It Was a Tear
February 12, 2020
Published By Aida Dennehy
I always ask for guest bloggers and thought I’d take myself up on the offer and share a personal experience in hopes it might be helpful to someone else. Please send me your stories…there’s room in these pages for everyone!
I’ve been struggling with knee issues since coming home from Worlds 18 months ago. I had surgery in June and felt better but started having new symptoms in October. It was so bad for a few days that I had to get crutches because I couldn’t put any weight on my knee. I had an MRI. The doctor said, “It’s inconclusive. It could be a new tear, or it could just be the way your knee is. You might need to get a new hobby.” I asked him to schedule me for arthroscopic surgery to see what’s going on inside. He was skeptical, but he scheduled it.
I left that appointment and sat in my car and cried. What the doctor called a “hobby” is such a huge part of my life. He doesn’t understand that I don’t just show up for some cardio kickboxing classes or whatever he thinks I do. He doesn’t understand that we are a family, that we train together, laugh together and cry together. He doesn’t understand that I have dreams of testing for Sam Dan and dreams of having a school some day…even if it’s just some women who show up in a park to practice self defense with me once a week.
I had my surgery on Friday. When I woke up, Alex was sitting next to the bed. The first thing he said to me was, “Mom, it was a tear.” I was so grateful to hear that. I can’t do Tang Soo Do the way I could when I was 20, but I can still do it. I will do my physical therapy and help teach until I’m ready to take class. I will take it slow and walk through the 100 forms workout next month. My knee will heal.
Before the surgery, when I was wondering if I would hear that there’s just some chronic problem that can’t be fixed, I had already decided that I wouldn’t “get a new hobby” no matter what the doctor told me. I look around at our black belt classes and our tournaments and at Worlds, and I see men and women at all different levels of ability with all kinds of physical obstacles they continue to overcome. I watched a girl compete at Worlds in a wheelchair! Indomitable Spirit isn’t about being stronger or faster or fitter or younger. It is about persevering through whatever is in my way…even if what is in my way is me and my attitude.
See you at Black Belt Class…March 7 at Coastal Canyon. 100 Forms Workout. I’ll be in the back, but I’ll be there. Tang Soo!
-Aida Dennehy, West Coast Dragons
