Below are blog entries during recovery from my physical setback in semi-retirement with a skiing accident including a torn ACL, MCL, MPFL, meniscus, bone fracture, etc. I vowed to recover and rebound. My hope is this week-by-week story inspires others to forge ahead with conviction when it is time to reset and refocus your priorities.
Taking a U-Turn 03/10/21
The buzz word of the past year has been “pivot” due to all the changing circumstances. Well, I can’t physically pivot so I’m going to take a U-turn. Up to this point, my blog has been about what you should do and advice for my coaching clients to be happy and healthy on the inside and out. I am going to change it up and begin sharing what I’m doing as I overcome a significant skiing accident that happened last week. My intention is to use it as inspiration for others and as an outlet for myself to journal while I’m on the sidelines. I can still do health coaching remotely but coaching workouts at Fit Body Bootcamp will be on hold for a while.
It was a wonderful family vacation in Park City, Utah. We went to Snowbird Mountain on day three of skiing. This is known as more difficult terrain and I was apprehensive. We were having a great time and I even conquered a black diamond slope with a warning of Experts Only at the lift line. I am definitely not an expert, but you know…drive fast take chances. The next run I was pretty tired and still kind of shaky, but everyone was ahead of me, so I kept going. I was trying really hard to keep up and enjoying the need for speed. Then BAM! I slipped, I fell, I rolled, my skis stayed on for the first few tumbles, then one fell off. It’s known as a yard sale on the slopes when you lose equipment all over the place.
I felt a pop in my knee and knew it wasn’t good. I was curled up saying, “ouch” and a few other colorful words. A couple locals stopped by to ask if I was OK. I said I didn’t think so because I could feel my knee swelling inside my new fancy snow pants. They called ski patrol to come help me because when I tried to stand up, my knee simply buckled and there was no way I could ski down the rest of the mountain. I had the pleasure of two nice guys putting my leg in a splint, loading me into a plastic sled, wrapping me in a body bag and giving me a ride down to the on-site clinic. They took X-rays but couldn’t do a full exam. The best guess: a torn ACL and MCL were likely but I needed to get an MRI when I got back to Iowa the next day.
If you’re still reading, thank you for indulging in this long story. My future posts won’t be this lengthy. I wanted to share the background as it has been a long week of taking in this life-changing event. I had been so darn active and nothing holding me back on a day-to-day basis in semi retirement. The flight home was somewhat miserable in a leg brace and continued swelling. I mean excessive swelling is an understatement. Since we returned from Utah, I’ve had multiple appointments and it is confirmed that I ripped up most of the ligaments in my knee. The ACL, MCL, PCL, meniscus and the Medial Patellofemoral Ligament (who’s heard of that one that goes across the top??) are torn. Yep, go big or go home!
I’m coaching myself through the adversity and I have a very positive outlook:
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It’s not life-ending or life-threatening and I will battle back to whatever the new normal means.
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My plan is to do as much physical activity that is safely allowed.
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I will eat healthy foods as fuel to make this recovery as easy and quick as possible.
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I’ve been reminded that I’m no spring chicken! Nonetheless, I am counting on friends and family to hold me accountable to do as I promise.
Feel free to check back weekly for updates.
Reactions: When life seems tough, remember you can’t always control what goes on outside, but you can always control what goes on inside.
Cheers to being happy and healthy on the inside and out!
I Am Lucky 03/17/21
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I am lucky and I wish you all the luck in the world today too. Surgery is scheduled for four hours on Friday, March 26, with the time to be determined. The surgeon is going to examine my knee one more time before then to determine which ligaments will be repaired in addition to the ACL. I don’t have many good ones left so he will use cadaver parts and would prefer to use as few as possible to minimize the long-term stiffness. Thank goodness for organ donors and for their corpses having stronger ligaments than my remaining ones.
I am lucky that I was able to start pre-hab physical therapy to get ready for surgery. I have exercises to do at home and welcome the activity. These exercises should keep some strength in my leg to help speed the recovery time. The swelling is slowly but surely coming down and much of the bruising is fading too. All good signs! It was helpful for the physical therapist to take a tool to scrape the back of my knee to get the blood and bruising to move it on down the road.
Overall, my pain is not too bad. I have been surprisingly sleeping OK with the exception of one rough night. I’m uncomfortable and if you know me at all, you know that patience is just not my thing so being stuck at home is making me a bit crazy. I was lucky enough to go the gym to do health coaching with several clients last week AND I can drive myself on short trips to physical therapy and cryotherapy, so that freedom is fantastic!
Lucky charms this week:
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Dana has been willingly cooking, cleaning and on laundry duty.
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Brooke and several friends watched March Madness games with us on Saturday.
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Morgan came home and spent an evening with us before leaving on a trip to Florida.
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Dad and Mom called to check in on me and chat.
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So many friends have been generous and kind to read this blog, stop by or reach out.
Cheers to you being lucky, happy and healthy inside and out!
Setback to Setup for Comeback 03/24/21
Bring on the surgery in two days! I’m ready for it and anxious to move on to recovery. This setback is just a setup for a comeback. As one would expect in the fourth week after the injury, my swelling has continued to go down and the bruising is sooo much better than last week. I’m kind of proud that I was released from physical therapy sooner than expected because I had reached all the prescribed milestones for strength and range of motion. I continue to work on several exercises at home to become stronger before surgery to speed up recovery. I have taken a few walks (crutching on one leg) around the block and experienced a few stares and eye rolls from neighbors. I smile and wave.
I will have the ACL reconstructed and the MCL will either be repaired or reconstructed, depending on how good/bad it looks when the surgeon slices in to fully assess it. The MRI showed that it is quite damaged but, if he can, he will repair and attach it to a bone. If it’s too shredded, he will instead reconstruct it with cadaver parts. God bless Dr. Davick for the knowledge and confidence to do this on-the-fly. In his words, the meniscus is just “along for the ride” and he will repair it as much as possible. He has done surgeries many times (nine ACLs in a week recently) in his 27 years of experience and I'm one of the most difficult he has seen. I guess that means I'm WINNING as a case he will talk about in the future.
I’m viewing this physical setback as an opportunity to grow mentally. I was in a very good place enjoying semi-retirement, coaching clients, and planning to work at summer camps to help kids advance in financial literacy at Junior Achievement. Now I’m even more determined to become stronger, get back to working out, being all-around healthy, and coaching others to do the same. There are no excuses to be lazy or to give up at my age. I have such good genes with grandfathers who lived to 94 and 99 years old. I am grateful for the parts from someone else’s body and the surgeon who will give me the opportunity to continue with an active life. I owe it to them to use that opportunity wisely and to my fullest potential. I’m going to leverage this setback as a setup for a comeback.
Cheers to your setup for being happy and healthy inside and out!
Channeling My Inner Lindsey Vonn 03/31/21
Surgery was successful. I was ready and anxious by the time Friday rolled around. There was nothing else to do but get ‘er done. The surgeon sprang a surprise on me about 30 minutes before the surgery. If you know me, you know I don’t particularly like or appreciate surprises. He told me in my last appointment that he had decided against using my hamstring to reconstruct the ACL because he didn’t want to pull the hamstring out, find that it was not strong enough, and then just have to “throw body parts in the trash.” That kind of stuff sticks in my mind. Now on surgery morning he informed me that instead of also using a cadaver to reconstruct the MCL, he decided he would use my own hamstring to reconstruct it. Say what? I had to practice some deep breathing exercises because I had heard horror stories of the hamstring being pulled out and stretched in an incredibly not-so-natural way.
The surgeon went on to say that he does ACL surgery all the time…like multiple times per week. Everybody knows somebody who has had it done. The MCL process is only needed every 4-5 years in serious athlete injuries. Yikes! Nonetheless, I put my full faith in him despite this curveball as I sat in a lovely gown and party hat (a.k.a. hair net). What choice did I have at this point? I smiled and said that I would be channeling my inner Lindsey Vonn for the foreseeable future. When someone says they pulled a hammy, it has a whole new meaning to me and that is exactly what it felt like after the fact.
I survived! I can’t lie, the day of and two days after surgery were brutal with so. much. pain. However, on the bright side, each day gets better and better! I had a post-op appointment that showed everything went as planned and the procedure to anchor and weave the hamstring through the MCL was a success. I did get a little lightheaded when he explained the actual process to me, but I asked for the details, so I got what I deserved. He said he wished they would have taken a video because it went so well, even though his assistant was less confident than him that it would work. I have started physical therapy and have exercises to do four times/day. I am already putting weight on it while walking with the crutches. It is honestly a bit of a coordination challenge for me after using only one leg for four weeks.
Today my gratitude goes to:
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The tissue donor who allowed me to have the ACL reconstruction
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The surgeon and entire care team who has an immense amount of competency and compassion
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My family members who have been wife-sitting, mom-sitting, sister-sitting and daughter-sitting me
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Numerous friends who have checked in and sent support in a wide variety of ways
I am on the mend. I will continue to channel my inner Lindsey Vonn and make the comeback real. After all, I don't do slow.
Cheers to everyone being happy and healthy inside and out!
Remind Me About That Tortoise 04/07/21
This week I needed a gut check. I have zero patience, so I oftentimes sprint like the hare in The Tortoise and the Hare, and it caught up with me. In addition to doing the prescribed physical therapy exercises, I set a realistic goal to walk +100 steps more than the day before. I crutched my way around the block before surgery, why not keep pushing the limits? Well, it caught up with me when the weekend was so gorgeous that I couldn’t resist going for a multiple walks per day and I increased by about 1500 steps from Thursday to Friday, then increased another 1000 steps Saturday, and went on to exceed that on Sunday. I have been sleeping terribly for the past week so when Monday rolled around, my body was physically stiff and exhausted. My PT session was frustrating because I was not a rock star at the new movements, and I experienced a whole lot of pain. Reality set in that I need to be the tortoise and release the hare to go do her own thing until I kick butt at the finish line.
I have expressed that I want to ditch the crutches sooner rather than later and I was confident that I was going to do so. At my appointment with the surgeon, he dropped the bomb that he wants me to be on them for another four weeks, which sounds like an eternity right now. Again, remind me of that tortoise mentality. Stop and smell the roses and enjoy the beautiful blooming trees that only last a short time in the Spring right now! I am still way ahead of schedule and I had read that these feelings of slow progress come during week #3 post-surgery, but they came on about day #10 for me. I went back and read my Weekly Wisdom blog post from September 2, 2020, “It’s A Marathon Not A Sprint” to realize that I needed that advice.
My family has continued to be rock solid in my recovery. I am again reminded that this is only temporary and it’s not terminal, I didn’t lose a limb, nobody else was injured in this crash, and I will be stronger than ever…eventually. I was lucky enough to celebrate my mom’s birthday with my parents and sister generously visiting me. My sisters went over the top to get me a cleaning service because they know I can’t stand dirty floors that I am unable clean very easily these days. For Easter, He Is Risen Indeed! Morgan came home for several days and took on the duty of making my famous sugar cookies. We had some giggles about learning life skills, being street smart versus book smart. Brooke helped frost the cookies and took one for the team to walk with me at the tortoise pace to the park and around the cul-de-sac, which absolutely ruined her Apple watch stats for the day. I thoroughly enjoyed the family time and well-cooked dinner by Dana.
For now, I’m taking a deep breath and reminding myself to be consistent and embrace winning like a tortoise.
Cheers to being a tortoise who is happy and healthy inside and out!
Reset and Restart 04/14/21
Spring is in the air. I am always impressed and appreciate the blooming trees and flowers this time of year. I am seeing vibrant colors and new growth which gives me lots of hope for my own progress. Most days I am at home alone and it feels like I’m back in quarantine lock down with nothing happening. Then I looked back to a week ago and I was wrong because there has been noticeable progress. I needed to reset my mindset and restart my drive to continuous baby steps to recovery. I coach my clients to look for 1% improvement each day and that will add up over time. Wise advice I need to consider myself.
I celebrate two significant milestones this week. First, I was able to go down to one crutch. This is extremely satisfying and liberating! Having one hand free to do anything is a win in my book. The original plan was to be on crutches for six weeks after surgery and I ditched one of them at 2 ½ weeks. Next up, throw those titanium accessories out the window so I can be free. The second milestone was removing the bandage strips from the 6-inch incision. I had much anticipation of how it would look, and I fondly describe it as Frankenstein-ish. It will get better with time and will always serve as a badge of battle scar honor.
Resetting and restarting doesn’t have to be heavy, hard, or stressful. I’m practicing the concepts that I heard on a podcast this week:
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Acceptance – I embrace where I am now is not where I was before this injury. I realize that I’m at a different starting point and I resist the urge to compare it to my physical state at any time in the past.
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Methodical Build – I understand that now is not the time to go full beast mode. I am building my strength and range of motion at a reasonable pace. I work on foundational movement patterns, as boring as it sounds. It’s all about the fundamentals and patience (albeit my least favorite mode).
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Simplicity – I remove the barriers that make it difficult to follow through. I schedule the time to do the prescribed exercises to ensure that they get done every day. Procrastination leads to missed opportunities.
Cheers to resetting and restarting to be happy and healthy inside and out!
Missed The Podium But I'm Here For The W.I.N. 04/21/21
I might be a little competitive. If you know me, you can stop laughing at the “little” in that sentence. I learned in the past week that my surgeon ranks his surgeries and he said that mine was his 4th best ever. The definition of best is a little vague, but I think he ranks the procedures on difficulty and unique circumstances and how he overcomes those successfully. Initially, I was a little disappointed that it meant I didn’t even score the gold, silver, or bronze medal. Considering he has been doing surgeries for over 27 years, I’ll take it and I’ll work toward a medal with the recovery process and ask my physical therapist for a ranking.
I was able to ditch the crutches, my hands are free and I’m on the move. The brace is still required to be locked so I walk with a peg leg, but I appreciate that freedom to limp rather than being hindered by crutches any day. I’m working on stepping up and down on stairs. The pain is real but making progress is worth the pain. I have walked in the hood every day for the past week. When the weather was so nice on Sunday, I hit 7000+ steps, a new post-injury record!
I’m in it for the W.I.N. (What’s Important Now). I had more swelling after a physical therapy appointment. While I was a bummed that I had to take it easy for the rest of the day, I learned that when there is swelling, your brain shuts down the muscles closest to the swelling. My brain was telling my quads not to work because my knee was swollen so I need to listen to my body a bit more I guess. I am mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the day because I am dedicating so much awareness to my knee, doing the prescribed exercises and pushing the limits. My biggest question remains, why can’t I sleep? The W.I.N. is to look at it as an opportunity for improvement, positivity, perspective, to learn patience, and how to slow down, which is all easier said than done for me. My hope is also to help others who may be stuck in a rut or needing a coach to figure out What's Important Now for them.
Cheers to the W.I.N. for being happy and healthy inside and out!
Continuous 1% Improvement 04/28/21
I am thinking small, not big. I know that sounds wrong. I should dream big, right? Instead, I’m using a philosophy that I often leveraged in my career with corporate projects. I would strive for continuous improvement even if that improvement were tiny and resulted in only marginal gains. It’s not about being perfect; it’s about focusing on progression to make cumulative improvements. You know the investing concept of compound interest.
My approach is for continuous improvement to make small progress every day and I expect those small improvements will add up to something significant. Even if it is 1% improvement, I will be 100% better in 100 days. I’m marking my calendar for August 6, 2021. Well, that’s not exactly how the formula works but I’m going with it because focusing on the big goal of total recovery and taking big leaps can just lead to frustration and impatience. The 1% improvements may not be immediately noticeable, but they will become more significant in the long run. The truth about making 1% progress every day is: it works.
Cheers to 1% improvement toward being happy and healthy inside and out!
Ants In Your Pants 05/05/21
Halleluiah! This week my movement has shown noticeable progress. My walks have stretched to more than one mile at a time and the pace has picked up significantly. The best news is that I transitioned into a smaller brace that is designed to protect the MCL (inside of my knee) from caving in. I broke up with the DonJoy immobilizer and traded him in for a much smaller version named Breg. If I only had the ACL reconstructed, I would be free from the brace all together. Luckily, I do not have to sleep in it. This is really big for me so I can get some more solid Z’s.
Even though it’s moving right along, I may still be a bit impatient with the recovery process. My parents told me when I was a little girl, I have “ants in my pants” because I am always active and can’t sit still. I’m obviously anxious for more advancement from one day to the next...every single day. I’ll keep using that energy and pushing forward to put in the work and get back to 100%. No pain no gain and that’s where I am right now. I sincerely appreciate seeing and hearing from friends and neighbors who are so supportive and encouraging.
Cheers to being happy and healthy inside and out!
Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude 05/12/21
The past week flew by quickly. We took a trip to the lake to check on the house and picked up the new wake surfing boat. The change in latitude made a difference, even if it is only five hours to the south. I won’t likely be learning to wake surf this summer, but I have something to look forward to in the coming years. Call me crazy, but I am anxious for this old dog to learn new tricks along with getting back to water skiing. As the boat sales guy says, “It’s gonna be sick.”
I was lucky enough to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mom on Saturday. It was a quick trip to Templeton but a nice visit as always. On Sunday, my daughters so kindly had brunch with me and showered me with flowers and gifts from the heart. I sincerely appreciate that they took the time to make me feel special and even more proud to be their mama.
Finally, I’m doing more active exercise that includes some cardio activity. I began cycling on my stationary bike and it feels so darn good to get my heart rate up. Another change in latitude was to ride various biking courses virtually via the app. I can attest that all courses are not created equally! Some include very steep hills that challenged my strength and endurance for sure. Others are flat but when other riders pass me virtually, I wanted to pick up the pace. Today’s course was a small portion of the Tour de France 2014. It’s been fun to escape on the routes as I pedal, pedal, pedal. Soon and very soon, I hope to be out on the trails enjoying the fresh air of Summer.
Cheers to attitude adjustments toward being happy and healthy inside and out!
A Swelling Heart And Knee 05/19/21
My heart is full! The past week has been one of celebration and I have so much to look forward to in the upcoming week. It’s interesting how you can overcome some discomfort and disability when you are enjoying so much pride and joy with family. It’s also amazing how happy I can be for someone else’s accomplishments. Morgan graduated from University of Iowa with degrees in Accounting and Finance, so the weekend was spent celebrating in Iowa City.
The miles of walking, standing in bars and climbing stairs at Kinnick Stadium were all worth it. My knee came back with a vengeance of angry pain and swelling but seems to be back on track after a couple of days. I did not ease up on exercising when all the celebrating was over. I continue to bike and walk daily. I was also cleared to walk around at home without the brace when I’m not exercising and I can now do walking lunges, which makes me happy. It’s the little things!
Within the next week, we will be celebrating my sister’s birthday, nephew’s high school graduation and both Brooke’s and Morgan’s birthdays. May is always a busy month and I love it! Quoting Lindsey Vonn again, “I don’t do slow.” My plan is to keep climbing this ladder one rung at a time to get back to 100% capability. The road is long, but it is worth the effort and I’m enjoying some of the stops along the way to get there.
Cheers to a full heart and being happy and healthy inside and out!
Back on Track 06/02/21
You may have noticed that I skipped writing a blog last week. Yep, it was one of those weeks that was busy with birthday and graduation celebrations, I wasn’t feeling it, and I let it slip. Sometimes you need to give yourself that grace and move on. Pick up where you left off and keep going. As I stated in a previous blog, you can stray but just don’t stay off course. I have a simple little analogy that I’ve shared with multiple clients: Don’t go into the ditch! It’s like the rumble strips on the side of the highway. They give you a little jolt and you can get right back on the road. They warn you adequately so you don’t keep going off into the ditch without the ability to get back on track. I hit the rumble strips with celebrating and some unhealthy eating choices but I’m back on track now.
One of the reasons I was not feeling it last week was the slow recovery progress (at least in my mind). I felt like I was hitting a wall with range of motion. Low and behold, my physical therapist set me straight at my next appointment when he confirmed that you are considered a “fully functioning adult” when you can bend your knee to 120 degrees. I reached 135 degrees at that appointment. I’m not going to be satisfied until my injured knee matches the other one, but I’m more understanding that it is making progress at the right pace, and I can’t make it go much faster.
In other good news, I was given approval to stop wearing the brace. It is only necessary when I’m on really rough ground situations or in danger of side-to-side movement that could cause the knee to buckle. As the weather is heating up and I’m walking more outside, this is a huge relief to shed the layer of the Breg. I’m officially unattached and enjoying the freedom as of yesterday. I’ll keep pushing forward with the prescribed exercises and appreciate all the continued support that has been given to me by so many valued friends and family.
Cheers to staying on the road to being happy and healthy inside and out!
Moving Right Along 06/16/21
Progress continues to visibly occur in my recovery. I just don’t do slow. I met with the surgeon this week and he says that everything is progressing much faster than he thought it would be at this point. Hooray! It has been two and a half months since surgery and I’m walking with only a minimal limp, flexion is beyond expectation at 145 degrees and the muscles appear to be gaining more strength all the time. He said I should still avoid all jumping and any twisting movements. He hesitantly said I could try to do a light slow jog and he would rather see me bicycle 100 miles than swing one golf club. Boom! I don’t jog and golf is possibly my least favorite activity in the world #iykyk I don’t do slow. So, I’ll keep biking several days per week and continue adding miles to each ride, along with continuing physical therapy.
Using this blog as a journal has been therapeutic and fun for me. Hopefully you have enjoyed the recent months hearing about my personal progress to make a comeback from the setback. I plan to be at Fit Body Boot Camp coaching the workout sessions multiple days next week. I am also glad that I get to work at Junior Achievement for the summer camps and we will back in action at JA BizTown in the Fall. I guess you can say that I've come full circle since that U-Turn that I took in my 3/10/21 post. I’m ready now to get back to using the blog to coach clients on mindset and forming healthy habits. Please share it with your friends and family who may be seeking advice or a little motivational pick-me-up. I would appreciate the referrals and I’m happy to have a free consultation with anyone who may consider working with a coach. I will be launching a program soon that will include both one-on-one and group coaching if enough candidates are interested. In the spirit of the Olympics starting soon, I’m interested in helping those who strive to be an Olympian of their life. You are never too young or too old to take care of your health and wellbeing.
Cheers to being happy and healthy inside and out!
100 Days of Improvement 08/11/21
On April 28th, I committed in my blog entry to 1% improvement every day and to report back on the progress in 100 days. Well, I crossed that 100-day threshold in the past week. I am glad I made the commitment and happy to report the progress achieved, in my humble opinion, is phenomenal. Looking back, I was in an immobilizer brace and able to walk less than one mile in my neighborhood. I have worked my tail off to get stronger every day. Today I can share that I walk one mile as a warm-up. I have been using a Couch to 5K app for several weeks to coach me through the process. I have never been a serious runner, and this was not on my bucket list before the skiing accident. After a one-mile warm-up walk, I have run two miles non-stop on my last few times out. I will admit that I’m certainly not winning any races at my jogging pace! In addition to jogging, I've returned to biking this Summer. It started out with shorter rides but I feel good about riding 25 miles the past several times on the trails. I coached boot camp sessions this week as a substitute for the coach who was on a short vacation. It was nice to be back at the gym and leading the members through the workout.
As I proclaimed back in April, all the 1% improvements may not be immediately noticeable, but they will become more significant in the long run. The truth about making 1% progress every day is: it works. It's hard to imagine but 1% better each day, compounded, is 3800% better each year. I would rather not go there about getting worse, but if you must know the math…1% worse each day, compounded, means you lose 97% of value each year.
I am definitely not done improving yet. Leg muscles atrophy after just two weeks of non-use. I needed physical therapy to walk again because I was in that atrophy phase for nearly two months vs. two weeks. I continue to go to weekly physical therapy to gain strength. At my appointment with the surgeon this week, I asked why my left quad was still one inch smaller and the muscle isn’t back yet? He said that the road to recovery for a common ACL repair is usually six months, but my road could be 12-15 months due to the severity and number of other ligaments injured. That gave me a new goal to prove him wrong and get back to “normal” sooner since it has only been a little over four months since surgery.
There has been some pain and minor swelling returning from time to time, but I do not intend to let it stop me from continuing to work for that 1% each and every day. It may not always be physical or visible improvement but healthy comes in multiple forms and my emotional toughness can (will) improve too. It’s been a journey and it’s not over. I would love to help other people who need encouragement to see that it can be done one step and 1% at a time.
Cheers to your improvement toward being happy and healthy inside and out!