Surviving the Surgery Aftermath

Well, we're going on two weeks from when Eric had his surgery to repair his torn ACL. It's been a very busy time. I've been chasing Noah around while Eric ices and elevates his knee. From time to time, Noah is willing to sit on Eric's lap and listen to a story.

We're keeping up, but the house is beginning to be a bit of a disarray. The laundry is waiting until we don't have any more clothes to wear without doing a wash. While the dishes are washed every night, dinners have left a little to be desired.

Oh well. By the time that Eric has full mobility and we can fit back into our regular routine, I expect we'll have figured out how to manage in our current state.

Broken

Of all the things we can break in this world, the worst has to be when we break our own body. While it's never fun to deal with the occasional aches and pains that accompany everyday life, it's nothing compared to limping around after injuring yourself playing your favorite game... soccer. Last weekend, Eric found himself in just that place. He has just started playing his first game of the spring season with his co-ed team when a woman suddenly stopped directly in his path while he was running full speed. Eric made an attempt to avoid her and in doing so blew out his knee. This is not the first time Eric has injured his knee, so he was certain he knew exactly what he had done as soon as he heard the pop and fell to the ground. He called me from the field to tell me that he had been injured. At first I didn't believe him. He had to tell me three times before I realized that he wasn't pulling my leg. I was on my way back from playing my first game of the season and to pick up Noah from our friends house. Fortunately, our friends are two incredible people and Jennifer volunteered to continue watching Noah while Tim rode back to the field with me to pick up Eric's car. We caravanned back to our house where Tim dropped off Eric's car, then we headed back to his house for me to pick up Noah. THANK YOU, JENNIFER AND TIM!!!

Fortunately, Eric was able to get in to see his physician on Monday. He ordered x-rays and did a few functional tests. The x-rays were negative, so we knew nothing was broken. But we all suspected that Eric had torn his ACL again so his physician ordered an MRI. Luckily Eric was also able to get in for his MRI on Monday afternoon. Tuesday he was back to see his physician to find out the results. Our suspicions were correct. Eric did tear his ACL. He also tore his lateral meniscus. His physician referred him to the orthopedic surgeon. He saw the surgeon late in the week and discussed options. The surgeon recommended surgery to repair the ACL and address the torn meniscus. Eric's not excited about having surgery again, especially because the recovery will likely be longer this time than the last. But we're both coming to terms with the decision and trying to figure out the best time. We know to avoid winter when it will be icy on outside because Eric will be on crutches for about 4 weeks and he has a decent walk from his parking ramp to his office where he works. What we haven't decided is if he should try to get in before Noah becomes mobile, or is he should wait until fall so that we can finish some of the indoor and outdoor projects we have around home before he's laid up.

Eric is pretty sad that his soccer career is over, but he's keeping his eye on the future and looking forward to coaching Noah's soccer team someday. In the mean time, we're thinking of new hobbies that we can take up... ones that are likely to cause less bodily injury.

I'm still planning to play soccer this summer. I'm crossing my fingers that I can stay healthy and I'm hoping it will help me take off the last of the baby weight. But after this summer, I'll probably hang up my cleats too. Hopefully we can find our new hobbies together so we'll have something to look forward to next year.