Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark.

Last night was a great night. Line dancing; the last hoorah of my mobility for what I thought would be six months or more. However...

Back up two months ago. My knee began to hurt incredibly bad. Turns out I had something called Osteochondritis Dissecans caused by what was probably a soccer injury when I was between 10-12 years old. When consulting doctors at UCSD Medical Center, the plan was an open knee surgery to fix the 2cm legion on my knee. Open knee surgery would have been 6 weeks crutches, 4-6 months of learning how to walk, and another 4-6 months of no contact sports. When coming up here, I met with Dr. Woods, an orthopedic surgeon here in SLO, who also goes to Grace Church. We reviewed the MRIs and x-rays, and to him as well it looked like it would need open knee surgery. He said he was going to look arthroscopically (means using an arthroscope inserted into a small incision) before opening it up during surgery.

During the pre-op on Tuesday, I was talking with Dr. Woods, getting myself prepared. He asked me how I was feeling about the surgery. I told him I was nervous and second thinking everything. At that moment he asked if he could pray for me. Dr. Woods started to pray about my heart, and that maybe, just maybe, the knee could be fixed arthroscopically without having to do an open knee surgery.

This morning was tough, imagining what it was going to be like without mobility and learning to teach myself to walk for up to six months. The feeling of turning back was the strongest it had ever been. I awoke from surgery. I don't remember asking, but the nurse said, "It says they did it arthroscopically, I don't know if they opened your knee, it doesn't say here." In my head, I said there was no way. Both doctors said it was going to need open knee, I was preparing myself for that for the last month.

Dr. Woods walked in. "We were able to do it arthroscopically", he said with a smile. Everything in me leapt for joy, since I couldn't do it in action. Arthroscopically. Which means no new bone in my knee, no teaching my knee how to learn to walk. It meant they drilled a few holes to encourage blood flow to heal the area, and a few pins to hold the area around the legion to stay in place. To clarify more, it means the healing process is going to be shorter, and I'll be in action way sooner than originally planned. Todd and I prayed about this a lot, even though it was a far-shot. Arthroscopic seemed out of the picture. I prayed, yet knowing what the answer would be.

Trust in Him at all time, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:8

What a joy it is to trust in such a great God who time and time again works things out. I didn't even think or hope in this because I was so sure in open knee. I was so accepting of that, that arthroscopic wasn't going to happen. I didn't even hope for it. God is smiling, I know that for sure. When I've been down, upset, angry, and all over the place on the emotional spectrum, God does this. He is SO GOOD. I can't even put it into words. I am on crutches, my knee does hurt, but the fact I'll be back in action way sooner than expected is such a great feeling. Trust in Him because He is capable of far more than we can imagine, and even hope for.

I would love to ask if you could still pray for my heart. As with last post, it still hurts and will from time to time, but it will heal.

With love, and some joy in my heart.
Dan