Victory comes, at times, just when one no longer expects it.” Martin Buber
“The greatest of victories is the victory over oneself.” The Dhammapada: The Path of Perfection
“The first step towards victory… is to gain courage.” Plutarch
“How in the world were you ever able to do the ‘frog-kick’ and the breast stroke? These were the first words my University of Washington’s Back Specialist spoke to me as soon as he reviewed my MRI report. The report showed my severely twisted pelvis. To add to the fun my vertebrae are in backwards due to the twist in my pelvis. Now, they tell me! I was JUST learning about my deformed pelvis at 61 years of age. Just call me “Twisted Sister!”
The twist in my pelvis and back meant that I never had full range of motion for golf, baseball, or tennis. I couldn’t do backbends in gym. Plus, attempting to do the frog-kick along with my synchronized swimming stunts definitely was challenging, BUT I managed to succeed! You know what? I didn’t know that I could not do these activities so I kept plugging away. It is amazing what one can succeed at doing when you don’t know that you CAN’T do something!
So you might wonder… “How in the world did I end up with a corkscrew for a pelvis and back?” When my mom was approximately seven and a half to eight months pregnant with me, someone threw a firecracker in her car. I had been in the down position until the explosion went off and then I decided that I was going to stay in hiding and reversed my direction. Mom had to go back to the doctor and have him turn me back to the “down” position. In those days the doctors used forceps to help deliver babies. There are many cases where the forceps squished the heads of babies or did other things like squish my pelvis and twist it when the doctor turned me around to the down position so mom could deliver me.
My mom was a nurse, so I have no clue whether she knew what the doctor accidentally did to my formation in the delivery process or not. Now that I’m grown, and especially after I learned about my twisted pelvis and vertebrae it so explained all the difficulties that I had to work at overcoming after so many years as a child and young adult.
It also explains why I’m so DETERMINED to be the Little Engine that Could… “I think I can, I think I can!” I did play a bit of golf, tennis, and baseball, but I was terrible at these games as now I understand why. I used to beat myself up and call myself all sorts of names because I was so terrible at playing these games, BUT my success was in my synchronized swimming. So REMEMBER…
Holy moly. The things we find out about our own bodies that we never suspected. It must be a relief to finally know what was getting in the way of your tennis and golf skills, but wouldn’t it have been nice to know back when you were feeling horrible about yourself? I love your “head up/stay strong” philosophy, though. That’s the way to get through life’s surprises!
You know, Kern, it is funny. Part of me wishes that I knew about what all was wrong with my body, as it would have explained so many issues that I have had over the years, but maybe because I didn’t know I kept trying instead of giving up. I call myself Twisted Sister and Humpty Dumpty. Oh yes, they replaced my hip last year, so NOW I’m also the Bionic Woman. The doctor even leveled out my hip a bit as it was one inch longer on one side because of the twist. But, it only took me three weeks to heal so I could go back out to walk my laps around Poulsbo. Life’s simple pleasures. We have to keep strong, because giving up is NOT an option!!
Thanks for visiting Kern. It is great seeing you here. I have to get back to writing too and NOT give up here too.
Quite the discovery, Gwynn. So good to know what’s going on, I bet.
Hey, little engine that could describes you perfectly — and with a good, nice attitude while at it. Keep on keeping on, okay? Glad you’re blogging again. The world in back in order now. 🙂
Yes, I knew I had back problems but I didn’t know why or to what extent until I was really having problems when I turned 61. It is amazing what we are able to do when we don’t know we “can’t!”
Thanks for the “push.” I had thought about doing the A – Z challenge and even went so far as writing down all my words… but, that is as far as I went. Maybe, I can actually start working on the words … we’ll see. As to my world… it is as crazy as ever with some added issues. Life DOES throw some lemons at us periodically. Now, HOW to make lemonade??? 😉
Great to see you here Gwynn! Sometimes it is best that we don’t know and persevere and find out later! Then we can truly pat ourselves on our backs! We did it, in spite of!!! Keep the sychronised everything going! xx
Yes, Susan, I agree. Who knows if I would have even tried if I knew about my disability. Maybe I simply would have said, “Oh, I can’t do that.” However, in my attempts there was a great deal of frustration and embarrassment, especially as a kid when others make fun of you. But, I have to admit that after so many years of trying and then finding out WHY I had so much difficulty did help me. Now I can say, “OH, that’s why!!” Thanks for taking time to stop by!!