Life Threw Me a Curve Ball this Week!
It has been a week since I face-planted onto a concrete sidewalk. Not my finest moment. However, this was not caused by clumsiness or a lack of balance or improper shoe ware. This was due to a very dangerous hidden situation on a sidewalk in Ghent where I live and walk daily. It was an accident waiting to happen and I feel certain that I am not the first person to have stubbed their foot into a three-inch elevated slab of sidewalk right in the middle of the block, hidden by leaves and shadows created by the sun streaming through the trees.
I will share with you a bit of my journey from this week.
Sunday, November 5th I wrote the following post on Facebook. “this was not the post I had planned for today. But life has a way of throwing curve balls at you. Ironically, I was preparing for a free workshop on chronic pain, but right now I am in acute pain, so that is being postponed.”
When I tripped and fell face first on the concrete, my right hand protected the right side of the face, but for some reason, my left hand did not rise up to protect that side of the face so my check, eye, two teeth and lips took the brunt of the fall. I was rushed to the local hospital by ambulance, but since it was a Sunday, they were short staffed. We were left in a room for four hours. I remember feeling thankful that we got a room. Several scans were done, but actually nothing else. Two doctors who I saw in the coming days said a better treatment plan would have been to stitch me up and fix the luxated teeth the first day. However, I understand the pressures placed on emergency room doctors, so I am not wasting my energy feeling upset about what might have been.
What is Helping Me Heal?
I have been focusing on gratitude and silver linings. I am fortunate to have learned and practiced HeartMath coherence breathing and emotional regulation techniques that allowed me to lower my blood pressure from 179/90 to 165/80 within an hour of arriving at the hospital.
Gratitude practices are also powerful healers. I was constantly in awe of my husband Mark. I cannot begin to describe all he did for that day and the next week. There were also many kind strangers including the neighbor who offered to take Sophie home and brought me ice, (Sophie did not want to leave my side, so Mark took her home and drove separately to the hospital). The EMS personal who transferred me were kind and caring. The resident doctor on duty tried to be more proactive but was overruled by the attending doctor.
Friends and family reached out to me and gave me so many helpful suggestions and hopeful messages. Friends with expertise in healing practices offered Free practices. Thank you Cindy Beers for the Trauma Releasing hypnotherapy and Alvina Mary Quantrano for the Seva stress release self-care gift.
Accidents can derail your life—sometimes temporarily and sometimes more permanently. I must admit that it was not easy staying this positive.
Fears crept in such as
Will my face look like this permanently?
Will I be facing multiple surgeries?
Will I be able to eat?
Will my teeth survive?
Will I be afraid to walk in my neighborhood?
Will I lose the new contract to provide yoga at the Renova Center?
Or worse of all, Am I becoming a fragile old woman despite all I do for balance and health?
Your Cells are Listening to Everything You Say
My mantras for this week
- I am strong and resilient
- My face is healing
- My roots of my teeth are regrowing
- I am cooking again for health
- If I have to have surgeries, my doctor will provide me with the best care
- My employers know how good I am at what I do and will embrace me when I am ready to come back to work
- I will continue to walk.
We started walking on Tuesday. I asked Mark if we could walk all the way to the area where I fell so I could face my fears. I could feel my heart pounding, but I gingerly stepped over the uneven pavement holding on to Mark’s arm. He was more nervous than me. I could feel him gripping me tightly.
It is a practice to shift your mind into feeling blessed instead of feeling like a victim. Nothing like an accident to give you real life experience!
In the next article, I will review other practices that I used for healing that you might want to add to your toolbox when the unexpected happens.
Warmly,
Andrea
Could luck with your recovery Andrea! I’m sure everyone who you sent your story to is sending you strong vibes of healing( prayers). Glad to hear your husband stayed by your side as you challenged yourself to walk right over that tripping hazard. Good for you to show us how you can help yourself as well as others !
Great hearing from you Cathy and hoping you are doing well. Thank you for believing in me. Warmly,Andrea
You are SUCH an inspiration to ANYONE who has (or will) crossed your path.
Much love.
Thank you for reading and for your friendship and support. X0X0 Andrea