It’s been a busy summer for us. We started with Amanda’s knee manipulation in mid-June. After she recovered a few days, it was nose to the grindstone for her with physical therapy. It’s been a challenge with the recovery not progressing as quickly as she’d hoped. The actual manipulation was a quick and easy procedure. Once they took Amanda back, I left to go back to the hotel for breakfast. Before I even sat down, I was notified that she was out already! Later that day, Amanda got a text for the doctor, a pic of how far he’d gotten her knee to bend. She was sore afterward, but she pushed through it and kept the PT appointments going and hasn’t let up much since.
Following the manipulation, we had a day camp for the little kids Amanda was heading up. It was a busy week with kid activities in the mornings and youth events in the evenings. I couldn’t attend much; the railroad kept me busy that week. A week break or at least a typical week, then we took a group of youth to Houston for a week to do mission work, serving the local community there. The nights were filled with a high-energy conference, and our Airbnb was filled with high-energy teenagers the rest of the time! After a week of normal, then it was off to kids camp with a group of 3rd-6th graders. These camps are always fun and at a familiar local camp on the Frio River. I prefer to work with youth-aged kids but still have a blast with the younger ones. The boys that age are easy; make a couple of poop jokes, and you’re their best friend!
With all the summer activities, the down weeks weren’t routine; Amanda had to catch up on her regular work, and playing catch up with PT made for a busy summer. We had a little break after kids’ camp, and then it was time for back to school bash, which we had this past weekend. Amanda kicked the Wednesday night kids program off this week as well. No rest the weary, I guess, and everyone thinks ministry jobs are just cake all week till Sunday mornings!
Amanda has been progressing well in PT, still not as fast as her liking, but she is up to a 125-degree bend now, with a personal goal of 130. She has a few more weeks of PT then the insurance will call it quits paying. They were fortunate to squeeze a few extra weeks out because of some muscle issues that sat her back after the mission trip. In the eyes of United Healthcare, at 120 degrees of bend, she’s good to go. So we’re grateful she got a few extra sessions. She has had some great therapists in the time she’s been there. The two that have worked with her were both pregnant one already had her baby and is about to return. Amanda hoped to have a few sessions with her before she was done. The other is about to pop soon, and her father received a lung transplant a couple of months ago. It’s been good that Amanda was able to offer support and guidance. He hasn’t recovered as quickly as Amanda and had a lengthy hospital stay after the transplant. We were so fortunate during Amanda’s transplant.
Knowing the summer would be crazy, we’ve had a long-planned vacation for the end of this month. We leave next Saturday for the mountains of Colorado. The San Juan mountains, to be exact but the opposite side of our last trip. We’ll base out of Pagosa Springs in southwestern Colorado. I’ll post about that trip soon and while we travel as well. I just wanted to catch everyone up on Amanda’s progression with her knee first.
