I DIDNT EXPECT THIS TO HAPPEN... Day 55 of 365

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]It is day number 55. Vlogging for 20 minutes a day for 365 days. No edits, no filters, whatever happens happens. And it is my third day of being out of surgery for my ACL. I had an ACL repair.

[00:00:16]And today was tough.

[00:00:18]I was having a really good day and everything was going off pretty good.

[00:00:24]Had a little bit of pain this morning and stuff. So, uh, I took the medication that's recommended. And, uh, I was having a great morning.

[00:00:33]Evelyn and Alex seem to be having a pretty good day, too, for the most part.

[00:00:36]It's also Alex's birthday. And um then I ate some food and stuff and I started having some stomach troubles cuz one of the things I didn't realize is that when you go into surgery, one of the hardest things to have to deal with is potentially constipation. And I know that's probably too much information, but if you're somebody who's going to go into surgery one day, it's something that you really don't think about. You think about, oh, how much pain am I going to be in? Blah blah blah. but you don't think about the effects that has on like say your stomach or the rest of your system.

[00:01:13]And so for me, uh I finally used the bathroom today, but I I was just very constipated.

[00:01:20]And I decided, oh, let me have a shower before uh Alex's parents get home, which they didn't make it home either, and I'll tell you why later in the video.

[00:01:35]But Alex helped me get over to the shower, turn on the shower, all that stuff, and get me into the shower. And as I was in there, I started to like overheat and start to go numb in my fingers. And um I felt like I was going to throw up. And so I basically before I like kind of potentially fainted onto the floor, I put myself onto the floor in the shower. Um which was a tight space that I was in.

[00:02:03]So luckily it didn't hurt my knee or anything, but I was in a really uh unfortunate position and my fingers were tingling and my body felt weird like I just didn't feel right and luckily it passed. Like it went away.

[00:02:22]But I think I was overheating from the heat of the shower and then maybe like not being hydrated enough. Um, even though I am drinking a ton of water, at least I'm trying to trying to keep up with it all. Um, it could be like a potential like uh withdrawal from any of the medicines maybe. I don't know. I haven't really been taking them that long to have any type of withdrawal aspect. Could have been like the the blocker went away. I don't know what it was, but it was really strange. And uh my stomach has been hurting all day and I've been having like pain in the lower part of it, but I still haven't had like a good movement.

[00:03:03]Um so it could just be like that I'm built up type of thing and haven't had the proper, you know, action uh for me to feel right.

[00:03:16]And so, so like tonight for her birthday, I basically sat in this room all night long while her family came over, her sister and the two kids came over. Um, and they got to play with Everly and Everly had a great time with them. But then that also forced Everly to go to bed late. Um, it is right now it's 9:20 at night and she's still not fully asleep, which is pretty rare for her.

[00:03:41]She's normally like in bed sleeping by about 7:30. I'm trying to give you guys the best lighting cuz it's late at night at this point and I still feel like pretty tired. I was going to show you guys like my workout routine, like my PT routine that I've been doing. And uh obviously that's not going to happen tonight, but I have been trying to like get my leg flexed straight as much as possible and then I work on the bend a little bit, but mostly I'm trying to get that quad like reacting cuz that's the most important thing is getting that quad reacting fully.

[00:04:18]So that way like two weeks from now I could get the brace off and I could not have to wear that straight cast. uh when walking around and whatnot, but obviously I'm doing everything that the the surgeon has recommended. Um yeah, I also noticed there's like still like a numbness feeling in my near my ankle, but it also kind of feels bruised now that the numbness is almost completely away.

[00:04:45]Uh there's still like a little bit of numbing around the knee area, but I think that's pretty normal. like there's areas of the knee that always technically feel like a little bit numb after the surgery sometimes. So, I don't know if that's going to be the case for me or not, but we'll find out here in the future.

[00:05:04]Yeah, today's been tough and I I especially feel really bad for Alex cuz it is her birthday.

[00:05:11]Um, I'm just really thankful for her and thankful for the fact that she's been such a good mom and able to try to keep up with all the different things and uh while editing, while doing all the other stuff.

[00:05:28]I'm just really really thankful for her and I I hope the time never comes where I have to be the one to take care of her. But if it does come, I'll be prepared. I'll be ready. I mean, I guess I kind of did that when when uh she had Everly and you know, she went through the C-section aspect and like the recovery aspect of that. I made sure to be there for her during all that. So, you know, this won't last hopefully as long as uh the recovery for that did, but you know, you never know, right? So, just take it one day at a time, one step at a time.

[00:06:06]But the major thing is I'm still trying to show up here for the daily vlog.

[00:06:11]And I'm still trying to show up for Alex and Everly. Like Everly will come in here and I'll read books to her. I'll just still try to be there like, you know, be Papa. I go lay on the sit on the couch with her and read books to her over there. But today is definitely like a setback compared to the first two days. Um, I think just cuz that that pain blocker uh has kind of worn off almost completely at this point.

[00:06:44]Yeah.

[00:06:47]I feel like I've been in really good spirits and I've been in like a good mindset for most of it except for after I had that little, you know, situation with the shower today.

[00:07:03]But it's kind of crazy to go through it.

[00:07:07]I could still hear Everly crying.

[00:07:13]Sometimes she has a really hard time just settling down to take a nap or to go to sleep.

[00:07:20]And I think it's just like she she's kind of like a FOMO kid. Like she doesn't want to miss out on what's happening.

[00:07:26]And at a certain point in time, she has to realize that nothing's actually happening. And it's really important for her to get her rest. Just like for me, it's really important for me to get my rest right now that I'm recovering.

[00:07:38]And I think that's something that's really hard for myself as well is to uh just take a break and relax.

[00:07:52]especially when you have, you know, family that you got to take care of or things you have to do to like take that next step that to that next level in life. And um bills to pay obviously, you know, when you take a break, when we take a break at least, we see it the following month. And so that that hurts when we see it the following month.

[00:08:18]obviously we're going to be okay, but like you know it's just the thought process that is kind of it sets you back a little bit. So to get back in the right mindset and in the right frame of space, you know, uh all that matters a lot.

[00:08:36]But my leg has just been constantly sitting up on this block here.

[00:08:41]I've been bending it quite a bit um and straighten it quite a bit. So you can see I can get like a like a full extension here. You go already.

[00:09:00]I think it's pretty good for day three.

[00:09:04]And then the bend.

[00:09:07]Obviously if this pillow was in the way it would go more, but the pillow's kind of in the way.

[00:09:12]And I'm trying not to overdo it either.

[00:09:17]But it feels pretty good the movement.

[00:09:20]So I've been doing this quite a bit throughout the day and then also straightening the leg like this throughout the day. Getting the foot moving.

[00:09:32]And then I've even been doing these like leg lifts trying to activate that quad.

[00:09:40]And I've also been doing some stretching.

[00:09:44]So, I think I'm on the right path. I'm on the right track. I just hope that I don't have another one of those moments that I felt today that was uh really not fun.

[00:10:07]I do appreciate all the comments and everything that you guys have been sending me, all the good vibes and and like I have been feeling really good. So like this is a it's not a setback. It's just part of the experience, you know.

[00:10:25]I've even been doing like these little like kind of back and forth just rolling that leg. Just trying to wake everything back up.

[00:10:35]But I haven't been doing anything crazy.

[00:10:36]I've been trying to keep it really really light. If anything hurts, I stop doing it.

[00:10:43]You know, it's you go to your pain tolerance. Right about there is where I could start to feel like the stitches and stuff. So, I stopped.

[00:10:54]But I think it was Ellen who was saying like, you know, if you're an athlete, which I was growing up, we always push through pain. That's what we're taught.

[00:11:02]And so, you know, this is something that you sometimes you want to push through the pain, but most of the time you don't. You want to kind of respect the pain. um you get to a certain point of where that pain tolerance is and you stop. And like one of the things I realized when I was in physical therapy is those are the people that are going to help you push past those pain thresholds cuz they know what they're doing. They're, you know, you don't have to worry about them pushing you too far.

[00:11:33]So, when I first injured the knee, I remember the girl was like pushing my knee down and pulling my leg back to a point where it was definitely um like it hurt but bearable and uh getting me looser again, like waking up all those those joints and muscles and and getting my body to react to like realize that it's okay to go past this point. So that way all that stuff could loosen up.

[00:12:03]So, I am looking forward to the time when I am going to be going back to physical therapy uh because I know that's going to just I'm going to have leaps, you know, during that time of uh of getting better and I'll be that much closer to be able to help like to be able to help with Everly, with Alex, and I'll be able to help with other stuff um and get the jobs that we got to get done here shortly.

[00:12:35]She's really having a tough go tonight, though.

[00:12:41]All I want to do is like go downstairs and help.

[00:12:46]But I just don't know if I can.

[00:12:49]I don't know if it's worth risking going down those stairs cuz it's a pretty big stairway to get down.

[00:13:00]Ah.

[00:13:03]I think I might try though.

[00:13:06]Come down and help. Let me text Alex and see.

[00:13:59]Now we just got to wait and see what she says.

[00:14:03]Today is a day that a lot of people in my life have a birthday. My uncle Kenny, it was his birthday today also. So, I did call him and um wish him the best.

[00:14:14]I miss that guy. He was such a cool dude. He's such a cool dude. Um and he's helped me out so many times in my life, just like random little things or just like whenever I needed somebody, he was always there, you know? uh somebody easy to talk to and um somebody that I could talk cars with too as well. So that was always uh really fun to be able to do that with him. And I still do it to this day. Whenever I have an issue with a vehicle, whatever, I'll give him a call and, you know, talk him through my the symptoms of what's happening. And uh he'll always give me advice. And I know it's advice I could always uh trust and utilize.

[00:14:55]And so I wish it I wish you Uncle Kenny a very happy birthday, man. I miss you and I can't wait to see you. So in um for Everly's birthday, we're actually gonna be going to Brooklyn and going to visit and celebrate Everly's third birthday with the family in Brooklyn. So I'm looking forward to that. And then from there, we're going to fly out to um Oregon and we're going to go to Northwest Nomads uh in September. So yeah, just a couple of um upcoming plans that we do have planned that will be happening.

[00:15:36]I'm having two pains at the moment. I'm having a stomach pain and a knee pain at the moment.

[00:15:45]Something else that I didn't realize that was pretty crucial to the recovery aspect of this is actually coughing and taking 10 deep breaths.

[00:16:09]This, I guess, technically keeps you from having like flem buildup or getting pneumonia or anything like that after your surgery. Kind of wild, even though it was a thing, but you know, it makes sense. Makes a lot of sense.

[00:16:39]I took something that's supposed to like help me also with the stomach aspect.

[00:16:45]So, um maybe tonight, tomorrow that that feeling will go away and uh I'll be feeling a lot better. That's my hope.

[00:16:57]But yeah, it just sucks to give you guys like a kind of sad update. I feel like that I don't give a lot of sad updates.

[00:17:04]So yeah, today is just a little bit more of a struggle than than the last couple.

[00:17:09]And I know that, you know, the the sun is on the other side, you know, um that this is just a momentary little cloud of feeling. Um and I'll get past that and we'll get past it. But like there are going to be some days that you're going to struggle after you have a major surgery. Um, so all you could do is just be thankful for the help that you do have and, you know, continue to push forward and do whatever the things are that make you feel a little bit more comfortable, a little bit better in those moments. Um, for me, that's kind of just for this particular case, it was just laying down.

[00:17:59]laying down, not doing too much. Uh, taking my time. I really need to go grab some ice and ice my leg here in a minute. Um, normally Alex has been the one doing that, bringing the ice over for me and stuff, but with Everly not going down for bed super easy, I have to wait until she comes back up, which is all good and all fine, you know. Um, otherwise I got to crunch my way over and figure out, you know, how to carry the ice over at the same time while using the crutches. It's not too easy.

[00:18:35]So, it's really good to have a caretaker with you when you are going through an ACL injury. They actually do say in the like paperwork that for like the first week, two weeks that you have to have somebody around with you to like help take care of you just in case there's any complications or any signs of anything where you know they may have to call 911 or you may have to as well uh and you know get an emergency ride to the hospital or whatever. I don't think I'm gonna have anything like that happen, but you know, you have to have somebody around just in case you fall, you rupture something, whatever the case might be. Um, that way you're taken care of and you don't wind up dealing with the repercussion of, you know, not getting to the hospital quick enough.

[00:19:23]I'm really happy with how everything turned out surgery wise. And like even when I look at the cuts and everything like that, like it doesn't look so bad.

[00:19:32]Um, I know I'll heal pretty quickly, so I'm just uh yeah, I'm just going to take it one day at a time.

[00:19:44]Alex just text me back said she's almost out.

[00:19:52]When she cries like that, too, it like it makes her really tired and sometimes she like needs to have that big cry to fall asleep.

[00:20:03]which, you know, is here nor there, but yeah, it's just tough sometimes.

[00:20:10]If you're a parent or you've been a parent, you you know, you get it, you understand. Um, if you have any advice for something that you've done that makes it a lot easier, let me know.

[00:20:19]Today's comment of the day is, "You look really well after surgery. Love how Paco went around the bed to lay down by your side. I watched your 20-minute vlogs as soon as they come out." In the UK, it is at the moment around 1 to 2 early in the afternoon. I was an FNA van life watcher and subscriber before your daily vlogs.

[00:20:38]I am currently watching old van life videos to get my fix. I watch one every day. Keep up with the good work on on your recovery. I hope it's speedy recovery for you. Take care. Don't overdo things. Thank you so much, Terry.

[00:20:56]Just let you know, we do have some van life coming out in Portugal. If you didn't know, you can go to FNA life and you'll find our Portugal content or uh van life related content. So, I hope you guys enjoy that stuff. It's been 20 minutes. Cedma.