Ballet

 

When I was at the emergency room with my broken ankles I was told I would never be able to teach or perform ballet.
I might not even be abe to walk.
It was like someone smacked me in the face and broke my back.

After surgery I was told this again.

The implication was that I might never be ablt to put enough weight on my ankle to even show movements with the other leg.

I don like mindgames so I took it literally.
But I didn't want to overlook all the consequences.
I could try!! One can always try.

When I met the first physiotherapist he had me walk the path at the practice. Of course I couldn't.
It set me back for weeks.
He was the boss of the practice...but his communication skills were more depressing than uplifting.
So I asked around and decided for a young women my daughter appreciated.

She was fun, a good listener and could explain each and every tiny little change.
She taught me not to surpass my limits... ever.

She also had/has the same attitude: let's see what we can do. And when we can't do it we'll deal with it then.

She set me back at first. Just to the basics.
Then little by little we tried to gain movement in the foot.
It looked like we'll never would gain good movement.
The pain was excruciating. The podotherapist wondered of something would be broken without it showe up at the first x-rays and the surgeon has a look at that too.
I gained a bit of movement. The pain stayed.
Last week, 4 months after surgery, the pain was still there and there was a clear sign of nerve pain. 
I assumed a nerve was trapped. At times it kept firing and firing, the rest of the time it was nagging.

Then last week she again did some manouevres with my foot and ankle, and after that asked if I would agree with a new technique another physio had taught at a special course.
I agreed.

I was told I should experience a lot of pain afterwards.
I did.
But it cleared up and the nerve pain was gone!!!!!!!!

Since then moving around is less painful and it feels a bit smoother too.

And on top of it:
My physio has done ballet too.

Yesterday we did our first demi pliers.
Just the very very very basic small movement.

But I could do it.... but my knee was posing the worst problem.
She did a very thorough examination and agreed with me: tendon problems.
Maybe in time we can find a solution for that too.

Next time: ronde des jambes...

. . .

About **Syl

Syl: "Life is a chain of challenges. Sometimes the largest challenges are we ourselves. Facing life, facing others and facing yourself requires either a worryless attitude or plain courage. Most of the time it is dealing with judgement. Maybe life is about getting rid of it."