What the Hell (WTH) is a common phrase used in “frustration”. We all have WTH moments. This short blog is about a transition from WTH to WTF to Now What to You Got This.
It was a typical Sunday morning at the tail end of January. I got up around 4 am, finished a few updates to a training course, then my oldest son and I headed out the door for our tennis lesson. We left a bit early because of ice on the road. On the way, I felt the compelling urge to explain how to drive on ice. This interrupted his earbud music playing on the passenger side, that is never good. Our conversation turned into a debate, “Mom, I know physics.”.
We arrived at the court and started our warm up. I was on the add side and Jake was on the deuce side. We were sharing the indoor court for our lessons. I remembered feeling pretty good about my timing and how easily the ball was going over. Then I went for one of my favorite shots, my inside out forehand. Everything changed within seconds. I was running full speed. As I was coming to a stop to hit the ball, my ankle gave out. The court fell silent and the tears came rushing. There might have been a scream right before that.
My left arm somehow managed to wedge itself under my butt. This was not an attempt to catch myself, it was just the way it happened. I knew it was bad but didn’t want to face it. I didn’t even want to look at it. The fear of seeing a bone sticking out of the skin would make my stomach turn. I am a BIG baby with pain. Thank goodness that was not the case! And yes, at the very moment I was thinking WTH,
My coach rushed over, asked if I heard a pop, he looked at it and quickly left to get ice. Jake reached his arms under my pits to help me up off the court. My coach made a splint from cardboard and medical tape. Fortunately I remembered a scenario from one of my first responder classes or maybe MacGyver, who knows. We made the sling from my jacket. Ice was applied immediately. Then my coach and I were off to ER. I was in a tremendous amount of pain at this point, fidgeting and my pale skin were great indicators. I reclined the seat back as we chatted about things to get my mind off the pain. Of course the ice would come up and about how glad I was my coach was driving, Jake was a new driver, he didn't need the stress of his mother in pain with ice. I felt a weird sense of relief that I talked about how to drive on ice with him.
The results were a broken tailbone (no one told me, I just knew), a sprang ankle and fractured radius bone that required a plate and 10 screws. My surgery was the following Tuesday, January 29th. The transition from WTH to WTF happened when I woke up from surgery and I felt the pain. You see, my body is funny with spinal blocks, pain killers, etc. After waking, I am sure there were just a few cuss words. I made sure to let the doc know that I could feel my arm. He then asked me to move my fingers. I did but thought he was nuts. Then I realized, he wanted proof. Needless to say, they kept me the rest of the evening.
The next few days were still WTF. My pain killers were only lasting 2 hour and I wasn't sleeping. Everyone around me was miserable. The hubby got through to the doctor and they changed my pain meds. After one full night of rest, I was able to tolerate the pain without medicine. That is when I transitioned into; Now What.
Earlier in January I had accepted a new position with my company. With that new position came new work and responsibilities as well as trying to keep up with my old job. Things were changing and I had no control. I could just lay in my bed with my arm up. I was drowning. Thankfully I have a great team and work support group. My cubical partner was amazing and a saint. You Got This, started kicking in.
The support extended outside of work, my friends were there on call to tell me what was normal and not normal. They took the time to tell me when I should be back based on what they have witnessed in their profession. The reassurance and support helped move me to the You Got This attitude.
Therapy for my arm became goals. I took one week off work just to focus on getting better. I did all the work prescribed at the frequency it was prescribed. I had 100% trust in what my good friends were telling me. Everyday I was feeling better. My attitude allowed me to see the progress. I focused on the positive. Therapy sessions were achievements. I also liked to time things, not sure my friend felt that was necessary, lol. My recovery ended up being a month earlier than anticipated.
Confidence to try my new wrist out on the court was difficult at first. Honestly I had no idea what to expect. My friend did a great job kicking by butt (6-1) in a set of tennis. This was the incentive I needed to motivate me to use my two handed backhand. When I was asked to play competitive in the mixed doubles tournament there was concern that I was not ready. I just started using my two handed backhand and was still weak. Lots of muscle was lost and I am pretty slow in the court.
At first I was nervous. Lots of mistakes happen when I am nervous, I am used to that. My tennis partner probably thought I was a new player, he started giving me instructions. Normally those things irritate me, the funny thing is, it didn't. I was just happy to be on the court. My partner and I ended up winning two pro sets. In the finale, we lost in a tie breaker. One of the sets we played I wanted to hug the other side for playing with us. I was enjoying the moment and was relaxed.
Since my 20s I have learned and relearned to treat life as a gift. For me, circumstances become learning experiences. I try to think; What is their to learn from this? No matter how crappy the situation is.
For this mishap, the lessons were as follows...
Lesson Number One: Surround yourself with positive people. I am pretty fortunate to have such a great support group. My coach, family, friends, coworkers. They were all there supporting me through it.
Lesson Number Two: Get over yourself. You need people. For me to fully recover, I had to rely on others to do things. This was hard for me. However it was a great lesson for me to learn.
Lesson Number Three: Take nothing for granted. I had no idea how important this left arm really was. I also learned how the world is setup for people that have two arms. We really need to get better with this!
Lesson Number Four: If you don't know what it looks like when you get there, how are you going to know when you arrive. Keeping the long term goal in site helped my transition from WTH to You Got This. This really wasn’t a new lesson. It was just a new long term goal.
Now I am working on strengthening my ankle and getting my overall leg strength back. Today, I rode my full outdoor bike ride of 17 miles. It feels good getting back to my normal routines.
It was a typical Sunday morning at the tail end of January. I got up around 4 am, finished a few updates to a training course, then my oldest son and I headed out the door for our tennis lesson. We left a bit early because of ice on the road. On the way, I felt the compelling urge to explain how to drive on ice. This interrupted his earbud music playing on the passenger side, that is never good. Our conversation turned into a debate, “Mom, I know physics.”.
We arrived at the court and started our warm up. I was on the add side and Jake was on the deuce side. We were sharing the indoor court for our lessons. I remembered feeling pretty good about my timing and how easily the ball was going over. Then I went for one of my favorite shots, my inside out forehand. Everything changed within seconds. I was running full speed. As I was coming to a stop to hit the ball, my ankle gave out. The court fell silent and the tears came rushing. There might have been a scream right before that.
My left arm somehow managed to wedge itself under my butt. This was not an attempt to catch myself, it was just the way it happened. I knew it was bad but didn’t want to face it. I didn’t even want to look at it. The fear of seeing a bone sticking out of the skin would make my stomach turn. I am a BIG baby with pain. Thank goodness that was not the case! And yes, at the very moment I was thinking WTH,
My coach rushed over, asked if I heard a pop, he looked at it and quickly left to get ice. Jake reached his arms under my pits to help me up off the court. My coach made a splint from cardboard and medical tape. Fortunately I remembered a scenario from one of my first responder classes or maybe MacGyver, who knows. We made the sling from my jacket. Ice was applied immediately. Then my coach and I were off to ER. I was in a tremendous amount of pain at this point, fidgeting and my pale skin were great indicators. I reclined the seat back as we chatted about things to get my mind off the pain. Of course the ice would come up and about how glad I was my coach was driving, Jake was a new driver, he didn't need the stress of his mother in pain with ice. I felt a weird sense of relief that I talked about how to drive on ice with him.
The results were a broken tailbone (no one told me, I just knew), a sprang ankle and fractured radius bone that required a plate and 10 screws. My surgery was the following Tuesday, January 29th. The transition from WTH to WTF happened when I woke up from surgery and I felt the pain. You see, my body is funny with spinal blocks, pain killers, etc. After waking, I am sure there were just a few cuss words. I made sure to let the doc know that I could feel my arm. He then asked me to move my fingers. I did but thought he was nuts. Then I realized, he wanted proof. Needless to say, they kept me the rest of the evening.
The next few days were still WTF. My pain killers were only lasting 2 hour and I wasn't sleeping. Everyone around me was miserable. The hubby got through to the doctor and they changed my pain meds. After one full night of rest, I was able to tolerate the pain without medicine. That is when I transitioned into; Now What.
Earlier in January I had accepted a new position with my company. With that new position came new work and responsibilities as well as trying to keep up with my old job. Things were changing and I had no control. I could just lay in my bed with my arm up. I was drowning. Thankfully I have a great team and work support group. My cubical partner was amazing and a saint. You Got This, started kicking in.
The support extended outside of work, my friends were there on call to tell me what was normal and not normal. They took the time to tell me when I should be back based on what they have witnessed in their profession. The reassurance and support helped move me to the You Got This attitude.
Therapy for my arm became goals. I took one week off work just to focus on getting better. I did all the work prescribed at the frequency it was prescribed. I had 100% trust in what my good friends were telling me. Everyday I was feeling better. My attitude allowed me to see the progress. I focused on the positive. Therapy sessions were achievements. I also liked to time things, not sure my friend felt that was necessary, lol. My recovery ended up being a month earlier than anticipated.
Confidence to try my new wrist out on the court was difficult at first. Honestly I had no idea what to expect. My friend did a great job kicking by butt (6-1) in a set of tennis. This was the incentive I needed to motivate me to use my two handed backhand. When I was asked to play competitive in the mixed doubles tournament there was concern that I was not ready. I just started using my two handed backhand and was still weak. Lots of muscle was lost and I am pretty slow in the court.
At first I was nervous. Lots of mistakes happen when I am nervous, I am used to that. My tennis partner probably thought I was a new player, he started giving me instructions. Normally those things irritate me, the funny thing is, it didn't. I was just happy to be on the court. My partner and I ended up winning two pro sets. In the finale, we lost in a tie breaker. One of the sets we played I wanted to hug the other side for playing with us. I was enjoying the moment and was relaxed.
Since my 20s I have learned and relearned to treat life as a gift. For me, circumstances become learning experiences. I try to think; What is their to learn from this? No matter how crappy the situation is.
For this mishap, the lessons were as follows...
Lesson Number One: Surround yourself with positive people. I am pretty fortunate to have such a great support group. My coach, family, friends, coworkers. They were all there supporting me through it.
Lesson Number Two: Get over yourself. You need people. For me to fully recover, I had to rely on others to do things. This was hard for me. However it was a great lesson for me to learn.
Lesson Number Three: Take nothing for granted. I had no idea how important this left arm really was. I also learned how the world is setup for people that have two arms. We really need to get better with this!
Lesson Number Four: If you don't know what it looks like when you get there, how are you going to know when you arrive. Keeping the long term goal in site helped my transition from WTH to You Got This. This really wasn’t a new lesson. It was just a new long term goal.
Now I am working on strengthening my ankle and getting my overall leg strength back. Today, I rode my full outdoor bike ride of 17 miles. It feels good getting back to my normal routines.
Way to go Stacey! Love the transition from wth to you got this! Inspiring :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! Sometimes it takes a bit to get there!
DeleteStacey
Great narrative, Stacey! Thanks for sharing, you got this!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the compliment!
DeleteTake care,
Stacey