Day 40

I am so grateful for the physical abilities I have been given.  I am no olympic athlete, or collegiate athlete for that matter, but I am able to do physical activities such as running, swimming, and biking!  Unfortunately, not everyone in the world has that opportunity.  Whether it's because they have a lot of work, don't have a pool/bike nearby, or physically cannot participate.  Heavenly Father has blessed me so much especially with good health and I am so grateful.

When I was in 10th grade I started to have problems with my back.  I have no idea why or how it began, but for some reason I kept having pain in my lower back.  I ignored it for a while, but then in started getting really bad, so I told my parents.  (Please don't take what I say next the wrong way!  My parents are great people!)  I told them about how my back was hurting constantly, whether I was sitting or standing.  My parents just told me to just take ibuprofin and it would get better.  (They're doctors, so I guess they've seen much worse).  Anyway, one day I was walking from the library to the chemistry classroom, which are literally 100 yards apart.  All of a sudden I was in so much pain that in order to even walk that short distance I had to hold on to the side of the wall.  I couldn't believe it.  My whole life I had been able to walk normally without pain and now I could barely walk 100 yards!  When I got home that day I told my parents what had happened and they got me a back brace.  I think they might've underestimated the amount of pain I was in, but I took the back brace because at least it was something!  Finally, my parents realized that this was a really serious issue and had me go in for an MRI.  You have no idea how scared I was.  I would sometimes have dreams about never being able to walk without pain and having to lie in bed all the time.  It sounds a little dramatic...probably because I am a little dramatic haha...but it seemed so real to me.  Also, I would worry about never being able to play sports again, especially water polo.  I didn't want to give up something I loved so much.  When the test results came back we found out that I had a protruded disk in my spine.  Luckily it wasn't herniated, but if I kept working my back to hard it could happen.  I was soooo grateful that my injury could be healed without surgery.  Sure, it would still hurt, but it was curable.

Having that experience with my injury and fearing that I couldn't walk made me so much more grateful to be able to function normally today.  I couldn't imagine my life without sports and exercise.  I am so appreciative of the Lord who has helped me so much!