Let's start by rewinding time shall we? 9 months to be exact (and no, I've not had a baby!). I was at the peak of my fitness journey thus far - I hit the gym every morning before work and some evenings after, I'd started running again after a knee injury ended my running career at 18 (couch to 5k works wonders!), and I was meal prepping like a boss! I had a fantastic personal trainer who helped me break new barriers and lift new personal bests, and I felt like I was on top of the world. All the while I was sharing this journey on Instagram - videos of my workouts, stories of my meal prepping, and progress updates. I posted my last video in September just before my birthday and it looks like I dropped off the edge of the world. And in some respects I did.
It all started with back pain in October. Now, I'd started deadlifting in the gym and knew from both experience and my personal trainer that my form had to be spot on, so I'd been making sure I kept up with this. I thought maybe I'd overstretched or pulled it slightly when increasing the weights. I decided to take a step back from the gym and have a few rest days. I was desperate to go to the back and maintain all the hard work I'd done, but I didn't know it would last so long.
By the end of October, it was crippling. I'd tried rest, I'd tried anti-inflammatory tablets, I'd tried various gels and nothing shifted it. I remember going for dinner with my partners grandad on Halloween and being barely able to stand or drive without the pain causing me to wince. He couldn't help but remark how ill it was making me look. Still I managed to dress as Harry Potter and celebrate Halloween at the weekend!
Less than a week later on Bonfire night, I could feel abdominal pain. I was hunched over and clutching my side. I ended up being rushed into hospital with a suspected appendicitis, although I did get a fantastic view of the fireworks! A few nights in hospital, numerous scans, and some very high fashion socks later, I was discharged as no one really knew what was wrong. Still the pain persisted.
I still couldn't manage the gym. A 9 hour working day was more than enough to tire me out and cause the pain to worsen. 2 weeks passed and the pain was the worst it had been. I was rushed back to the hospital and told to go to A&E in case my condition worsened quickly. More scans, more doctors, more drips later, I was told my appendix was what they call in their line of work 'Juicy'. 10cm swollen in fact. Within 48 hours I'd had my first surgery and said goodbye to my appendix.
I don't remember too much from that first night after surgery (although I have been told I started quoting Team America and offered the nurse a lot of snacks!) except the pain. Not the same appendix pain from earlier, but a pain that made my hands shake as I tried to get out of bed. I only had 3 tiny incisions but that pain was intense - hats off to women having a cesarean, you're bloody warriors! It took my all my strength and a good 10 minutes to get from lying in bed to the toilet only a few metres away.
I was discharged less than 24 hours post surgery and spent 2 weeks with both mine and my partners families coming to visit and look after me 24 hours a day while she went to work. I realised very quickly I wouldn't be seeing another gym this side of New Year and that wasn't me at all. It was (still is) a huge part of my life ripped from me due to something out of my control. But I came to realise something - sometimes health comes before fitness.
So here we are again. At the beginning of my fitness journey, slowly easing myself in to training and fitness again, and getting back to those weights! After all a setback is merely a set-up for a comeback!
Who knows, maybe we all need a setback now and then to refocus ourselves on our goals . . .
