Having had arthroscopic meniscus repair surgery myself back in January of 2016, I encouraged Randa to do the same thing after an MRI showed hers was torn. It’s been a couple of weeks now since her surgery and her knee seems to be improving pretty well. Last night, she walked “normally” up all seventeen steps to the bedroom for the first time since her surgery.

What has not improved nearly as much was something that caught us both completely by surprise.

After she came home and the anesthesia had completely worn off, she became aware of significant pain in her upper thigh. Accompanied by a fair amount of swelling. A bit of online research identified the cause: aftereffects of tourniquet use during surgery. Until then, we’d never even heard of tourniquet application for arthroscopic meniscus repair!

If my surgeon used one, there wasn’t the slightest indication of it after my procedure. One of my sisters also had meniscus repair and said she was never aware that they had used one on her. Neither Randa’s surgeon nor anyone on his staff had given any warning or advice about the afterwards. The nurse who Randa talked to over the phone two days after the surgery confirmed a tourniquet had been used. Several different online sources indicated the after-effects could be very painful and could last for up to six months after the surgery.

Maybe Randa’s body responded differently than mine. It was nearly a week later before the visible damage really showed up. Her thigh looked like shed been kicked by a horse. Repeatedly! Big blue bruises on the inside and outside of her leg and right behind her knee. They’ve finally begun to fade slightly but the swelling and soreness are still there. Of course, she expected her knee would be sore after the surgery. But this other, it’s been a complete surprise.

It’s not the first situation we’ve been in where there turned out to be more involved than what we expected. Might well be one of those things you’d never have done if you’d known ahead of time what you were getting into. But so far—and we’re not expecting anything different this time—God has gotten us through every one of those. He has never been caught off guard by anything that’s ever happened to us and has never failed to supply more than we needed to get through it.