I had a minor set-back in my momentum with this project, due to an unexpected visit to the hospital. On Valentine’s Day, after a 3-week battle with COVID, I was excited that some winter sunshine would allow me to go for a skate session. I really wanted to get out there since I was about to travel to the Slow Impact event in Arizona, and felt it was a good idea to get some skating in.
The thing with skateboarding in the winter is that, even with sunshine there’s usually sections that are hidden in shadow for months and covered with a thin sheen of barely visible ice. Not only did I wipe-out on my very first pump around the snake run, I also bailed ollying the pyramid hip, twisting my knee behind me like a dysfunctional hurdler. I just wanted to skate.
The initial adrenaline rush didn’t make it seem particularly problematic, but I knew that I had to leave my skateboard at home during my trip, since my neoprene knee-brace wasn’t effective. At least I didn’t break my leg, I reasoned. But after a month, my knee was getting worse, the stabbing pain, the inability to bend or lift, or do any sudden movements was unrelenting.
[Winter is for cozy fires… not skateboarding, apparently]
I knew it wasn’t an ACL tear because there was no hallmark “pop”, and it didn’t balloon out like a grapefruit. In fact, it was hardly swollen. I still did all the right things, icing, elevating, and resting, but nothing was helping.
And then things got weird. The pain expanded into my calf muscle. I tried stretching it out, since I figured my muscles were cramping with all this lounging about, and it only got worse. I wonder if because I’m a skateboarder that I’m a bit stubborn regarding pain. I really just wanted to ignore it and trust that things would get better.
On March 23rd, the pain was so excruciating that I made an appointment with my Doctor and bought some Aspirin. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was Deep Vein Thrombosis, because that’s what happened to my brother a few years back, and it sounded comparable (it’s also genetic). I shared the info with my Doctor on the Monday morning, and she chose to focus on the knee, booking me in for an X-ray the following evening.
Like most people, I poked around the internet because my calf pain didn’t make sense and I’m so glad I did. The next morning was super scary. My husband was out with the truck, when I started getting dizzy, with pain in my chest and troubles breathing. I took an Aspirin and a puff of my inhaler, then stumbled around to my neighbour’s house who got me to Emergency. And sure enough, it was Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) with blood clots breaking off, scattered around my lungs according to a CT scan, aka pulmonary embolism. Ugh.
Maybe someone reading this needs to know what DVT is, especially if you get sustained cramping pain in your leg after an injury, cut, or sitting stagnant in an airplane…? Get it checked out because when the clots break off, it can get serious. Don’t be stubborn (talking to myself).
Thanks to modern medicine, an injection to the belly and blood thinners, this should all go away in three months time. The deal is I’m not allowed to pursue intense activities that might cause me to bruise or bleed, so skateboarding is out. I had really wanted to go to the 20th Anniversary of the Mighty Mama Skate-O-Rama and the annual Wheels of Fortune contest chaos in Seattle hosted by Skate Like a Girl, but I know it’ll be too hard to resist skateboarding. I don’t think landing myself in an American hospital would be wise.
In the greenhouse with future watermelon – I hope!
Trying not to be grumpy but the experience did put a damper on my usual routine, including researching and posting on women’s skateboard history! At least I can putter in the greenhouse and garden, to get me away from the computer, and a big thank you to everyone who suggested their favourite books to read, and kind words.
Womxn Skateboard History 