The Year I Became Bionic (#BOAW2015)

See all the posts at http://augustmclaughlin.wordpress.com

Last year began with screaming kick-my-ass-pain and ended with me feeling beautiful and bionic. To say it was a roller coaster year is an understatement.

Let me explain.

For years, my right hip has been cranky. It was happy during my pregnancy, groovin’ on happy hormones and Relaxin, and then cranky again within a year. The Hubs and I went to a year of Crossfit and it improved. We took a work break from Crossfit and it got worse. Way worse. Screaming pain and limping worse.

The Hubs finally got me to tell the doctor last February and an x-ray showed some mild hip dysplasia. How could I have lived more than 40 years and not known about this?

We called it “Dog Hip” and I was feeling like a very old and unattractive dog.

By March, I had trouble sitting. I spent April pacing around my house like a wild animal, working with my laptop atop a box on the table so I could stand and work at the same time. I was worse for the wear by May, tired and puffy, with house-bound prison pallor. Fifteen minutes in the car could reduce me to cold sweaty pain.

The MRI diagnosed a labral tear and the doctor went inside the hip in June to stitch it up. It wasn’t just a tear. The labrum was dying, flapping, not holding the leg in the hip socket, and my femoral head was a mess. Dr. Kramer fixed it all and I took a three week spin with “Cruella,” the evil CPM machine. The pain was hideous, but still better than before the surgery.

Cruella, the evil bitch.

Yep. Me, crutches and Cruella into July. Me and the flu in July. Me and PT in July and August and September and October. I learned a lot about the concept of beauty from Cruella and from PT.

Beauty is strength. Beauty is perseverance. Beauty is love.

Beauty is family, and the good friends who cheered me up and cheered me on through 4 long months of rehab. Beauty is having a hip that works, and living a life without pain.

August sent me date bars, and GirlBoner lip balm. Patricia Rickrode (aka Jansen Schmidt) sent me wine. Sharla Rae sent an Undie Chronicle gift box. Still more friends sent me cards and songs and funny messages on Facebook.

Who cares that I weigh more? Who cares that I can no longer cross my legs. That gives you blood clots and varicose veins anyway. I can walk and I can sit. I can swim and I can dance.

I climbed a mountain in the Rockies in October. I went back to Crossfit in November. It was baby-steps Crossfit, but I’m doing squats again and it feels GORGEOUS.

When I returned to work in July they looked at me and said, “Wow, you look renewed.” I WAS freaking renewed, to be out of pain after eight solid months.

I still have my own hip and it is bionic. I am loved and that is beautiful. I am strong and so very, very grateful. Love, independence and a healthy skeleton have gone a long way toward making me feel like a goddess.

What says “beauty” to you? Share it in the comments, and please visit the Beauty of a Woman blogfest today at August McLaughlin’s place. She has an “original” BOAW blog hop and a GirlBoner version. This post is a tiny little part of the original category.

Go spread some love today, and wallow in your own beauty.

Hugs!
~ Jenny

That smart lady, Patricia Sands, gave me the idea to list my other BOAW posts from years past. Enjoy!

• 2014: What Are Your 21 Layers of Beauty?
• 2013: Beauty of a Woman Blogfest: Do Breasts Define the Female?
• 2012: I didn’t participate, but was moved by these posts to do so the other years.