What a month!

January is over and what a month it was!

Ivan's surgery went really well and he is now in "recovery mode." His incision was about 4-5 inches long. Last Friday, he had a follow up appointment and the staples (yes, STAPLES) were removed. Ivan is healing really well and has been doing more with every day that goes by. He still has to wear his brace 24/7, with the exception of showering, and can not bend his knee.

I have been trying to get back on track with my fitness goals. It's harder since I started a new 4 day work week. It's extremely difficult to squeeze in a workout when you are up by 4:30am and don't get home until almost 6:30pm... then have dogs, dinner, housework, and a husband to deal with (not necessarily in that order!). As is, I barely get 6 hours of sleep. But because of my inability to work out M-Thur, I have forced myself to get to the gym on my 3 days off. And when I go, I am SERIOUS about it. I am on the treadmill for an hour, and usually lift weights too.

I hate it for the first 20 minutes, but once I push past the negative thinking (I'm so tired! My legs are sore! I shouldn't be working out when Ivan is home with a bum leg!), the rest is cake. Well, not cake, but much more enjoyable. I love how strong and capable I feel when I am done with my workout. It's a great feeling to have acheived a concrete goal... for example, over 600 calories burned, or lifting 5 more pounds than I could last week.

If only I could figure out a way to get a few more hours in the day... I know that if I had 1 or 2 more workouts a week, this whole "losing weight" thing would be much quicker!

Ouch! Part 2...

Yesterday, Ivan had a follow-up appointment and xrays to determine the full extent of his knee injury, as well as a course of treatment. Unfortunately, its not as simple as we had hoped.

Ivan tore his Patella Tendon (which holds your kneecap in place and allows your leg to bend) pretty badly. His kneecap is "free floating" in his leg... around his lower thigh. Crazy! He needs surgery to repair the tear, which is scheduled for the morning of Monday the 19th. Basically, the surgeon will make a vertical incision over his knee, suture the torn tendon back together... through drilled holes in his kneecap... so it heals properly. He is looking at 6 weeks in a brace, then he can start physical therapy. We are praying that he gains full mobility relatively quickly, even though the doctor said it might take 6 months to a year.

This is Ivan's first surgery (at age 37, thats quite impressive) so he is a little nervous about it. We have complete and utter faith that God is watching over us, and he will be fine.