After a fall, surgery, almost two weeks in bed…

three weeks on crutches, and a splint and sling on my arm for three weeks…. I am now using a cane and in rehab…Hooray… but…

What an ordeal! I go three times a week.  I need to get flexibility and full range of motion back into my left elbow and arm, and strengthen my left leg, the muscles around the fracture in my hip, so I do not need a cane and can walk with my natural gait again.

Since, I was three years old, I have been in dance studios, ballet studios, gyms, workout facilities, spin classes, aerobic classes, bench classes, boxing classes, all kinds of yoga, and pilates. I have danced on stages, choreographed dances and recitals, taught toddlers to football players, beginners to professionals, taught classes for overweight housewives and new moms wanting to regain their figures. I have trained  using all kinds of machines and weights, and in all those years, I never had an injury that could not be healed with a little heat and a good night’s sleep. And now, because of an unmarked wet floor in a restaurant, I am going through this ordeal. 

I have never been in rehab and now, I have several physical therapists and trainers looking over me…
I go from heat to stretching, to isometrics, to stretching to walking, to riding a bike, to ice…

Some of the activities feel good.. because it feels great to move after being so sedentary and others hurt terribly …

Rehab is hard work…

Many of the young trainers, have had injuries in several areas of their bodies… youngsters are rehabing from sports injuries… makes me wonder how all my life I escaped injury until now…

It was clearly the fault of the unmarked, wet floor…

People are continually asking, “What happened to you?” And today a woman commented. “Are you always so meek? You are so quiet.”

I have never been called ‘meek’ in my life, but I will say this accident has taken its toll on me in ways I can’t express or explain…

I am focused on my body and what it needs to heal itself to become whole again and fully functioning.

I am trying to keep my mental and emotional self positive. Sure, I have had several melt downs and have gotten very frustrated when I can’t do for myself what I once did with little effort. I cried most all day on my birthday which was three days after surgery. I awaken in the middle of the night, or early morn and it feels surreal as I think back to all that happened in such a short time and how fast my life changed because of it. I barely recall the weekend after the fall, or the weeks after surgery. It’s a blur as the days ran together, but now I am waking out of the fog to the reality of what I am dealing with…

I have always been one who appreciates the simple pleasures of a warm shower and clean sheets, and I always thank God in appreciation.. so now, I am humbled a bit more… 
 
Healing in rehab is a solitary activity. It’s an internal process that makes its way outward in bits and pieces…one step forward, one step back, then two forward once again.

And while you have your trainers, it’s you doing the work.
 
It’s competition with yourself, pushing and challenging your body.

This is what I have done since I was three, just never in this particular way….

 
One of my physical therapists… doesn’t she look like the actress, Jennifer Connolly?

All my physical therapists have been great …