Re-learning How to Walk

Those first few months after my operation were incredibly hard. The first time my physical therapist had me stand was very hard. Because it took so much energy, I remember thinking I don't care if I ever stood again. The first time I walked with a walker my legs felt like jello, they would just flop along. I had two grown men on both sides to hold me up and then my walker. I would take about 5 steps and then turn around to go back to bed because it would take all the energy from me that I had. I thought I would never walk alone again. I remember thinking, “How in the WORLD can people walk on these two little sticks.” It was the weirdest concept to me. The first time I took a few steps on my own, I remember my sisters and I were in the front room. I was determined I was going to walk on my own. If I ever thought my life was hard before, now I wish for the problems I had then instead. When I took those first few steps by myself my sisters and I started to cry from joy. I will probably never have the joy that I had knowing I accomplished something that doctors thought I would never be able to do again. Now my walking is pretty good, pretty darn good for a girl that at one point couldn’t even lift her head off the pillow. I have been extremely blessed with my recovery. My older sister, Aubrey, when I was learning to walk she would tell me always, “If gymnast’s in the Olympics can do flips and land on this tiny little board, you can learn to walk.” I was so amazed by the athletes in the Winter Olympics. Amazing but we have to remember though, how blessed we are with these amazing bodies that can do so much. We have to remember it was our Heavenly Father that gave us our different talents and abilities and we can never become too confident in our abilities because they can be gone in one second. Did you ever hear about that US snowboarder that was training for the Olympics and hit his head on the half pipe and now has a TBI (traumatic brain injury)? Kevin Pearce, he is only a few months into it and oh my heck, those first few months are terrible. I was a healthy 19 yr. old who was training to do a ½ marathon that summer with my friend, Kelsie. I would say I was in pretty good shape at that time. Then, one day, I almost died, was in a bed unable to walk, talk, or do anything on my own. Well, I have rambled on way too much, just thought I would get some of my thoughts down.