On my Butt

Tuesday I went in for my ACL replacement surgery. I survived the slicing and dicing and slept most of the day high on drugs. :) I cannot thank my dad, Erin, and Ben enough for helping out in that first 24 hours. No surprise, Dr. Graf did a spectacular job and luckily nothing else in there needed to be repaired.

I had quite a bit of pain immediately after surgery and on the drive home, but once I got settled onto my new huge comfy couch and hooked up to my ice machine, I was good to go. On top of that I just bought a new flat screen HDTV; something I thought I would NEVER own. But my dad talked me into it, and I’m actually quite happy I got it, especially since Melissa has Charter HD Cable. Now I can see Jay Leno’s pores. Yum.

Most of the last few days I’ve spent sleeping, but I have been getting a bit of reading and writing done as well. I’m also keeping busy with my physical therapy exercises. I was SO PROUD that I could bend my knee past 90 degrees and straighten it all the way out the day after surgery! This is a good sign for a fast recovery.

The highlight of my day so far was finally taking a shower. It felt great! It is a bit of a process saran wrapping and duck taping a big old bag over my leg. But the extra work was worth it! Then Erin stopped over to bring me a fabulous lunch. Thanks Erin!

So the week carries on with me sitting on my butt sleeping/reading/typing/and watching TV. I CANNOT WAIT to get back on a log! If you are in the area, please feel free to stop by, I love company! Thanks for all of the well wishes, and I’ll be up and around as soon as possible!

End of the Summer

Team Supreme Figure and Fitness at Amber's Wedding:

With Garrick at the Log Rolling Luau:

Putting it quite bluntly, this time of year sucks. My summers are always the highlight of my year, and this summer was by far the best yet. I made new friendships, and rekindled many of the old ones. I had some amazing experiences that words cannot describe, and experienced ups and downs like never before. I still have a hard time looking at all of the photos because I’m not quite ready to believe that all of those experiences went by so fast.

As usual, there were quite a few great events to cap off the end of my summer:

Wisconsin State Huntington’s Convention:
A HUGE success! We had many new families attend, some amazing speakers, and a wonderful venue. Jake met me at the conference and after the slightly emotional day, we explored downtown Milwaukee for a gym to get in a good workout. That night we drove to Chicago to Tara’s bash at her amazing new condo.

Playing in Chicago:
My dear friend Tara is just amazing. She can never do anything half ass. She just moved into a beautiful condo with the most incredible view of the Chicago Skyline. Her and her roommate hosted another party that couldn’t be beat and I had a blast catching up with old friends.

Visit to Indianapolis:
I took a drive down to Indianapolis to visit my lifelong friend Kate and her ADORABLE son Sean. We spent the weekend lounging around her house, and I got in some very quality play time with little Sean. I’m sorry, but kids don’t get much cuter than that. Amber and Chris’ Wedding:
These two are so great. Most of the Team Supreme Figure and Fitness girls were in attendance and we had a great time. Amber was even more stunning than I could ever imagine, and I cannot get over how great her and Chris were with talking to EVERYBODY. They didn’t sit down ONCE!

Labor Day Log Rolling Luau:
The end of a log rolling season cannot happen without some sort of crazy party, right??? Olivia came up with the idea, Amber and Fiona purchased the hawiian goodies, and Ben and I attempted to grill some pork and pineapple. We had a GREAT time! The kids were adorable in their grass skirts, and Nick, that coconut bra was to die for. Wow you are hot.

Mandy’s Wedding:
I kept saying, if this wedding was important enough for her to take an entire summer off of log rolling, it better be good! Well it was. Wow, every detail was just incredible. And of course, Mandy looked like a princess. Unfortunately, another very good looking young man is now off the market, BUT he makes my friend Mandy so happy, so I guess I’m okay with that. :) Several of the boom boom girls were in attendance, and my Canadian Buddy Stirling surprised us (okay…me) by showing up! And he didn’t even try anything inappropriate! At least I don’t think…

Ironman:
Ken and Peter… you guys are amazing. Yes the day was extremely busy as usual running the aid station at the Kohl Center, but the highlight of the day, by far, was watching Ken and Peter cross the finish line. I’ll be honest, I really didn’t know if Ken was going to do it. He joked that he was on team “winging it”. Not only did he finish the race, but he did it with an incredibly fast time, and looked wonderful at the finish. Peter had some knee issues which made the bike difficult, but still managed to crack a few dirty jokes in the last mile and finish with a smile on his face. The aid station ran smoother than EVER before, and I cannot thank all of the great volunteers, especially my dad, enough. What a great year.

New House:
I moved! I’m now living with my awesome friend Melissa out in Verona. I’ll admit I’m not a huge fan of the cookie cutter neighborhood (I miss being on Lake Wingra) but the house is beautiful and I honestly don’t think I could have found a more wonderful roommate. Now if Steinhafles would hurry the hell up with my furniture…

Next Tuesday is my dreaded knee surgery. This will leave me on my back for a week and in a brace for a month. It will be 6 months before I’m back at all of my activities again. I think I might lose my mind. But I’m ready to tackle rehab 100% and come back stronger than ever next summer.

The summer is completely over, with many huge changes happening in the past few weeks. Some were quite hard to deal with, while others, I cannot describe. Once again I’m entering a new phase of my life. I’ve never done well with change, but as I become older and stronger, I’m learning to embrace it and keep smiling.