 Four Seasons Vail…Enough said.. |
| One week into rehab at the Howard Head Sports Medicine (Steadmans) clinic is starting to feel like home. Two sessions of physio a day + two pool workouts a week have lead to the clinic becoming my home away from home and the patients that fill it my family. I've befriended a few familiar faces for example; A movie star (Kurt Russell), a Colorado Rockies player, a producer for ESPN and a crazy Venezuelan girl that wears the shortest shorts I've ever seen. Met a guy today who just had his knee done after being in an avalanche while skiing in Alaska. Most of the patients have flown from out of state to receive the best care for their ailing injuries. I realized early on that I'm probably the poorest one in the room i.e.: most are staying at the Four Seasons ($1100 a night) and they tell me how they vacation yearly in the Swiss Alps. Quite the contrary to The Aish Family staying in a quaint dog friendly condo and who call a big get away a trip to Leadville for the weekend. The one thing we all have in common is that we are here because we wanted to get treated by the best and get back out there doing what we LOVE! |
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| Favorite line from the movie "Tombstone". "Tell them I'm coming and I'm bring hell with me." |
Kurt Russell is such great guy. Most celebrities request to be put in a private room during their stay, but he prefers to be one with the masses! We've talked about the Masters Championships, his numerous surgeries due to him doing his own stunts back in the day and he continues to encourage me regarding my own hip rehab, priceless! The Rockies player tells me he's 29, but I tease him and tell him he looks more like 19. He told me he watched the entire "Breaking Bad"series while rehabbing his previous hip, that's like 40+ hours of TV watching. There's a few professional hockey players, a dancer, a guy who is the producer for the NFL, NBA and tennis for ESPN Some friendly and some not so much…I hope to win the unfriendly one's over by the end of the week.
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| Hip crew brunching it on Easter Sunday... |
I realize as I get to know many people in the hip world that my case is quite minor to what they've been through. Many have come to Dr. Philippon to have revisions done as previous surgeries failed with other docs. The 17 year old dancer is on her 3rd surgery and has been told she will no longer be able to do any high impact exercise for the rest of her life. Her cartilage is almost gone. Pretty gut wrenching news for someone so young to have to hear, PERSPECTIVE… Yes, my surgery was serious. I had a labrum that was completely torn, extra bone in my hip socket that was tearing my labrum and the head of my femur was completely bruised from the hip not sitting correctly in the joint . Basically every time I ran I was bruising the head of my femur and doing further damage in the joint. They showed me the pictures after surgery. If I would've seen them prior, my bum would've been on the bike rather then hitting the trails.
I've decided to stay another week for therapy and to get a consult with Dr. Philippon regarding my "good" hip. It sounds like I will be having that one done this summer. Add up the recovery time with both hips and I'm looking at lacing up my running shoes sometime in mid October. All good though. I'm embracing the rehab and am just so thankful to be where I'm at right now. I thought I'd miss running, but being so focused in rehab has taken my mind elsewhere. I look at race results from Mt. Sac and all of the Boston races and instead of being bitter or jealous I feel excited and happy for those I know that are running well. Gone is the bitterness I used to feel as I was so angry that I couldn't be out there toeing the line as well. Call it being at peace or maybe just content-I'm just happy being where I'm at right now; on the way back to wherever that may be…On that note.. HUGE shout out to Meb for winning the Boston marathon today.. As Mike says, "He has old man strength!" Congrats to all that ran today. You've given me a much needed boost as I head into week 2 of physio..
In all honesty I'm welcoming the break. I've been running in pain for most of my professional running career. The thing with most competitive runners is that it takes a full blown injury or surgery to fully remove us from training and racing. We're just wired that way to run through anything.. I guess for me it took someone restructuring my hip to make me hit the brakes and realize I need to be mature about my rehab, the future of my running and being active for a lifetime.
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| The pain meds are kicking my butt |
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| First pool workout with a float suit.. brrrrrr |
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