can be nothing but Jesus. Pray without ceasing, we are told in scripture.
When you say your prayers today, remember he calls us to come boldly to the throne and make our requests known. He desires an intimate, loving relationship with you. Please let him in.
If you want to talk Jesus, just ask I can tell you over and over how he has blessed me.
