"just shoot for the stars if it feels right; ...take me away, make it okay, i swear i'll behave. maybe it's hard when you feel like you're broken and scarred; nothing feels right, but when you are with me, i'll make you believe;... i've got the moves like jagger; i've got the moves like jagger. " Moves like Jagger" by Maroon-5

as some of you might know, i had a little "accident" in zumba the first of this month. i was all into the song, my right foot was  planted on the dance floor, and instead of my shoe pivoting, my body went on with out my foot! i heard a pop and then my endorphins kicked in and of course, although it was the first song of the evening, i stayed until the end of the class! not one of my brighter ideas. i thought that i was o.k. until about 30 minutes after the class. that is how long it takes me to get home from the wellness center. i thought that i was truly not going to be able to walk into  the house! i suffered for a couple of weeks, then went to convenient care and they sent me on to an orthopedic doctor. i had my MRI done this past friday, and today i had my reveal show.

i have a small, thank goodness, tear in the meniscus of my right knee, which will heal eventually without surgery( they told me that i might have to have surgery, and i was of course worried about that). that is the good news. the bad news is that i have really bad arthritis in both of my knees, and have hardly any "cushion" between the bones. the doctor told me that he could shoot some cortisone in there- i told him that i would have to get back to him on that. i am not a big fan of needles- especially when they are inserted into an already painful area.he told me to come back to see him when i was "crying". well, i have already been doing that, and i still am not ready for the "needle".  he also recommended that i take some cosamin ds to help build some cushion, and i plan on doing that. i am taking ibuprofen and using ice packs,too. driving home and trying to bend my knee is the most painful thing.

i asked him when i could go back to zumba. he said that  i could go back anytime that i felt ready- but  i would need to "adjust" my workout so as not to re-injure a knee. i am planning for the first week of february- it will have been a month since the injury. i will just put on my zumba clothes, my belly scarf( of course- color coordinated to match my tee shirt) and a knee brace or two. i decided that whatever moves  i can not do physically, i will do them in my head. or maybe, if we are doing a move that is impossible for my knees i will just shake the coins on my belly scarf. now, i am not saying that i have mick jagger moves ( o.k. maybe in my head, i do) but i think that i can still do pretty well in zumba class. i am so glad that i do not have to give this up. it has truly been my prozac, as well as helping me to regain some of the strength i lost after my surgery/chemo.

i have always wondered why anyone would want to return to an activity that has injured them. not just professional athletes, but i have known some runners and bikers who have had injuries requiring surgery, and returned to their sport just as soon as they were able. i finally get it! that sport or physical activity fulfills a need and once you realize that, you do not want to give it up. good health requires an active mind, body and spirit. i will admit that i have come upon this realization quite late in life, but better late than never, i guess.