The Specialist appointment last week involved assessing my latest MRI scan and was full of good news in the sense that 2 of the 3 disks have healed and I can start training and building up again. But the not so good news, the bottom L5-S1 disk is now compressed with no fluid inside the disk.
The Orthopedic surgeon thinks the injury is as healed as it can be and does not believe it will get worse so it will be a case of managing the injury. Showing his confidence and knowledge he also believes I can make it back to where I was and better if I manage the injury carefully. I am now allowed to slowly begin building up with training again. He stresses to me the importance of listening to my body as I do not want to destroy the scar tissue that is in place of the fluid. It could be a fast build up or a slow build up depending on what my body will allow me to do. The running as part of my Xterra racing may cause issues with the impact on the compressed disk but I am super excited to get back into training even if it mean focusing on mountain biking and swimming for a while.
I have learnt a valuable lesson from my injury and that is how much I actually enjoy my sport. It is hard and sometimes it is easy to get lost in why you do it and training soon becomes a chore, I never want to feel like that. So many things I took for granted. I was unable to walk for a short period of time, that happened twice, once from trying to get back into it too early and over doing it big-time.
I now appreciate what I can do and make the most of it. I am looking forward to getting back into it and being honest with myself in listening to my body- another lesson I yet to learn, but I am learning.
