So it’s been 8 weeks since my injury occured (ruptured my achilies tendon aka the muscle on the back of your calf that allows you to walk) and I have to say it’s been really hard, but thanks to all support my friends and family have shown me out here, I’ve been managing to keep a positive attitude.
Basically how I believe it occured was due to the shoes I was wearing while dancing. I went from wearing a very well supported shoe with a thick sole and good support to practising in some old shoes that are flat soled (on a shitty marble floor), and when I jumped and landed on one foot, I heard a pop and was unable to walk on my right foot.
I was lead to believe it wasn’t very serious, perhaps just a strain because the pain was actually very minimal.
At the time I was injured, I was actually in the best shape of my life, I was dancing at least 3 hours a day, minimal 5 times a week, getting 8-10 hours of sleep and on an extremely good schedule. And It all happened so quickly I really couldn’t believe that it was something so serious. yeah so after the swollening went down and I realized it was pretty rough for me to walk normally, I went to the hospital to get it checked out.
yeah the wheel chair was kind’ve unnecessary at the hospital so I ended up buying crutches for 69 RMB.
Pretty good price considering they’re the only way I am able to walk around, at all.
So after going to the three hospitals and seeing several doctors, one of them finally did something and put my leg in a full leg cast. That’s right, full leg cast, up to the thigh, so my entire leg was immobile. They gave me a full leg cast to immobilize any movement in my leg so my tendon could grow back in the right direction. At the moment I didn’t realize how much this would change my life, but god I must say it really sucked. hard. excuse my language but it fucking sucked really fucking badly, and I’m sure anyone who has ever had a cast can relate to the way I felt.
After four weeks a full leg cast, they shortened it (which was a giant relief but still sucks) to a below the knee cast. My casted leg has slimmed out and become super weak, which totally sucks, but atleast its a lot lighter and I can get around.
This is a picture of a noodle cup tin foil top turned into a bowl, man it’s actually so much more efficient to eat ramen noodles like this. They should put this on the noodle cup label.
Anyways what does this picture have to do with anything? Well not anything directly but it represents convenience.
If you’ve ever had any type of leg injury, you will completely understand what I’m talking about when I say it completely hinders your life and restrains you from doing even the most simple task. For instance showering is a giant bitch, going to the washroom takes triple the normal time, you can’t walk and hold anything because your using crutches, sleeping is super uncomfortable, putting on any pants, underwearing etc is a giant hassle, the list goes on forever. With this being said, it brings me back to the noodle cup. When you’re put into a position like mine, and I know that mine is barely even serious compared to people who are actually physically missing a body part, but compared to the general public, everything is more convinent for you to do. Whether a handicap person ask for help or not, I believe that you should still go out of your way to help them, no matter what. However with this being said, luckily I’ve had friends help me on a daily basis and I am so grateful to them. I’m pretty sure if I didn’t have people to support me, I would’ve definitely broken down and become an alcoholic or something.
I can solidly say that this is the most difficult thing I’ve had to deal with in my entire life and that I have learned so much from this one experience. It has taught me so many lessons and to appreciate and cherish things in a completely different light. You know when you common hear the term saying “you could die at any moment, a car could hit you when you walk onto the street, a meteor could strike your house at any time, etc etc, so enjoy what you have blah blah”. Well I’ve learned that this is really true, and it has taught me a giant lesson on health. For instance I actually think now, what if you were to smoke one cigerate, and next day go to the doctor and realize you have lung cancer. Or if you were to drink a beer and get alcohol poisioning. Now I’m not against people who drink, smoke, do drugs or anything of that matter but this experience has opened my eyes that if you are to do something that puts your health at risk, or to do anything with harmful consequences, its best if you really think twice about the repercussions. I feel that society has lead the youth to believe that because you are young, you are able to withstand such harm to your body and that when you’re older you can worry about your “health” more, but I’ve realized the best time to start caring is actually now. Maybe because you haven’t had an injury in the past (and I hope you never will have one) you can’t relate on the same level as me, but I can safely say I understand that health should be everybody’s top priority. I’m sure many know this, but do not understand it. Also on a side note, the term YOLO (You only live once) is very applicable to what I’m talking about.
Now for if some reason you had no idea that I had this injury, it’s because I went out of my way not to tell you. I personally believe I am a very optimistic person and I can feel the vibe I give to certain people as soon as I show up somewhere on crutches (and it’s not a good vibe). Unless the person has had an injury this serious them self, it’s actually extremely hard to comprehend what the injured person is going through. It’s like they can see the problem but not understand the struggle. Or like an iceberg, you can see 10% of it, but 90% of it is deep underwater. You have an idea of how hard it is, but actually it’s waaaaayyyyyyy harder to live it.
The reason I actually decided to write about this is so that in the future I could reflect it if I was ever in a bad mood or have a negative mindset. At the moment I’ve been in this leg cast for 6 weeks and I can say that it has taken a giant toll on my mindset of things and it has impeded my ability to be productive. For almost 2 months of my life, I have needed help doing so many things and it does not feel good to constantly have to ask people to help you. However I’m extremely grateful for having such support from friends and it has allowed me to re-evaluate my personal definition of a friend and friendship.
Well enough of my rant, I’ve done a lot of reading and understand that there are people who are way more messed up than me, so that is my way of staying optimistic. And afterall, there’s only two more weeks left in this cast and until I start learning to walk again, so I have a lot to look forward to.
And on that note, I leave you this song
peace, one love.