During these last 3,5 years (41 months) I've come to realize that there's no way out of this rehab if you don't allow people to help you with the mental part of the recovery. You can be tough as nails physically, do everything you have to to get your range of motion and strength back, but without the support of the ones who care about you and who want to help you, it is hard to cope the mental difficulties this injury unfortunately brings with it. So that is why I decided to write down some key factors (factors meaning the people who have been helping through this tough stage) in my 41 months of recovery:
1) My parents
Being a teenager I haven't always liked the way my parents handle things but I must say I wouldn't be where I am today without them. Until this day I have hidden my true feelings about the injury from my parents but the odd day I have told them how much that day affected my life. Back then I couldn't yet understand the fact I understand better now: that day hugely affected my parents' lives too. It's been a bumpy ride with a lot of ups and downs but I could not put into words how truly grateful I am to both my parents who have taken care of me, given me rides to the doctors, the hospitals, the physio appointments, who have taken care of all the shitty paperwork the insurance company keeps sending us and a bunch of other little things that together make hours and hours of working among me, my injury and its aftermath.
2) My little sister
I only have one sibling, a younger sister, but my god has she helped through a lot. We fight, we argue, we tease one another, but deep in my heart she is the most important person of my life. Now and forever. And even though she sometimes doesn't understand what I'm going through which is totally understandable given the fact that she's not faced with similar limitations, she has made so many days feel so much better and with her I can always be my own self whether it was laughing, talking serious stuff or crying.
3) My friends
Everyone needs friends, just a fact of life. I have been so lucky to have such a big group of friends I can talk to. I'm neither the most sociable person in the world nor the person who likes to open up about her feelings, but I know I will always have people around me I can talk to and that is a huge deal. It might not always come to people's mind that the mental recovery is at least as big of a part (if not even bigger) of the recovery than the physical part is. And that's what friends are for, to make you feel better, to make you laugh, and to make you forget the s**t for a while and just have fun and enjoy the moment.Whether it was in Finland or in Canada, I have some amazing and close friends I know I will always have in my life and having life-long friendships something I truly cherish.
4) Holly Wild
I want to bring up one special friend, Holly, who's one year younger than me but who's suffered pretty much a similar injury to mine. We are quite like soulsistsers; we both share a huge passion for football and love being active - both things that we both were told we could probably never do again. Holly has been a huge part of my recovery since I can share with her something I can't share with a lot of people. We can share experiences of the rehab process, we can motivate each other, support each other, help each other, make each other feel better. We have bonded so well and I feel like I've known her forever and I know that whenever there is a bad day and I feel like no one can understand, I can always talk to her.
5) The 0,02% -support group
Before my injury I was quite skeptical about all kinds of support groups because I thought that all kinds of people would just go there to write stupid things and comments. I am very happy to say I was totally wrong., I'm sure there are groups that are the way I imagine them but I have found an amazing support group that supports, helps and motivates through hard times; listens what you have to say without judging. There are some amazing people there that have truly inspirated me to keep pushing forward and it is nice to see that sometimes little things we say can have an impact on other people who have a similar injury to yours. And that is just such a great feeling.
6) My two amazing physios
I've been lucky to have found not one but two amazingly passionate and motivating physios one here in Finland and one in Canada during my exchange year. I've known Petri (here in Finland) for over three years and I can't thank him enough for all the work he does for my knee and me. I have had probably close to 50+ appointments with him now and he always finds hard and demanding exercises for me which I start working on and he takes the time to see me on an outdoor track after his work to plan with me things I can to there. He really has been a massive help for me. I don't see him quite as often anymore due to the insurance company not covering my physio appointments anymore but I still see him once in about 4-6 weeks and I can always give him a call if I need and I'm stocked to say that I will start filming a documentary about my recovery with him this summer!!! Tyler (from Canada), my other physio, was a massive part of my year spend aborad, away from my parents and all the usual. He helped through some difficult times and assisted me in re-finding my motivation and desire to do sports which I had lost for a while after my injury there. I saw him twice a month, he checked my weekly diary for workouts, he gave me workout programs I could do. Physios are a massive, massive part of the recovery. They help your physical rehab but when your physical rehab goes well it also helps you feel better, so they kinda promote your mental well-being too. Two people I owe a tremendous thank you for sure!!
7) The Fox family
I also have to mention this very special family for me in Canada. No matter what was my problem, no matter how annoying I was, no matter how bad things were going and how bad I was screwing up, they were always there to listen to me and help me. I only spent time with you so little, but you became to me my absolute second family meaning so much to me. I can even begin to thank you and I don't think there are words to say how thankful I am for everything they did for me, and let me tell you, it was a lot. Really some amazing, caring and loving people.8) My two talented surgeons
I was lucky enough to be operated by one of the very best knee surgeons in Finland after my first injury. He had a very busy schedule working in four different hospitals but he made some time out of somewhere to come cut my knee open and put in some newly reconstructed ligaments. He kept a very close eye on my knee for over two years operating on my knee three other times as well. Unfortunately he was too busy to stay as my doctor after my last injury and so I was shifted to another surgeon who, in fact, is one of the very best knee surgeons in Finland as well. Since pre-surgery and post-surgery it has been him who has taken care of the medical stuff with my knee and he's been very motivating and caring.
I have so many people in my life who have helped me that it would probably take pages and pages to name them all. But it is important to say thank you for the people who care about you, so thank you to everyone who've been sharing this path with me. It's been tough, complicated, confusing and witless but moreover it's been a journey that I am happy to have shared with others. I don't think my recovery will ever end but treasure the memories I make with people around me during this journey - whether they were good or bad - because the harder the road is the more beautiful the destination is.
