13 weeks

My injury happened 13 weeks ago and surgery 12 weeks ago.  Almost the entire three months, I was not allowed to place any weight on my right leg.  It's slowly gotten better and I've been doing leg lifts and bending my knee, but that's it.  My mode of transportation has mainly been my seated scooter, as hopping on one foot is hard on the entire body.  Two weeks ago, I was given the blessing to start putting weight on my "bad" leg, at least walking with crutches.   Since then, I've been really working hard at trying walk.  It's been very painful on my ankle because my quad muscles have atrophied so much.

I went for another check up with my surgeon today. He said knee-wise, my X-rays looked beautiful.  The only thing keeping me from returning to work now is my weak muscles.  He told me two more weeks of PT to work on walking without crutches. I also need to be able to bend/squat down and get up off the floor.  Things I used to take for granted.  So, for the next two weeks, I am going to work hard so I can go back to work!

Here is a photo of my knee today.  You can see the scar is looking good.  You can see a bump near the scar.  That's actually my plate sticking out. I have a plate with 8 screws sticking through my bone!  It still grosses me out to look at it.  My PT says it should go down a little bit as I heal.  My quad muscles look almost non-existent but it's hard to tell from that photo.

Aloha, Hawaii

It was finally time to return home.  It was such a wonderful two weeks and it flew by.

Our first flight was a short one to Honolulu.  We had about two hours layover before heading to Phoenix.  Both flights were uneventful.  I had upgraded two of our seats because of my leg and Ethan was the lucky one who joined me.  The flight actually went pretty quickly and before we knew it, we were back home in the heat.

Ethan and I were in the first row.  There was so much leg room that I was able to straighten my leg and keep it propped up the entire trip.  The food was excellent and it was an enjoyable flight. I'd highly recommend Hawaiian Airlines.

Hawaii - Last Days

We spent our last couple of days just hanging out and enjoying being there.  In the morning, we took a drive up country to Kula and Haleakala.  We wanted to go into the park, but it was so cloudy, the man at the gate said we really wouldn't be able to see anything.  So we turned around and just enjoyed the beautiful views from above.  After coming down the mountain, we  went to a vineyard in Kula.  It was so beautiful up there that I could have stayed all day.

A view of Maui from Haleakala

The grounds of the vineyards

Stan and his buddy enjoying some coffee

Sitting at the store across the street from the vineyard

On our final day, we headed back to Lahaina.  It was the fourth of July when we were there last and it was so hot and crowded, that we really didn't enjoy it too much. It was much better this time with fewer people and cooler weather.  We ate some really good burgers for dinner and then just took the "scenic route" home to enjoy our last few hours on the island.

A final sunset

An old building in Lahaina, an old whaling town

Lahaina's elementary school that I would love to teach at.