Seize The Day!: Best Shark Week Ever.

I saw my Orthopedic Surgeon last week for a follow-up appointment. He's a unique individual, to say the least. He speaks in code. Not like Orthopedic Doctor code, but some strange code of riddles that I can never quite decipher. Case in point, immediately after my surgery, I asked my him if I could drive.

"Do you have children?" he responded.

"No," I answered, hoping that would sway him towards allowing me to drive whilst donning a brace from hip to ankle.

"Do you like children?" he continued.

"um....most children," I countered, now extremely confused.

"Well if you drove right now, you would probably just hit and kill all the children in the streets."

"So are you saying that I CAN'T drive then?"

Wow. A simple "no" would have sufficed.

Nevertheless, as you all know, I have made it my life mission to impress this man with my miraculous healing and rehabilitation abilities (recall the persuasive letter I wrote to him?) My goal was to become the fastest healing, most motivated post micro fracture surgery patient he had ever encountered. As soon as I entered his office, leaning slightly on that one damn crutch, it became apparent that he was just not all that impressed.

"Why do you still have a crutch?" he inquired.

"Because by the end of the day, my knee starts to buckle and I walk like a 16 year old who just consumed their first 2 litre Rockaberry Cooler." I responded (Do you remember the Rockaberry Cooler? That drink was unreal - until you woke up with the worst headache ever.)

My surgeon did not even break a smile.

"I'm frustrated by the speed at which I am progressing," I explained. "The pain is interfering with my ability to push myself in physio."

"You're progressing like the average person would after this type of surgery. You're going to have pain. You might always have pain. Just push yourself harder." he responded slightly sympathetically, yet...not really.

"I was hoping that I wouldn't be your "average" patient. I was striving to be "exceptional." I explained stubbornly.

"Well, I guess you're just not exceptional," he snickered.

WTF?

With those four very harsh, hurtful words, I made an executive decision to take a few days off of work, head to the lake, and ~~go on a two day bender~~ celebrate shark week.

So that's what I did.

Boy did I ever celebrate shark week. I celebrated Bull sharks, Tiger Sharks, Great Whites. I even celebrated the lesser known Shortfin Mako shark of Argentina. I celebrated sharks with wine. I celebrated sharks with margaritas. I celebrated sharks with the best group of friends I could find.

With each celebratory drink, the pain dissipated, and "fun" Kirstie shone through (yes, I am much more fun with a little alcohol. Don't judge me). It was the best shark week of my life. I sang, I laughed, I danced (quite poorly on one leg, I realized once I saw video footage). And you know what, I was exceptional.