Jan. 13th, 2009
The orthopedic surgeon that I saw yesterday was soooo much better than my last "don't care doc." Funnily enough, he was not the same doc that my podiatrist recommended and whom I thought I had made an appointment with. Oh well. It was meant to be; Dr. Cares a Lot saved my day yesterday.
I go in, antsy and nervous as all get out. The waiting room is pleasantly empty, minus two other people who are seated and quiet. Quiet is the first word that came to mind, whereas, Dr. I Don't Give a Damn's office was like a zoo or the ER, whichever one is worse. The two ladies working behind the front desk were both very nice. They greet me and as I fill out my paper work I hear them answering the phone and repeating the words, "The doctor is not in today. The doctor is not in today." I'm thinking to myself, "Ummmm, why did they not tell me that?" But there is a doctor in, just not the one that I thought I had made an appointment with. At this point, it doesn't even matter, so long as he is an orthopedic surgeon and lets me look at an x-ray of my ankle!
I go in and he's very nice and I explain my case and we take a bunch of x-rays and he actually gives me time to ask all of the questions I've prepared. To make a long story short, goodbye crutches, hello walking! I have to walk in this large, not necessarily easy to walk in, walking boot for two weeks. What do I care; I'm walking doggonnit! In two weeks I get an air cast, which is a smaller cast that can fit inside a shoe and therefore remain hidden from sight. Yes! I shall be back to teaching in two weeks!
My spirits were lifted as I WALKED out of the doctor's office and went to go meet my friends for lunch. I've been pampered from the cold by taking cabs everywhere recently; gosh, it's frostbite weather outside!
After lunch, coffee, and a trip to Strand bookstore, I make it home and start reading over the latest issue of Yoga Journal Magazine. There is a brief story about a man who was sentenced to a wheelchair at age thirteen, after a tragic car accident that was fatal to his father and sister. Matthew Sanford, paralyzed from the chest down, began practicing yoga thirteen years after the accident. He is now an Iyengar yogi and teacher. And let me be clear that Iyengar training is no joke! It's like yoga college. He stresses the importance of enjoying the journey and not the accomplishments. Wow. I was just thinking about this the other day. I was remembering how my biggest worry before my injury was when I was finally going to stick a handstand (adho mukha vrksasana) without falling forward into wheel pose ( urdhva dharnurasana). Before my appointment yesterday, my biggest worry had done a 180 to whether I would ever be able to walk again--on two feet!
The accomplishments don't matter. Get rid of the ego. You never know what life will bring, but if you enjoy the journey then you're living for each moment and making the most of the gifts you've been gifted.
Matthew Stanford has written a book called, Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence. This one will be one my next reads. I'll keep you posted.
No comments:
Post a Comment