Kicking Back - From Torn Tendon to Black Belt

Hi All,

Sorry for not updating sooner - it has been one hell of a week at MIT, with midterm exams in almost every class and our campus preview weekend, which is full of grilling, partying, and general mayhem.

First of all, I am now full weight bearing while on the boot (and I will be for three more weeks at least), and I must say that walking is an amazing thing.  It happened to be a beautiful day out when I first lost my crutches, and that made it all the more amazing.  As a guy who hates being pitied, it was great to not have old ladies hold doors open for me, and when I tuck the boot under my jeans most people don’t notice it at all!  Now begins another phase of patience, but its definitely a lot nicer than being on crutches.  

I am full of hope right now, and full of ideas for what to do with this newfound ability to get around.  This past Friday I went out party hopping with a bunch of pre-frosh, and finally danced for the first time in months - it felt great.  The next day, I went to the gym for the first time in months as well - I think it’s the beginning of the part of my life where I start treating my body better.  It felt good to be sore the next day, but not so sore that I knew I had exerted myself.  This time, getting in shape is about control, patience, and discipline.  

I hope all of you out there with injuries are doing well, and for those who are having a tough time - just take a deep breath and keep on crutching.  You will get through this faster than you realize.

So a really beautiful thing happened today… the protective strips that were covering my ankle fell off (they’re supposed to naturally ).  But the nice thing was that it was the first time in a month that I’ve seen my ankle without staples or other crap in it, and it doesn’t look half bad!  Ok, realistically its pretty gross, but its a step in the right direction.  Check it out below:

My first glimpse at my ankle sans staples/tape/bandages!

1.5 weeks and counting until I can walk again (Hopefully that day is next Friday, April 10th - wish me luck)!

I’m sure many of you knew about my blossoming prospects as a calf model, but sadly that has come to an end.  See below a post-op pic.  This is after about 2-3 weeks.  The first one shows the difference in calf size.  My left calf is much skinnier, and what is there is pretty much all fat.  But you’d be surprised at how fast that muscle will grow back.  I felt it again a week later and its tangibly there now, which is comforting.  Needless to say, my right leg is getting ripped

My feet ~2 weeks post op

For those of you out there who are reading this , I have learned a lot of things in the past few weeks…most of all are two things I have never been able to do - be patient about something and be willing to ask people for help.  It’s really hard to bring myself to ask guys (in a frat house at that) to help me with laundry, but sometimes you just need to lean on people.  I’m sure many of you (especially the martial arts types) are hard-asses like me who believe that everything in life can be done on your own.  I do hope that it takes something less rough than an achilles tear to teach you that this is not the case.  

The key now is to stay positive!  Here are a few reasons that I came up with that hopefully you’ll appreciate:

1. Chicks dig scars.

2. Crutching is possibly the best upper body work out…..ever.

3. If you’re in college, you get to ride around in the back of a cop car without the jail time

4. At first I might feel bad for myself, but then I think about the first person I’m going to spar in 6 months…and I feel better.  And really bad for him.

5. You look bad-ass when you drop-kick doors open

6. It could be worse…you’ll walk again, and when that day comes, it’s going to be beautiful.