I’m back to blogging! Is blogging even a real word? Okay, I guess I’ll pick up from last Friday and the knee surgery. Most of you read the Geiger Counter so you know a bit about the procedure I underwent last week.



We went into the outpatient center in Summerlin, Nev., Friday morning and the doctor walked me through the procedure first. He didn’t know how bad it would be until he was into the surgery. For me it was easy…I just got put to sleep.

I do remember waking up after the surgery and really just wanting to go back to sleep. The doctors made me wake up and I don’t remember a lot of what they said other than the knee was more damaged than they first thought. I was pretty drugged up, which is funny for a guy that doesn’t drink or smoke.



My friend Candice drove me home after the surgery. I was feeling pretty nauseous but made it home. My brother Tony and his gal Apple were there to help out. They all helped me get into bed and I pretty much slept the entire night. I woke up Saturday morning and felt great but didn’t realize the medicine hadn’t worn off yet. Later that day, I started having some chills and pretty serious pain. They have me on OxyContin and that helps a lot.



I spent most of the weekend either in bed or on the couch. My trainer Dave Tomcheck, from UNLV, says one day in bed requires two days of physical therapy to get me back healthy, so he got me up and moving as soon as I could. We walked around the block on Sunday. I’ll be on crutches for six weeks. My goal is to be off the crutches when I have to visit Caterpillar in Peoria, Ill., on Dec. 10. The important thing is not to hurt my donor graft. They used a ligament from a cadaver during the surgery. My old ACL was too severely damaged to repair. They treated me like a professional athlete, which is pretty cool. Some big time NFL players like Carson Palmer and Willis McGahee went through similar procedures.



Last night was my first night out of the house. We went to the UNLV/Dixie State game at Thomas & Mack Center. The Runnin’ Rebels looked good. Dave is the trainer for the UNLV hoops team and got us really good tickets. Dave is the second from the left in the photo. My knee was pretty swollen when I got home, so I used a cold compression pack before bed.



Dave is on his way over (Wednesday) for some mild physical therapy. I feel like I can be more active, but you can only do so much. I still can’t put my own pants or shoes on yet. I guess that’s just part of the recovery program.



I want to really thank all the fans for their outpouring of support. All the e-mails are awesome. The NHRA fans are so loyal and dedicated. It really does mean a lot and I can’t wait to be back at the race track in January.