Saturday, August 30, 2014

Hips Don't Lie


Surgery went well.  I got the tear in my left labrum stitched up with nylon thread and then attached the thread to my bone with plastic anchors.  My femur bone was shaved down in order to make subsequent cartilage tears less likely.  I’m in a lot less pain then I thought I would be, and I’m already greatly reducing the pain pills I need to take.

                                                           Ahh, flowers from Grandma Mavis

When I left the hospital, the surgeon told my mom they see a lot of tears in people who grew up playing hockey and soccer.  Check and check.  Earlier a PT told me children who sat with their calves splayed out were more likely to get tears.  Check.  The surgeon also said I have a slightly shallow socket for my femur, making the tear more likely.  Check.  These facts, together with not being allowed to sprint in training the three years before joining the Beast team, makes a little more sense to me why I got in this predicament just from sprinting uphill.

I’m scared.  I took a big chance moving to Seattle and joining the Beasts.  I’m so glad I make the move, but I left behind a mostly comfortable situation, surrounded by an extremely supportive community and friends and family.  Because I hurt my hip and took so long to figure out the injury, I will have accomplished nothing over my one-year Brooks contract.  I will compete through 2016, and I know I can come back strong and be a contender at the next Olympic Trials, but Brooks has no obligation to resign me.  If they don’t, they may allow me to continue training with the team, but I’ll have to work a lot more than I do already.  If they want nothing to do with me, I could look for another group to take me on, and move again.  I could return to Minneapolis, but without the support of a training group.  None of these options are ideal, but there is not anything I can do at the moment to set myself up better except concentrate on recovering well.  So far, I’m doing just that by laying in bed and thinking too much.

                                               I got to see the Chihuly exhibit the day before surgery