On Recovery

[i_autumnheart]

Last night I went ice skating for the first time since I broke my wrist doing the same thing just over a year ago. It's such a small thing: something I've done several times before with no problems (the ice skating, that is: not the breaking), but taking that first step onto the ice is one of the most difficult things I've done in weeks.

I survived

Comments

[deensey]

It's weird how we do these things though. I hurt my right knee many years ago, so favour it, and as a response have ended up with issues with my left hip. Great. Just lovely. Never mind that now i'm going through physio I'm constantly trying to think about what i'm doing with my back and my shoulders, something I never would have done before.

I wonder if it does get better. I think it does, just have to make a concious effort.

[i_autumnheart]

Yeah - I can relate to the collateral damage thing: and to the need to focus on posture as a means of avoiding pain.

It's quite scary the number of other people I know in the same position, too: there seems to have been a minor epidemic of back problems among my social circle in the last few years. I'm starting to wonder if it's a statistically significant trend: if there's something about the shift to sitting in front of a computer all day that our generation is going through that is at the base of it.

Perhaps there should be a club, or a twelve step program or something? Motivational techniques to get us all to actually do the exercises our physios recommend?

[dumbys_baby]

It's weird. We all know what we have to do to get on with our lives, but the actuality of letting go is quite a different matter. Don't feel bad, A. It's just being human, but you are right; what the hell are we going to be like when we're old? I dread the thought!

[i_autumnheart]

I'm rather hoping that medical research will come up with an arthritis cure before I get old :)

And if not, then I shall be a mad old cat lady who drinks too much red wine and runs over people's toes with my wheelchair.

[anonymous]

Pain shmain. Ignore it all and it will go away. I find having had a brain injury at the same time as my biggest collection of breaks and bruises to be tremendoulsy helpful, because I consistently forget what I'm meant to be favouring. Not that I recommend hitting yourself in the head, but perhaps keep a semi-clad picture of Orlando Bloom somewhere handy and when you're about to do something tricksy, sneak a quick peek AT THE SAME TIME as you begin the tricky activity. Then your brain will be so busy going "PHWOAR!" and "What the hell am I meant to be doing?" that it won't have time to worry about starting on the tense. Another helpful hint from Aunty D (and if that all doesn't work, I'll get you a bendy pole with streamers for the wheelchair when it comes to that.)

[i_autumnheart]

LOL - I think I need an icon of that wheelchair to use in posts where I'm being grumpy at the world :D

I'm lucky enough that none of my own injuries (which were definitely less spectacular than yours) actually hurt for very long: certainly they're not sore now. I'm just having difficulty shaking some of the habits that I apparently got into when bits of me were non-functional.

[anonymous]

All injuries are spectacular! Or bruising wouldn't bother being such pretty colours. Sounds as though the perfect solution is actually to have Orlando Bloom there skating, which would mean that your nervous habits would be overwhelmed by your 'Must skate like a goddess to impress Mr Bloom, then acknowledge his admiring stares with a single nod and smile before exiting with triple lutz and pike' habits. Perhaps if some of us wear masks?

[i_autumnheart]

I almost never visibly bruise, so I miss out on all the shock value of that: there was some odd green shading down my arm when the cast came off after a week, but that's all. I do remember my wrist being a very odd shape by the time I got to casualty, though - the before and after x-rays are a bit disturbingly different even now.

Most recent winner in the bruise stakes is my mum, who unfortunately got mown down by a snowboarder on the last day of our trip. Thankfully she wasn't badly hurt, but the snowboard to the side of the head resulted in a truly spectacular black eye.

Re. your solution to concentration difficulties, I think that would be scenic in a whole different way *g*. I'm more about the aesthetic appreciation than the teenage-fangirl-crush, though (I don't get the celebrity cult thing at all), so not so much with the real life interaction: movie screens are about the right distance.