Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Does This Mean I'm an Athlete?


Lindsay Vaughn. Tiger Woods. Peyton Manning. My husband, Keith, now says I have something in common with all of them. I'm not a professional athlete. I'm not famous. But just like them I tore my ACL! Lucky me.I'm trying to be funny about it, but it's no joke. I tore my anterior cruciate ligament, the ligament that keeps you knee stable just under two weeks ago. Before that I'd never heard of the ACL. Now, I did do it playing athletic sport like the above folks, but my sport is tennis. Just a couple tennis games a week, something I do that I love. I ran, I twisted, I fell. AND I missed the shot. Completely. I just ran for it to look like I was really trying. And this is where it got me.
I felt a twist but don't remember a pop. And it hurt a lot at first, but then I thought it was okay, because I was able to walk around. But then when the knee started giving out and this freaked me out! Later in the day, My husband took me to the emergency room and they said it was just a sprain. Still it did not feel right. My lesson learned--when it's your knee, go to a specialist to be sure. I was lucky enough to get into an orthopedic surgeon the next day and he said it definitely seem like an ACL tear, and ordered an MRI. Had that done that day and on Monday the news was official. I torn my ACL.
I was extremely upset to hear the news because I couldn’t imagine and I still can't imagine how I'm going to be able to keep up with my current lifestyle. I may not be a famous athlete, but I use my legs a lot. I'm a stay at home mom who needs to run around after her kids, haul them to other different events, cheer them on, work with them on their homework, & find to get around to do all the errands in addition to working out every day, which I love to do. We had camping on the schedule, a visit from a good friend, field trips that had to be cancelled. Because of me!However, I am trying to be positive. I'm lucky that there is something that can be done. I opted to for the surgery because I do want to run, play tennis, and in general not be scared of my knee giving out just walking through the rest my life. Am I nervous about Tomorrow? Duh-as my kids would say. Of Course! I've never been under before and certainly am not looking forward to the after pain or the drugs. I hate the idea of being drugged up, but also don't feel like writhing (this week's vocab word from Grace) in pain. But also I feel lucky that I have a terrific husband, kids and friends to help care for me – which is hard for me to accept but I have to!!!- and lucky that there's some great health care out there and I have access to it.


So, my days as a helicopter, on the run mom who is also a gym rat will have to stop--for now--but I'll work on getting back.  We’ll see what I’m like as a person who cannot be running around.  Starting tomorrow...will let you know....


No comments:

Post a Comment