I have good news.

I know. I’m as surprised as you are.

Had my follow-up today—Sarah drove, because she’s my responsible adult and I’m still not cleared for operating heavy machinery (my car counts as heavy machinery when you’re recovering from ankle surgery, apparently). Sat in the exam room doing that thing where you try not to stare at the wound care supplies and wonder which ones are about to touch you.

The doctor looked at my ankle. Poked around. Made approving noises.

And then said the words I’ve been terrified I wouldn’t hear: it’s doing what it’s supposed to do.

The Integra is integrating.

I almost cried. I didn’t, because I was trying to be normal about it, but I felt that hot prickle behind my eyes. After the infection, after the hospital stay, after weeks of staring at a hole in my ankle and wondering if my body was ever going to cooperate—good news feels almost disorienting.

The wound looks good. The scaffold is working. My cells are doing their job, filling in the framework, building new tissue like they’re supposed to. My body, for once, is not staging a rebellion.

And here’s the bonus round: the skin graft might happen sooner than planned. Originally we were looking at February 12th—two days before my birthday, because my life has a sense of dramatic timing. But if things keep progressing like this, we might move it up.

I don’t want to jinx it. I’ve learned not to trust good news too quickly. But I’m letting myself feel this one, just a little. Just enough.

I’m so tired. Not in the “I need a nap” way, though I do also need a nap. Tired in the bone-deep, months-of-this way. The kind of tired where good news doesn’t make you energized, it makes you realize how much tension you were holding.

But I’m grateful. For doctors who know what they’re doing. For Integra, which is made of cow collagen and shark cartilage and sounds fake but is very real. For Sarah, who keeps showing up. For my body, which is finally—finally—doing the thing.

More updates when there are updates. For now, I’m going to sit with this.

Stay healthy out there. And if you get good news today, let yourself feel it. Even if you’re tired. Especially if you’re tired.