Cha Cha, Continued ...

I promise to update this blog on my two-year hippiversary for PAO#2 in November. Until then, life goes on.

Hip in Sun Valley

Found time to skate a bit while judging the National Collegiate Championships in Sun Valley, Idaho

Randy Gardner Seminar

I like to name drop as much as anyone else, so I can't help mentioning that I attended a seminar by 1979 World Pair Champion, world-reknowned choreographer, and all around nice guy Randy Gardner along with my ice dancing peeps on Sunday.

There were 8 of us in the "high" dance group (including some kids) and I was a bit apprehensive about attending because I don't consider myself a high-level dancer any more. But I surprised myself by keeping up. I tried all of the sequences and was able to do many of them and I wasn't way behind the rest of the group. In fact, sometimes I was ahead.

It's nice to know that I can keep up. A year ago it would not have been possible, even on two feet. It gives me confidence that I'll survive the High Dance Camp as well.

Two Year Hippiversary

Today marks the two-year anniversary of my right PAO. That means my left PAO is close to a year and 8 months old. I took this opportunity to re-read some of my early posts. Oh, the drama! Not that all of this hip stuff isn't serious of course, but with the wisdom of two years of healing, I can say that I have mellowed and lost most of my anger about why this happened to me.

In the beginning, I was told that there was a two-year rehab period for this surgery. I was also told that even after two years my hips would not be normal. I would probably have continuing pain and reduced strength/ROM even at maximum recovery.

That's turned out to be quite accurate. While I am happy with the outcome of my PAOs, I am not "cured." There was no promise that I'd be pain free and I'm not. There was no promise that I'd be able to do all of the things I used to do and I can't. I still have many limitations despite what my surgeon and PT would both call a stellar recovery. Their goal was not to give me back the abilities I had before, but to give me as much ability as possible, and they did that.

I realize now how strong and fit and coordinated I used to be, which I didn't realize at the time. I have experienced an interesting progression of aging rapidly, from a sports perspective, practically overnight. By that I mean that I went from being a very fit and fearless 45-year-old, often feeling and skating like I was much younger, to being a 48-year-old with hips that feel and perform like those of a much older person. I am much more risk averse. I am no longer fearless. I don't have the same balance, strength, flexibility and especially coordination that I used to. Despite telling myself that some of this is in my head and it will get better, I know in my heart what I really don't want to admit aloud most days -- I will never get some of my abilities back.

Sounds defeatist but that doesn't mean I won't stop trying. It gives me something challenging to do and provides good exercise for me.

I don't regret my PAOs (and in any case, what choice did I have?). I think a PAO is a wonderful fix for a bad situation that nobody chooses. Truth in advertising: for athletes and dancers, realistically, a PAO may not allow you to perform at your prior level, especially if your hip capsule is opened and a lot of key muscles are severed. (A "simple" PAO where the pelvis is broken and reset but the hip capsule is not opened may be a different story.)

So. See you on the ice, where I'll be working diligently on what I can do, and trying not to think about the things I can't do.

Falling ... really?

Over the holiday weekend I fell on my butt twice. In the same day. In spectacular fashion.

This would not be a big deal if I did it while skating because, well, falling happens on the ice. But it happened OFF the ice, which is worse because the momentum of sliding on the ice tends to absorb the impact of a fall. Falls on gravel and wood don't have the same benefit.

Fall #1 happened while I was walking on the side of my house in the morning; a garden step broke when I stepped on it and I went straight down on my back on some gravel. The encore fall occurred in the evening when I slipped on a wood stair riser and fell down a couple of stairs in the house. And I wasn't even drinking.

I've never had a stair problem before, and even navigated stairs for several months on crutches without a single mishap.

I had been scheduled for a lesson on big ice with Coach I on the Cha Cha the next day. After fall #1 I took some Ibuprofen and felt a bit sore, but still planned to skate. After fall #2 I asked Perry to bring me the phone (as I sat in a heap at the bottom of the stairs) and called Coach from that position to explain that I would not be there in the morning.

I hit my left arm on the stair riser and it has a lovely bruise the size of a baseball. My back and hips hurt. I am trying not to whine. I had high hopes of skating a lot this week so I'll load up on Ibuprofen and I'll be at the rink tonight. Because in life, as in skating, you fall. The important thing is to get up and try again.

Cha Cha Confusado

My dance coach told me Thursday he wants me to test my Cha Cha Congelado on August 20, which is close enough to my 2-year hippiversary for me to use it as a way to celebrate that event (pass or fail, doesn't matter, it's just the act of getting back out there that's important).

But wait, there's more.

We are playing musical clubs here and my club has now been told to leave the ice surface they have served for 40 years or so which is where I want to test since I practice there and the rink is large enough for the CCC (there's no way to do it in a mall rink and fit it in). Another club is moving in to that rink. The test schedule is all messed up and even the test chair of the other club doesn't know about the alleged test on the 20th at that club's new rink, which my coach seems to know about.

I wanted to let the test chair know I'm testing in advance so he could get an international-level judging panel -- not easy under the best of circumstances -- and with it being summer, and people taking vacations, and dates/rinks changing, and with one of those judges (me) skating the test and therefore totally unavailable, it's not likely this is really going to happen.

This is what happened with all of my gold and some of my pre-gold dances, BTW. I signed up for the test and it was months before a judging panel was found that didn't contain me. It occurs to me I may just have to go out of town, with coach in tow, to actually take this test anywhere close to my two-year hippiversary.

But I'm training as if it's going to happen and we'll just have to wait and see.

Apocalypse No

Ho hum, looks like the world didn't end. You didn't really think I'd stop blogging, did you? Besides, I had a big BIG big BIG big BIG very BIG Humongous breakthrough tonight. I have already shown or told everyone at the rink, several times. Now I can tell the rest of the world through the magic of blogging.

Tonight Coach R and I worked on the Blues Choctaw and figured out a way to get my lazy hip to push forward. I won't go into excruciating detail (L., I will tell you privately since I'm sure you'll want to know), but suffice to say that I did about 20 Choctaws, with more speed than I have managed since surgery, and they finally felt like Choctaws. Let me say that again - THEY FINALLY FELT LIKE CHOCTAWS. !!!!!! That's big news. I've been trying everything and anything for the past year to fix that turn and this is the first time I've had success of this magnitude.

A few other turns I have not had much success with I was able to do in a very limited, developmental way today, which is still an improvement over nothing. These include the Mohawk at the end of the Paso, the Quickstep Choctaw, the Argentine Twizzle, the Westminster Mohawk, and, just barely, the Foxtrot Mohawk. If the world did actually end, I guess I'd die happy.