Life at 3 mph at 3 ft altitude.
And what a ride it has been. Next Wednesday, 6 weeks would have passed after my Achilles heal tendon surgery. I will be going in to the hospital and taking off my “glow in the dark” cast and into a walking cast. Hopefully no more crutches, and no more wheel chairs, which freaked a lot of people out including myself. The walking cast will be with me for a few more week and the recovery process will take about 9 month to complete (according to my doc).
When it first happened, the first few thoughts on my mind where, NO, this is not the right time for this. Work is super busy, this is the busiest time of the year for us. I was supposed to be in NY for the CMO Summit. A chance to mingle with CMO’s and VP’s of Marketing from the top companies in the world. A possible conference in Amsterdam would not be possible anymore. My cooking course, oh my cooking course how do i finish this, and my final exam for my pastry course. Not to mention kids activities, driving them around from one place to the other and family commitments, etc…
The surgery came quick and with it came a shiny pair of crutches, a wheel chair, and major adjustments. In a funny way, i am glad this happened, i think everyone needs a good kick in the butt once in a while, you learn from them, so here is what i learned.
Patience: I am not diagnosed as ADD, but I must be, i need to be on the go all the time. Being disabled taught me that there is virtue in being patient. Maybe people around me do not notice it, but I think I am more patient now than I was before.
Slow is OK: With the cast, i had to slow down, actually we all had to slow down to adjust to my new pace, and in a way that is great, because living at the pace we used to is not good for anyone. The cast helped us get into routine and you know sometimes having structure is not a bad thing, and you know, if we miss a karate class or basketball practice its not the end of the world. I actually find that slowing down helped me get more done, its funny how things workout.
Independence and dependence: Something as simple as getting a coffee, or reaching for a plate become difficult tasks, you need to be Independent, you can’t ask people to do everything for you, plus you feel good about doing things that others take for granted, like making your own coffee and taking it to your desk without spilling all over. It is a monumental achievement when go up the stairs, i feel like Rocky every time i make it up the stairs. On the other hand you need to learn to depend on others for things and you learn that that is OK too.
People dont know how to act around the disabled: My sense of what people think of you is also different, its funny to observe people react to you as a disabled person. Friends and strangers react to you differently. Strangers really don’t know what to do if you are disabled, and the one thing i learned is that you have an easier time if you are on crutches than if you are in a wheel chair. With crutches strangers are more helpful. If you are approaching a door at the grocery store and on crutches people go out of their way to open the doors for you, they follow you with their eyes making sure you are OK. On a wheel chair, people freeze up, they are not as helpful. Weird Ha! I honestly believe they just don’t want to insult you because they don’t want you to feel disabled. If you are on crutches they think its temporary and help, on a wheel chair its a disability and they just leave you. On a wheel chair they watch you, but don’t act, and even though some people are funny because they cut you off because you are too slow, in general people are decent and just don’t want to insult. In any case. I joke that i want to keep my rented wheel chair forever, truth is being in it is a humbling experience.
Appreciation: Be appreciative of what you have and those around you. Be applicative of all the things you have and can do, don’t take anything for granted and enjoy small things like a walk with your kid, a trip to the park, a drive to the coffee shop (alone while you are driving) or with others, but above all, as you enjoy appreciate.
Thankful: Being disabled is not easy, but in my case it was because of those around me especially my wife who took the full load of this and managed to keep everyone going. As well as all those who went out of their way to help and make life easier.
Next. Now that i have gone through this, I have great respect for those who are dealt this hand. I volunteer for an organization called Y-Owl’s_Maclure (site under construction) “An agency providing vocational, lifeskills, school-to-community transition, recreation / leisure, and outreach services to adults with disabilities” I hope to continue to work with them on different projects but with greater appreciation for what these great people go through.
Painful, disruptive, aggravating are some of the terms i can use to describe this injury and the last month. Thankful that it happened, I am a better person today because it did. Things happen for a reason, i look forward to finding out why this happened to me.
