April 30

Another day, another picture of my knee in bed. I had physical therapy yesterday morning. The kicker was that I wasn’t allowed to use ice for four hours after physical therapy or it would undo the work of the Blood Flow Restriction machine. That was a long four hours. My goal for this weekend is to try and treat the discomfort with Ibuprofen and ice. I need to be off Hydrocodone in order to drive next week. 

Raymond, Julia, and Kat cooked us dinner last night. Julia and Raymond also brought me a milkshake.

April 29

Another day of me lying around. This seems to be my theme for 2022. About halfway through the day I couldn’t stand the discomfort anymore. I emailed my physical therapist and she told me I could take off most of the bandaging so the ice machine could get closer to the skin. What a difference that made! My evening went much better than my day. 

April 28

Back at square one of recovery. The surgery went well. Once the doctor started surgery, he found a small tear in the meniscus too. He repaired that and replaced my ACL with a hamstring graft. I slept about 90% of the afternoon/evening. The nerve block wore off around midnight. I tossed and turned a lot because I couldn’t get comfortable. I see my physical therapist tomorrow morning, and she will take the bandages off my knee and I be able to feel the ice better. 

Mamaw Pat took the kids to church last night. My fourth and fifth grade girls sent home cards with Lucy. They are sweet!

April 27

Today is surgery day. I have spent the last few days getting some of the bigger chores done (cleaning bathtub/shower, getting van cleaned/vacuumed, and steam cleaning the family room carpet). Now I can hopefully rest and let everyone else do the general household upkeep.

April 26

Kat’s Heath class had a healthy potluck. I didn’t catch them in time to take a picture of them eating their main course, but it smelled delicious. Kat contributed guacamole.

April 25

Lucy went to a birthday party yesterday afternoon. 

Kat was working (which is her happy place).

Clay took Julia and Elliott to geek out at the airport over the fighter jets from Thunder. 


C-17

P-51 from WW2


F-16

F-22

April 24

Look who came to town for Thunder!

Elliott is so close to being taller than Aunt Dale!

The F-22 scared Shannon when it came up from behind us.

After not having Thunder in 2020 or 2021, it was great to be able to go again! We had beautiful weather. Kat was at work, so she didn’t join us this year. 

April 23

After my physical therapy, Elliott and I went downtown to watch the planes practice for Thunder. This is the face of a happy boy who realized that the F-18s, his favorites, are here. The amount of knowledge he has about planes is pretty amazing. He can identify them all and can tell you which battles/wars they were used in. Corsairs? Used in the Battle of Midway. How he knows this stuff? Who knows!?!

We also stopped at the airport to watch aircraft taking off and landing.

Last night was also Elliott’s wrestling banquet.

April 22

Doesn’t Gus look thrilled!?!

I had a hard morning doing school prep in the party barn while Elliott was in woodworking class.

Kat’s English teacher assigned her class to make a To Kill a Mockingbird quote journal that is creative and uses 60+ quotes from the book. Kat is not the most creative person, but this turned into quite the project (and mess on my table)! 


The co-op yearbooks arrived yesterday! I am really pleased with how they turned out. Now that I know what I am doing, I hope to recruit some help next year. This was a lot for one person to tackle! 

April 21

Lucy helped me make cake balls for Elijah’s 9th birthday. When the sweetest, squirreliest little guy requests you to make his birthday treat, you can’t not do it! 

April 20

Lucy enjoyed doing her school on her bed yesterday. 

In physical therapy yesterday I was able to ride the stationary bike and pedal all the way around. Before Gatlinburg, I was only able to go about to pedal forward and backward about 200 degrees with the stationary bike. My left knee wasn’t able to bend enough to go all the way around. My physical therapist is really pleased with how much motion my knee has now. One week until surgery! 

April 19

The sun was shining, but it wasn’t warm outside!

Clay stayed home from work yesterday because his stomach was bothering him. Julia had school, worked until 6, and then had homework. Kat, Elliott, Lucy, and I went to co-op. While Elliott was at jiu jitsu, Kat and I went to the grocery store. About 90% of the way done shopping, my leg was done. I had overdone it it this weekend and yesterday. Everyone had to bring the groceries in and unload them so I could prop up my leg. Lucy made us pancakes for dinner. 

April 18

It’s practically an Easter miracle that Kat let me take her picture (although she said I couldn’t take a picture with her face in it because she didn’t have mascara on)! 

We celebrated Mamaw’s birthday. 

When a tornado knocks down trees in your yard, you use them as places to hide eggs!