Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

I love the book "Wind in the Willows," and while Mr. Toad's adventures are never named as such in the book (the name has been given to a number of thrill rides at amusement parks), his life was one wild ride. As I review the last three weeks of my life, Mr. Toad and I have a lot in common. Three weeks ago today, I got home from Three Rivers Hospital with a new knee, a bag full of medicine, a significant amount of pain, and a road in front of me leading to recovery. I had high expectations of myself, but I also realized that I had a long way to go.
That journey started the next day with Physical Therapy appointment Number One---yes, PT four days after surgery! I learned a few more things at that appointment; this journey was going to hurt---a lot---and it was not going to be fun and games. The surgeon had commented that I would hate him for the first four weeks after surgery....he never had a chance because the physical therapists were at the top of the hit/hate list!!
But you know what? Three weeks down the line, I am walking without pain. Due to the work of the therapists, I have full range of my knee. As much as I have cussed them, as much as the sweat and tears have flowed, I owe them so much! I have come much farther than I ever expected in a very short time, and a friend commented yesterday that I am already walking better than I was before the surgery....those comments make me feel real good about what has happened.
Then there were the drugs. I absolutely had to have those drugs for the first two weeks; I would not have made it otherwise---total knee replacements HURT! But then the time came when the drugs were no longer required so I quit taking them---stopped cold turkey! Not the best idea I ever had, because I got to spend a couple of days with what my sister (who did the same thing) calls a "combination of morning sickness and a hangover that will not go away." I am much wiser now, and if the other knee ever has to be done, I will taper off the drugs!
So now I am narcotic free and nearly drug free. I walked a quarter mile today with no pain. My biggest problem is that I am forbidden to drive for another 15 days, but I have a multitude of friends who want to help me to a point where they will come and get me and just take me for a drive! I am blessed.
I am not at the end of the road by any means, but I am no longer looking at it as a miserable, slogging sort of a journey. Mr. Toad was a seeker of excitement, so as the road continues, so will the wild ride, not a ride of pain and struggle, but a road of wild adventure---and for that, I am very grateful!