My Surgery Experience

Alright ladies and gentlemen, since I've gotten ZERO suggestions on topcis to blog about over the past week, ya'll get to deal with my sob story that I've endured for the past week. (not to worry though... we'll wrap this all together with some healthy living tie in at the end)

For as long as I can remember, I've always been involved in a competitive sport:

I started basketball and softball at a very young age, worked my way through several years of AAU teams, played on my grade school's volleyball and softball teams, spent a few years in high school on the cross country team, D1 state champ basketball team and eventually found myself on the tennis team my last couple years. My "adult years" if you will, consisted of 4 years of singles and doubles play on my college's  varsity tennis team, some adult USTA tennis leagues and a few half marathons and marathons.

Believe it or not, throughout all of that wear and tear on my body over 22 years, the only injury I've ever had to deal with was a broken thumb during high school - and even then my participation wasn't restricted in games, practices or even open gyms. So to say I've been somewhat blindsided by this surgery, might, if we're exaggerating a little bit, be the understatement at my life at the moment.

Besides the excruciating pain on day 2 and 3 of this ordeal, I have to admit that life wasn't all that bad the first week or so- I woke up every morning to my mom bringing me multiple cups of quality, I-am-an-established-adult-so-I-can-buy-the-good-stuff kind of coffee, I got to catch up on an embarrassing amount of How I Met Your Mother episodes and sadly, my biggest concern was a toss up between beating my high score in Tetris or when I was supposed to take my pain medication..... as you can see... life was tough, rough, okay, it wasn't all that bad  (minus the times I had to use the restroom, but I think the difficulty of that task is implied). 


Alright. So remember about 20 seconds ago when I said things weren't all that bad for the first week? Haha... well, week 2 started off a tad more interesting to say the least....

After having been off work all last week, and hiding away in the care of my wonderful Mom, I admit I was a tad excited to get back to my apartment, my friends and my work. However, my excitement quickly took a nose dive when Monday morning arrived and I  found myself sitting on the couch, my coffee still in the kitchen, my leg propped up on pillows and my clothes upstairs, that the realization of me being completely on my own smacked me right in the face.

• no mom to bring me coffee
• no mom to give me the TV remote
• no mom to cover my cast with a garbage bag before I shower
• no mom to drive me places and hold my crutches
• no mom to cook me dinner
• no mom to... DO EVERYTHING!

5 months ago I was training for a marathon...I was running 25+ miles a week...I was jumping up off the couch  for more coffee....I had hopes to finish a triathlon this summer,  and now I can't even stand to take a shower, or  even walk up the stairs to get ready for work. 

I wanted to cry. I wanted to call off work. I wanted to call my mom and tell her I was coming home. I wanted to do anything and everything possible that didn't require any effort from me. I gave up before I had even tried - one of the worst things you can do in any situation.


Once my 3 minute meltdown came to a close, I got myself into a functioning state and headed for the stairs. Between my crutches, my totally stylish knee scooter, anything I could grab a hold of and my shower chair, I eventually made it into my car. I had done it. From there on out, I began trying new things and new ways of going about everyday tasks. I past with flying colors on a lot of my tasks, but I also failed miserably on just as many. The important part of it all, however, was that I was trying. I wasn't giving up. 


And that right there is what I'd absolutely love for everyone who is still reading this to take to heart - Don't Give Up. So many times we talk ourselves out of doing things simply because we're afraid we're going to fail, or we think we can't do it. Well, guess what, you'll never know if you don't try.

Take me story and apply it to your life.
Losing Weight?
Needing to exercise more?
Looking to break your half marathon time?

Take chances.

Try things.

Don't give up.

Stay Healthy,