My To Do List

Sometimes a change of location gives a person time to think about making some other changes.

I came home from a few days away from home this summer with changes on my mind.

The knees? Time to schedule the first one.

The weight? Time to stop kidding myself and get back with the program.

That craft room in perpetual half-finished mode? Time to get it all put away.

I needed a plan. I needed prayer.

If I was planning to go ahead with surgery, it would be a whole lot easier if I were a whole lot smaller. Several years ago, I had found a plan the worked for me. I had, over the course of about 8 months, lost over 60 pounds. But, as happens, over the years, I had stopped working the plan. Oops.

I looked at the calendar. I would go back plan on on August 4th. My goal would be 30 pounds before surgery. Obviously, it was time for prayer.

A call to the orthopedic surgeon a couple weeks later and a date was scheduled for total knee replacement. November 4. Election Day.

Admittedly, I was apprehensive. Total knee replacement is ...well...total! I looked online. I cringed at the thought of what was to come. I prayed some more.

Some weeks later came the day when I was finally able to thank God for the arthritis and degenerative joint disease that got me in the place I was. "I don't know why I have this," I told God, "But I know I'll learn from this and be able to help someone else in the future." Coming to that point was a slow process. I did not...repeat...did not...come to it on my own. God is good. (All the time)

That left the craft room. (Insert shudder here)

Hours and hours later, there was a breakthrough. I could see the floor. Add more hours (many hours and a few trips to the home of a craft loving friend and to the thrift store drop off) and I had a functional space.

I continued to prepare for what I was now calling the "Great Knee Adventure". The hospital offered a class for people facing knee replacement. I took the class.

Adaptions were made to the house, to the car, and to my wardrobe, which was now beginning to look a little looser than it had.

November 4 arrived. I was 30 pounds lighter. I had a craft room I could actually use and a stack of Christmas cards ready for sending this year.

I voted. Then I went to the hospital.