I feel the saying “life happens” could not ring more true for me over the last couple of months. After my knee surgery in February of this year, I started experiencing a lot of swelling and discomfort in my lower leg. I had an MRI September 1st and found out I needed to have surgery on my achilles tendon September 2nd. Oh, and it was scheduled for 2.5 weeks from the 2nd. Needless to say, I had very little time to soak in the last few breaths of summer and beginning of fall before I was back to not being able to walk again for a few weeks.

Getting injured on day 2 of a new job in a new place is the furthest thing from ideal. I tell you now, I was bound and determined to experience a little more of Kodiak before being stuck inside after surgery and during the winter to avoid the ice at all cost! I did some driving around the island, slept with the blinds open to fall asleep and wake up to the gorgeous skies, and, thanks to some friends, I was able to get out in their ATV to explore The Saltry! Don’t worry, the photo dump is next… It could not have been a more beautiful day with the forecast of rain that never fell. We drove up next to some wild horses, drove along the river, saw a bear across the lake, and tried to chase a bear down on the trail during our drive back. It was just what my soul needed and I will forever be grateful to Eric and Jenny for such an incredible and breath taking experience!

The Saltry trip was the weekend before surgery. I spent the next 3 days working as much as possible to avoid having to use too much PTO. I got to Anchorage for surgery, checked in to the hotel, did a little shopping then headed to my pre-op appointment. Surgery was on the 22nd of September and I flew back to Kodiak the night of the 23rd. As a little aside…there is only one orthopedic surgeon in Kodiak and many specialties rotate through our Specialty Clinic here. Not the ideal place to live if you have any chronic health conditions where you need frequent check ups. But, well worth it if you can manage it!

My mom was able to fly up to Anchorage from Reno for my surgery. It was definitely a much needed visit and hug from my Momma! Surgery went well and it was back to Kodiak. My mom flew back to Reno after I took off to Kodiak. My boss was on my flight with me, so she was able to put a name to a face, which was nice! My dogs, as per the usual, were overly excited that I was back home…we headed straight back to the couch where they took their turns piling on top of me to make sure I wasn’t out of their sight.

The recovery process started off a bit weird since I really couldn’t feel anything from the knee down for the first 3 days. After that, there was a lot of “electric shock” type pain running down my leg and into my foot. That was super fun…NOT. Overall, it has been a much more smooth recovery process than my knee was (still is). I’ve been back at work for about a month now, still on desk duty, and in physical therapy twice a week. I am walking with crutches with limited weight most of the time, and sporting the all-terrain knee scooter while at work and out and about. Snow and ice have started up on island again, so avoiding crutches outside so we don’t have “Lauren on Ice”, is the ultimate goal!

I’m looking forward to the day I can truly explore this place I call home and work with patients again. Until then, I get to love on my nurses and encourage them from my office across the hall!