Being injured and recovering from it feels like a long challenging journey. But I got very lucky to have one thing along with many other things. That is my very caring partner, Patrick. He has been offering me selfless support and care. He did not disappoint when I really needed some humor and laughter right before my surgery in a pre-op room. He came up with some funny family stories that I did not know about yet. A couple days after surgery when I was starting to hit the bottom of pain and discomfort, he made sure I had some sanity by reading me my favorite novel in bed. He treated like it’s his full time job to make me smile when I needed it. The amount of emotional support I received from him when I was having a rough time was tremendous. How spoiled am I to have a partner who wants to put me first before him? I feel that when I get injured, I go into the mode of self-care. My number one priority becomes gaining my health back and getting back to my normal life as soon as possible. I battled with feeling selfish because I was only able to think about myself (my pain, my feeling, my convenience, my recovery etc…) and not able to pay enough attention and care for Patrick. He has taught me that my happiness and success is his happiness and success and vice versa. And we are a team who’s always covering and lifting for each other through ups and downs with a strong commitment and love for each other.
This injury has definitely put our relationship under a stress test and it has proven to be strong and has grown to be stronger. On a good note…my reconstructed ACL (on my R knee, 3 years ago) has passed the biggest stress test yet from this ski accident and I’m very happy about that!
Enough talk about my relationship…
It’s been over 8 weeks since my surgery. My life is starting to look a bit more normal like before minus outdoor adventures. I’ve been still dreaming the days I get back to outdoors for trail running, rock climbing and skiing. It’s coming and I can feel it! In the meantime, I’ve been continuing to train indoors. Along with my strength, resistance, and balance exercises, I started some light plyometric exercises,a form of strengthening exercise, incorporating jumping, bounding and hopping movements, which works to increase power in the muscles. For example, I’m able to do short intervals of jump roping. Yoga teaching and Thai massage giving continues to prove to be a great way to rehab for an ankle injury. I’m going to write more about how yoga and Thai massage can help for injury rehab on my next blog.
