A quick, short entry today. Holidays are here, finally, and I’m quite stoked about it. My last holiday was… well, last Christmas, so this is very needed at the moment and I plan on making the best of the holiday over the next two weeks.

This includes a lot of sleep and going to the gym and spending time with my family.

Um, yea, that’s about it.

However, today I heard some words from my physio that I never imagined I would hear… he stated I could be ready to go back to basic training by springtime!

I’m not 100% by all means but getting there. I may never be 100% and right now, I think I’m around 80%. However, he has been beyond impressed with the progress since surgery and no one can seem to really explain what the heck happened.

So, I’m just gonna call it My Christmas Miracle.

I think it’s a combination of the surgery (completely unrelated to my injury!), the medication I began mid-November, the massage that I started end of November and of course, the physio which has kept me sane since arriving home at Easter and of course, my PT sessions that have been tailored to me.

Weeks ago I had decided to NOT fight a pcat but I had never, ever imagined I would go from 20% to 80% in just a few short weeks. Considering I had very little progress for almost 15 months, I didn’t expect it to change much so quickly. Admittedly, after surgery I had nightmares for nearly two weeks due to my surgical experience (I can’t describe it but - it was the worst pain of my life and I kept dreaming I was waking up from surgery over and over, screaming)… but gradually they stopped and in the end, the experience was worth it.

We don’t expect much more progress but I will take what I have. I’m okay with it. But, I will need to fight the Pcat in the new year (a permanent medical category leading to a release) and this Christmas break, will allow me to rejuvenate enough to fight. Despite the progress physically, I must admit I’m absolutely, completely and utterly exhausted from the past 1.5 years. To top it off, my mom’s husband is fighting a very agressive cancer and there isn’t much time left.

I’m a toughie though, I’ll get through this as well.

In the meantime, I plan on making the best of the upcoming months. Finally given the go-ahead for strength training and running, now is the time to “do my thing” and regain the fitness I’ve lost since injury. This will take some time (it doesn’t happen overnight!) but I have done it before in a short-time, I can do it again in a short-time. Over Christmas, my main goal is to simply rebuild my cardio which I hope I can do mostly by swimming. This will help kill two birds with one stone by strengthening my arms as well and increasing flexibility. Gradually, I will implement my running programme!

Finally, I feel I can see the light at the end of the tunnel… I can deal with the pain where it’s at, as long as it doesn’t regress!

Okay, entry slightly longer than I had anticipated! Regardless, have a great Christmas and holiday season!