Knee Mending

Dear friends,

It has been 8 days since I had my left knee surgery. Thank you for praying if you did! So how did it go? Here is what I can tell you... Dr. VanderWilde apologized on the video he was making of my knee that he couldn't see a clear cause for the Baker's cyst on the back of my knee. There was a tear in my meniscus, a partial medial tear, but since it was in the middle of the meniscus and not on the edge, he couldn't trim it away or repair it. There was plica under my patella, which I think is the knee cap, that he cleaned out. I think that is arthritic debris.

So this was done on the 27th about 1:30 as scheduled. The nurses getting me ready found out I have had breast cancer, and all of them came over to talk to me. One of their co-workers was having a port put in that day to begin her chemo treatment for the exact kind of breast cancer I had- lobular. I actually had lobular and ductal cancer. Anyway, I was able to give them some tips to pass along to her and answer some questions they had. It was a very special time that I felt strongly the Lord was in the middle of. What were the chances of all those factors coming together like that at the same time? I even wrote a square for a quilt one of them was making for her!

Everything went fine with the surgery and we were home by 4:00. I didn't get nauseous and honestly that day my low right back hurt so much it overshadowed my knee completely. The pain meds helped my knee to not hurt at all and my back less, so it was all good. A friend brought over 2 meals so we had dinner that evening with lots of resting thrown in. My knee was great on Saturday, but my back was bad. They told me at pre-op that they would be putting clean fluid in my knee during surgery that might make it feel really good for a day.

Sunday we went to church and oh the knee pain! I didn't notice my back hurting any more. That day my knee swelled up big and I understood the need for the pain meds. This week I haven't driven, but I think I will be able to on Monday. I haven't done any pain meds today, and it is doing OK. It is still swollen, but less so every day. If I do too much it swells, if too little, it gets stiff. So I am doing my exercises and icing 3 times a day and have my post-op appointment next Friday. Then I expect to do PT for a month, and I'll be ready to roll!

We wonder at my string of physical problems and really think it is due to do chemo 2 times and then radiation. It just wore my body out and made my more susceptible. I don't want people to think of me as "the one who always has medical problems." But first of all I hope they see the Lord in me.

Jesse turns 18 tomorrow in Dakar, Senegal, and the father of the family he is living near and who is the Partners International boss he is reporting to, Rene Nbongo, is in Spokane and will be speaking at our church tomorrow morning. That is exciting! March Madness has begun and Eng Hoe arrived here from Malaysia yesterday evening. We had a great visit with him last night.

One last blessing I will tell you about...Greg had to go to Denver Wed. morning until yesterday, and I didn't think being at home alone was a good idea since I couldn't drive. So I invited Sarah M. from Partners to stay with me for those 3 days. She is 21 and volunteers at the ministry since she was layed off in January. She took such careful and good care of me while Greg was gone. We had a lot of fun and talked and talked. Oh, and we went to the grocery store and I drove around in one of electric carts! First time for everything I guess! I didn't run anyone over, but stopped so fast I almost went over the handlebars! Anyhow, God used her to bless me- big time! Thanks Sarah!

Well, I will sign off and try to connect with Jesse. Our family is going through the book of Proverbs this month, each writing something about what we have read and commenting on what the others have said. Since we are so spread out, it has been wonderful. Thanks for starting that Greg! Blessings to you today and don't forget to turn your clock forward!
Blessings- Nancy Fritz 509-990-8465 nancyfritz@aol.com