You may remember the “Masochist-Sadist” discussion I had with my physical therapist the other day.  Well, since then I have been in huge pain…doing my rehab exercises and remembering that it always gets worse  before it gets better.

IMG_2098Yesterday, I pumped up my bicycle tires and put my bike on the trainer and  got ready to get on the bike for the first time…but by then I was exhausted!  My shoulders were so tired that I determined I would never be able to pull up and maneuver on my spandex cycling shorts…..and believe me….that is  a chore!  So, I iced and rested and determined that today I would ride….except last night I was in so much  pain I could not sleep very well. 

 I should be an aleve commercial!

So, today, I went though the familiar motions….put on my spandex, socks, tightened up my cycling shoes, got my water bottles…all those routines that are so familiar to me…and comforting…and then….as I contemplated the bike and determined this was the day to reunite  with Troy Jacobson, I happened to turn on Dr. OZ  (Being home recovering affords me more time to watch TV   OH JOY!) 

Dr. Oz  featured a story about a woman who was a married mother of five children who was a staff sargeant in the US Army.  She was sent on 4 tours of duty..the last 3 to Iraq.  On her last tour, she was on patrol and her vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb!  She said that she did not realize when she came to that all that blood was hers.  Her leg had been severed off.  The story on Dr. OZ was about her recovery…her rehab at Walter Reed Medical Center , her PT and how she had had several surgeries to get the remainder of her leg/thigh into better shape.  Her leg was amputated above the knee.  Watching her determination and her PT work outs , how she coped with difficulty and her drive to walk again and then to walk without a limp humbled me.  I sat crying on my couch!

This helped me to put my own pain and my own rehab into perspective.  She had to rehab and recover and then rehab again…four times on the same leg.  What drove her to work so hard and keep working so hard to recover and rehab the same injury?  Why was she so happy and so free of anger? 

She said that she knew that the accident was what was meant to be for her at that very moment in time. She accepted that.  She was not bitter about it.  She was just determined to recover all that she could and she knew it would take hard work and fierce determination!

This was the lesson I needed to hear today as I tighted up my cycling shoes and got on my bike to face my first ride since surgery…a new beginning..and the knowledge that I can begin a new….and now I have a new role model that I can remember and try to emulate!  I am trying to find out her name.  If any of you know, will you let me know?

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

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