Snowmagedden 2...

This is what it looked like this morning when I got up...

DFW Airport reported 12.5 inches.

Luckily, I never lost power... but I have friends who haven't had power since 7pm last night.

Snowmagedden!!!

OK, I can't take credit for that saying... but it's an incredible snowfall we're getting!

I woke up around 5:30 and walked out to the living room... and immediately saw a "glow." I thought, "Did I leave a light on? My TV?" Nope... it was the brightness of the snow coming from my patio!

I immediately discovered that the day would be perilous - I slipped a tad going out to get the paper.

My "commute" was a drive through the pouring snow/rain, and then a "careful" walk from my truck to the train.

Up on the 25th floor, it was an awesome sight! Watching the HUGE flakes come down, as well as the sheets of snow fall off the buildings (crashing to the ground), was an impressive (and distracting!) day.

We closed the office around 4, but I left before that. Overall, not too bad... although I slipped several times while walking on the slushy mess. THAT would have been an event had I fallen!

One thing I'm thankful for is my antennae. Last year, I got tired of my DirecTV going out during storms. So, I hooked an "over the air" antennae up in the attic (with the help of a friend) so I could always get the broadcast channels. Well, today we're having "one heck of a storm" because I'm using that instead of the dish.

So the snow is awesome... wet... big flakes... but that's it - just snow. No ice. However, tonight we're supposed to dip below freezing and it's will be a terrible commute in the morning. My office is already opening at 10AM... and I'll be working from home!

"How's Your Leg?"

Remember my blog last year about losing my Baylor QB to a torn ACL for the year?

He started running last week...

I think right there I realized what a different injury a torn ACL is compared to a broken kneecap.

I've read several stories of "players" having knee injuries... but until you drill down into it, there aren't a lot that have the broken kneecap. In fact, I've just seen it happen with basketball players. This leads me to ask, "How in the heck do you recover from this? How do you go back to playing?"

Honestly... I don't know.

As for me, this "recovery" has been a lot more painful than I ever imagined. Let's travel back a few months...

Before my 2nd surgery, I couldn't wait to get those dang wires out of my knee. It hurt just to walk... the grinding and limited mobility really wore on me. Or if I was walking, sometimes I'd have to stop because I honestly thought a wire got "caught."

Then I met "Nurse Ratchet" (OK, really a Physician's Assistant) who told me the week before the surgery that I had a painful recovery ahead of me. She even said that it would take me several months to get through all of this.

Well, next week I hit 3 months since my last surgery... and it still hurts.

So, here's how I can possibly describe what is going on. I'm assuming everyone reading this has a good knee. Go ahead and lift your lower leg. Or touch your knee... feel how the bones are shaped under your skin. Stand on it... probably doesn't hurt to put weight on it, does it?

Mine feels like a clenched fist. I'm serious. First, it's still swollen. It's large and in charge... probably a size and a half compared to my other knee. Second, you can feel the bumps... almost like little grains of gravel... on the bone itself. It's not smooth like the other one... it has ridges and hard edges.

Oh yeah, and have I mentioned that it still hurts? All the time. It hurts to lightly touch it. I think it's due to the swelling... so I put ice on it quite a bit, but it's always sore. I wake up and it's sore. I walk and it's sore. I put it up when I get home... and it's sore. Sore. Sore. Sore.

Stairs: Still a problem. I can go up about one flight and I'm done. Going up more than that... not a fun time. I tend to stick to elevators and escalators whenever I can. Going down is even worse... I don't have the support to go down with my left leg without holding onto a railing.

So... that's life as I know it in the land of the "recovery zone." I'm trying... I'm pushing myself to walk farther or take on that flight of stairs or to lift more. But, it's a long process.

Last fall, I was wondering if I could be running by January 1. Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever be able to do that again. Just stating the facts...