Dealing With Setbacks (Part 1): My First Day In A Cast

Hello from my living room couch; where I will be spending most of my time for the next month and a half until I can start walking again.

It’s been almost 24 hours since the incident. Yet it feels like it was only minutes ago. I’ve relived the moment at least a hundred times over. I keep wondering what I could’ve done differently to avoid this from happening in the first place. Not like it’s going to change anything. Freak accidents are called freak accidents for a reason.

Let me give you a little more background.

I was about an hour into a solo bouldering session at Joe Rockheads, nothing out of the ordinary. I was having a good time, and for some reason, climbing felt even more enjoyable than it usually does. I was trying this boulder on the comp wall that was essentially just three dynos in a row. The second dyno was particularly scary: a 7- or 8-foot diagonal paddle dyno.

At first, I couldn’t get myself to commit to the jump. I was touching the holds every time I jumped for them, but by the time I was close to grabbing them, my hips were too far from the wall, and I would fall. After realizing this, I told myself that on my next go, I would keep my hips close to the wall the whole time, jump as high as possible, and commit hard. The cueing worked, and I caught the holds, but only for a quick second before my body started swinging out. And before I knew it, I was falling sideways. As soon as I hit the ground, I heard a crack in my leg.

The strange thing was I didn’t feel much pain. I sat there for a while, staring at my left leg. I was dumbfounded. There was no bone sticking out of my leg, and none of the pain you typically hear about when someone experiences a bone fracture. I crawled off the mats, grabbed my phone, and texted my boyfriend: I think I broke my leg. I was sweating buckets. The world around me started going black. I knew I needed to get some help.

I called over a man and asked him to call an ambulance. As we waited for the ambulance to arrive, it hit me that training and climbing would have to be put on hold for some time. Furthermore, if my suspicions were accurate about a broken leg, it seemed improbable that my planned trip to Switzerland in a month would come to fruition. The tears started flowing, and they wouldn’t stop. Two paramedics showed up, helped me get up, and put their arms around me as I hopped with one foot to get to the stretcher parked outside.

The rest of the details are less important. The best word to describe the remainder of the day was: waiting. Lots and lots of waiting. I’m grateful that my parents and boyfriend came to keep me company in the ER. A few hours later, I was finally called over to get an X-ray of my left leg.

The diagnosis was a fibula fracture. Great. Well, I guess this kind of injury was bound to happen at some point, right? Climbing is indeed an extreme sport.

Anyway, a doctor wrapped up my leg in a cast (and Ben helped him get it on me!) and told me I may or may not need surgery. He said that was up to the bone doctor and they weren’t available until tomorrow. He told me I had to come back the next morning. Wait doc, you’re just going to leave me hanging like that?!

At 6:30AM, my family and I left the house to get to my 7:15AM appointment with the bone doctor. She told me I didn’t need surgery and that in 6 weeks, I could start bearing weight on my left leg again. What a relief.

So what is the next couple of months going to look like for me? I don’t really know, but I’m already getting psyched about hangboarding and upper-body training. I’m writing up my recovery training plan right now! This time away from work and climbing will be a good time for me to reflect, relax, and work on building out my coaching business.

I’m deciding not to look at this situation as a setback but as a learning opportunity. It’s a different type of challenge than I’m used to, but nothing I can’t handle. Instead of thinking about everything I can’t do right now, what could’ve or should’ve been. I am choosing to focus on what is in my control and making the most out of this unideal situation.

This injury has served as a reminder of my deep passion for climbing and the immense gratitude I feel for this sport that motivates me to persist and strive for progress.

That’s all for me today! I’ll be sure to continue blogging about the recovery process. I think it will be fun to look back on and hopefully, it helps someone out there dealing with a similar injury. Just remember, everything is temporary.