May 2, 2019. A beautiful day in Snowbird, Utah. Our epic season was coming to an end. I have been skiing the Wasatch Mountains since 1984, it's my home. This was my 52nd season on skis. That morning, we bought our season passes for next year and jumped on the Tram. Conditions were perfect. My SkiTracks app had me at day 33, with a total of 526,601 vertical feet skied and a top speed for the season of 70.7 mph and a total of 529.3 miles skied. The day before, my boyfriend had posted that I had beat his speed record (hey, it's what us adrenaline junkies do, especially when we get old). I was looking forward to driving my first rally this summer in Baja (instead of navigating), riding motorcycles, mountain bikes and hiking. I was training my Belgian Malinois for Search and Rescue, and thinking about Dock Diving. For one of the first times in my life, I felt on top of my game and really excited for a busy summer and fall. That all changed at 10:20 AM.
 |
| Snowbird Tram 2019 |
As I sit here today, the last 36 days seem like a blur (or a bad nightmare). In many ways, I could sit here and feel sorry for myself or be depressed. After all, no one in their right mind could deny me those feelings, right? On the flip side, I know the sports I participate in (and love) carry more physical danger than synchronized swimming, stand up paddle board or ping pong. I am thankful that I am in pretty good shape and active at my 54 years. I also have incredible support from my boyfriend Chris, and son Max. Before my second surgery, a week ago today, I was in so much pain (unbeknownst to me that it was from an infection) that I wondered if my life and leg would ever be the same. How would I rip down the hill on my skis like I had done for 52 years? How would I participate in Equestrian sports that had been such a huge part of my life since I was 5? How would I ride motorcycles and not be afraid that I was going to further injure myself? How could I get rid of this constant pain? And don't even get me started on how I was going to wear my favorite heels. Yes, even us jock chicks like to be girly girls.
I find great comfort that the pain is better since my second surgery a week ago. Chris was seriously worried about my consumption of Oxy, and justifiably so. I was eating them like candy, because I had to. Now, I'm mostly on Tylenol and maybe a bit more at night as needed. One of my challenges right now... the picc line and IV Vencomyacin. I am hooked up to that twice a day for 3 hours each time. I never thought I'd need home healthcare, that's for really old people right? I am thankful for Marcia and the support of Chris' sister Terri who is an RN and answers my constant questions as well as my childhood friend and fellow equestrian Reed (my go to research scientist nerd that tells me the way it is, because he is THE Ortho Germ Geek). I know I have an incredibly long road ahead of me. I have so much to look forward to, and I have amazing people in my life. I am thankful, and today is a good day. I'm going to celebrate my life and look forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow may be a hard day, who knows? Today is a good day.
Comments
Post a Comment