I woke up in pain and my knee ached all morning! I was watching some movie on TV and I thought about how long my knee has been hurting. I started counting up the months before I realized that it was the 21st. It was September 21, 2017. My knee was injured on September 21, 2016. So here I am, sitting alone in my house, watching some movie on TV (I don’t even remember which one) and I realized it had been exactly one year to the day that I was hurt. I checked my phone to see what time it was and it was 1:19. Just about the exact time my knee was injured!
So naturally, I did what anyone else would do you in remembrance of the day they suffered a major, life-altering injury. I cried! I cried all alone in my house with no one to call because everyone was at work. I thought of that song from when I was a child. My brother Ray used to listen to it. It took a minute but I remembered it was by The Jets so I searched YouTube and found it.
“Make It Real” The Jets
It came out in 1988 so I was six. Watching the video ( because I did a number of times) I laughed at the styles and remembered them from when I was a kid. I sing the first line, “Tonight, it’s been a year” over and over again as I got ready to go to ATI.
When I got there, Brad asked me how my knee was and I told him that it aches! I told him it was probably “Anniversary Pains” because it had been one year since I injured my knee. I cannot believe it is still hurting one year later and five months after surgery! I decided not to tell him about The Jets song because I’m not sure he was even born when it came out. He put me in traction first to ease some of the pain. Then I did knee raises on both of my legs and heal slides on my left leg.
He told me we would do some stands and as he and Larry were getting me positioned to start them, I told him they were going to be good because they were “Anniversary Stands!” I had a strong first down and I was pleased as I sat down to rest before my second down. On my second down, I could feel both of my knees buckling and Larry was encouraging me to stand up straighter.
I gathered all of my strength and set my mind to force my muscles to squeeze so I could straighten myself up. I did just that! I looked up at Brad and smiled and saw that he was smiling too! As I stood there, he told me that it was good and I told him that, “I didn’t know I could be this tall!”
My third and fourth downs were not that impressive because I could feel my knees wobbling and once they were finished, I sat and liked hearing that Brad told me once again that it was time for well-deserved ice. I laid back as Larry hooked me up and I was exhausted! My “Anniversary Pains” felt better at this moment with stim and ice and I was pleased with my “Anniversary Stands!” Megan stopped in from Barwis and being back there seemed like something that was so far away. I thought of The Jets song again.