My Very Own Before and After

In April 2009 I was in a very serious car accident in which my tibia and fibula (both bones in my lower leg) were broken; my surgeon informed us that I could have easily lost my leg. Luckily, he was a brilliant spinal surgeon and he put me back together again. I spent two and a half weeks in the hospital and then another 4 months working to walk again.

Here I am in the hospital. After two weeks in I finally had the energy to put on make up and do my hair.

The next picture shows my leg post-op. You can see stitches and it might be a little much for you if you can't handle wounds. There is only one though! I had a surgery prior to this one that would have provided more weird pictures, but I decided to spare you!

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I have worked really hard over the last two years to lose weight and start exercising. It hasn't always been easy. I have had to push myself to overcome physical and emotional barriers and fears that would have kept me from trying new things. A couple of months ago I did a Rape Aggression Defense class that helped me overcome the irrational fear of hurting myself (specifically my leg). After that I decided to run a 5k.

So here is a picture from two days ago. It's me running in the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure.

Crossing the finish line.

And the true "before and after" portion of the post: my leg, new running shoes, and timer.

This is, quite honestly, something I never thought I would do. You might notice that there are a lot of people around me who are walking. That's because I found this race to be more difficult than I imagined, so I, too, ended up walking some of it. A lot of it actually. :) But I finished! Not only that, but I finished in under an hour. 47 minutes if you're curious. I can't wait to sign up for another one so I can improve my time and my skills. 

Looking at the two pictures of my leg I find myself thinking of a quote by Arthur C. Clarke, "The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible."