Pushing the Envelope

“See your life as a giant adventure. Keep pushing the envelope, and remember that every dream starts off small.”

~Robin Sharma

Tales had persistent pain in her leg just below her knee. It got better and worse depending on the day but it was clearly trending toward trouble.

With extreme trepidation we quickly went to Columbia for x-rays and consultations. After the first x-rays, they asked for a second more detailed one. Not an encouraging sign. After the second x-ray, we had a confirmed diagnosis of a stress fracture. Apparently this is common in active teenagers, and we certainly had one of those. You have no idea how excited we were that Taylor had a stress fracture!

Even with her latest diagnosis, Taylor refused to miss her fitness class. She came home telling me, “I decided to do the whole class on one leg!” I thought, “Oh Lord!” She took her normal pain pills and all was well until she went to her phys-ed class the next day for weight training. The pain worsened and the pills didn't help. I called the doctor, “Could she have injured her other leg?” He replied matter-of-factly, “Knowing Taylor anything is possible, come in for more x-rays.” To no one’s surprise she now had stress fractures in both legs. We left with crutches.

How did Tales handle the crutches? By now you should have guessed. She loved them. She's always wanted an excuse to use crutches because she thought they looked like fun. She had asked for them so many times that on the previous Easter I had bought her a pair. A contagious laughter erupted from everyone in our family when her Easter gift was revealed. Now Taylor’s wish came true, she needed them. I vividly remember her popping out of the car each day wielding her crutches trying to get to school as quickly as possible and join the fun.