8 weeks: Time-consuming and Tedious

Or, another fitting title could have been "Flare-up and Frustration."

This has been a challenging week.  I was trying so hard to be positive and optimistic about the start of a new semester but ended up more apprehensive than anything.  Apparently my gut instincts are still right--I was not ready to increase the pace yet. There have been a lot of non-surgery recovery related stressors in the past couple of weeks as well and this has not helped.

There were some discouraging days.  It feels as if progress has slowed to a standstill.  Things still take more time than before surgery as I am slower, and things feel more tedious when it takes so long.  There were some more setbacks.  Everything decided to flare the same time the weekend before the semester started.  Some of this made sense in hindsight, some still seems random.  Regardless, it meant I got off to a really rough start. It seems that progress is slowing and it is harder to see the progress.  So thankful for a physical therapist who knows me and my body and the numerous challenges.  She had seen this situation coming.  The challenge is figuring out how to manage everything at once.  What the recovering hip needs is hard on the "good" hip, what the "good" hip needs the recovering hip is not ready to handle yet, then add in neck, back, shoulder, etc.

I am choosing to still focus on what I can do and what is going well.  I can do so much again really! I may be slow, but I can do things! I can walk and that is getting better with each day.  I can swim laps, I can walk in the pool, I can clean, cook, etc.  There are still restrictions, thus still some things that I cannot (or should not) do, thus I still need help with some tasks. But, these are getting less with each week.

I have my first follow up appointment with the surgeon next week and am curious to hear what he thinks of progress thus far.  I hope to hear things are going alright, but expecting to hear that things are proceeding slowly.

I am so thankful for a physical therapist who knows me, knows my body and its many complexities, knows how to work with it, knows the rehab for this surgery, and can somehow figure out how to keep me moving forward when it feels like my whole body is rebelling.

It has been a while since I have mentioned specific prayer requests.  Please pray for patience and endurance for me during this time when it feels like progress is slow and when I am overwhelmed with so much at once. Please pray for healing as my body continues to recover and grow stronger again.  Please pray for wisdom for all of the surgeons, other physicians, therapists, and others involved in my care.  They are all aware that things are complicated and that a lot is going on, but it can make it challenging to sort out what to do. Please pray that in all God is glorified.

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