The Importance of Being Lauren

I have not been great about updating y'all on my recovery! So much has happened in the last 12 weeks, and I am better than ever. I only have a tiny bit of soreness in my left knee when I get up in the morning, which is AMAZING. The knee pain first thing in the morning was super annoying.  The only issue that I can complain about right now is my knee's new occupation. My left knee is a straight up meteorologist now. A cold front with rain came through last week, and I had sharp pains all day. I asked the other girl in my office if she experiences the same thing post-surgery, and she said 12-years post-surgery she still gets weather related pain.  Week 12 The flexion in my knee in week 12 was at 125 degrees. I was assigned new exercises to build my hamstring strength. My PT had me do 220 lbs on the single leg press movement, and exclaimed, "Damnnn Cordova, I wouldn't want to take you in a fight." I was finally able to do a 50 lbs single leg curl without pain. My PT ...

Before the pandemic I was a very social person. I had a PACKED social calendar, and constantly sought to be around people. I would host weekly game nights, friend dinners, and group outings. During and post-pandemic I was left with a lot of social anxiety and depression, and that really impacted my ability to socialize with others. I was convinced that one of the lasting symptoms of COVID was introversion.  When I first started working in my current office, I was still recovering from teacher burnout. I felt drained after any social interaction, and felt overwhelmed in highly populated areas (i.e. the grocery store). Anyway, when I started working in the office, I told my parents daily about how chatty people in the office were. I frequently said, "Wow, everyone in the office is so chatty. They just stop by my desk to talk to me all the time. Sometimes I get behind in my work because people stop so often.*" *I feel the need to clarify that I am constantly weeks ahead of sched...