From Elaina: I am learning a lesson in patience, humility, and perseverance with this foot surgery. It would be very easy to whine and cry about having four foot surgeries in a year. Believe me, I have my moments of both whining and crying about it. Truth is, crappy things happen sometimes! We can give in and allow them to derail us, or we can try to learn what we can and move on.
Patience: I do not like a lot of down time. I don’t watch much TV. I prefer to be with people, going and doing. Right now, my options are pretty limited as to what I can go and do. I am learning to value rest time. Also, getting anywhere requires more time and effort. Once I do get there, I have to hope there is an available handicap parking space (there a lot of times isn’t). Then I have to either hobble along on the boot or the knee scooter. I’ve found that being disabled also makes you a little invisible. People push past you. Rush to get in front of you. Won’t make eye contact. You can always recognize someone who has been there. They are the ones who nod and smile and stop to talk to you. I hope to carry this patience with me after I recover.
Humility: It is so much easier for a lot of us to give versus receive. It’s been hard to ask for help. I am so fortunate to be surrounded by people who are willing to give. This has really been a lesson in asking for help.
Perseverance: I had been doing really great on my fitness goals before this surgery. I’m diabetic and started (with my doctor’s blessing) eating strict keto. I teach 10 exercise classes a week and had started lifting weights. I was devastated to hear that all my hard work was going to be erased. I had a friend ask me why I thought I needed to throw it away. Just because I had surgery, doesn’t mean I had to eat “comfort” foods loaded with carbs. If my walking is limited, why can’t I work out upper body? I decided to stay keto through this process. Actually, I had an endocrinology appointment a week after surgery and she took me off one of my medications! I talked to my surgeon, and at my two week checkup, cleared me to lift upper body weights. I just finished my first workout post surgery.
The point is, I may not be able to do everything that I could before surgery. I hope to do what I can when I can. I also hope that these lessons I am learning will stay with me.
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