As
I am writing this, I am less than 24 hours away from my 4th foot/ankle
surgery. I am actually excited for this surgery because last year I had the
same surgery on my other ankle; and since then I have been walking more. So, I
know this will help, but part of me can’t help but be a little nervous. However,
I am not nervous about the surgery but what I am nervous about is the recovery.
The
recovery for this will be anywhere from 2-4 months. I will probably have a cast
on for about a month, then a boot for another month after that. Next, I will
have a brace that goes up to just about my knee for a month, then one that just
goes above my ankle for another month after that. Meanwhile, during this whole
process, I will be doing physical therapy. The part that is the most annoying
to me is having to shower with a cast. Luckily, I have done this before so I
know what I’m getting into.
So
I sit here thinking to myself, how am I going to do this? The first thing that comes to my mind is one
of my best friends in the whole world, Kristen (Kmac), and how she is the
strongest person in the world. If you didn’t know, Kmac ended up paralyzed due
to her arthritis. Now she lives her life in a wheelchair. But that wheelchair
doesn’t hold her back. Kristen still lives her life to the fullest whilst being
completely independent. But the reason that Kmac is the first person to come to
mind is because of something that she said to me earlier this year at the Houston
arthritis conference. What she told me was that before she was paralyzed, she
was in constant pain but at least she was able to walk; and now that she can’t
walk, she isn’t in constant pain. It was what she said next that truly inspired
me. She said that she would go back to being in constant pain if that meant she
could walk again. So for the rest of that trip, I refused to use my wheelchair
when I was with her (which was all the time), because I felt that since I do
have the ability to walk; I should use it no matter how much pain it caused me.
On the last day of the trip, Kristen came up to me and told me that she was so
impressed that I walked the whole trip even though it caused me to be in
immense pain, which meant the world to me. She then said that she wanted me to
use my wheelchair that day. So I did and that trip made me realize that I am
capable of far more than I realize.
The
next week I went to camp to be a counselor and I decided that I wouldn’t use my
wheelchair for the whole week. And you know what I did? That week I may have
had to take extra meds but I walked a total of 60,000 steps. That was even more
than my dad had walked that week. So at the end of the day, I want to thank
Kristen for giving me the strength to get through this upcoming surgery
tomorrow. And to you, Kristen, if you are reading this, in my eyes you are the
strongest person in the world; so keep fighting and I love you girl.
