Hip, Hip, Hooray...Not!

I'm trying to bring crutches into the world of Haute couture... one gimpy slap step at a time...(sigh)

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I have been on walking aids recently, first a walker, then crutches. I have been off my horses,too. I am not happy about that. I haven't even been able to longe or play with them for fear of injuring myself further.

Three years ago, thinking I was in my twenties, not my fifties, I overdid the leg presses at the gym. The result was soreness that turned into tendonitis which turned into bursitis of the hip. Chronic, painful, sleep disturbing, radiating-to-my-foot bursitis. I couldn't even lay on my affected side or wear snug pants.

So-called conservative therapies either didn't help at all or helped only a little. Those included massage therapy, warm water movement, iontophoresis, electric stimulation, and injections of corticosteroids at the site.

Finally, my orthopedic surgeon recommended a procedure to remove the bursa, a surgery that is only done by a couple doctors, and those in a city over a hundred miles away. After a ton of research, I agreed. Last week, I had the surgery, and now I am on crutches and off my horses.

I am not a languishing sort of person, not one to enjoy this interlude drooping and clickety-clack staggering from bed to couch. I am ready to be all done with this.

Lesson: when it comes to weight training at my age: less is more...

Learning

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An eastern teaching says 'When the learner is ready, the teacher will appear'. That doesn't mean a miraculous appearance, but a readiness to learn. Lessons are all around us every day. When the soil of our mind and heart is ready, the seed of learning can sprout. I struggle with 'keeping myself ready to learn the lesson', open enough to take it in and apply it to my life.