If you read the previous post at the end of March, you may see a comment that I did not feel so good. Here is a brief summary of the story from there:
With some intestinal challenges and what I felt was a yeast infection, I went twice to the doctors in two weeks in early April before Easter to see what was going on. After the second visit, I was sent to the radiologist to scan my intestine to see what was happening. What was happening turned out to be an 8+ cm, 600 gram fibroid in my uterus, sitting on my intestines. Needless to say that required surgery for removal in the form of a total abdominal hysterectomy on 23 April. Or in the terminology of those of us who deal with this health issue as now I am one, I had a TAH-BSO, which was cancer-free. I also had a mammogram which was also clear and good. And I lost 4.5 kg from surgery, which put me back in the right weight class. 😉
So I missed the all womens in May in Austria that I had registered for, and was faced with missing the European Masters as well. Fortunately, last October I had passed my exams for my IWF Cat 2 international referee license. So being cleared by the surgeon to fly after six weeks postop, we went to Bangor to referee and not to lift.
I am glad I went for several reasons. The most important reason for me at this time is that these are ‘my people’. They get it when I discussing rehab and coming back, they support and appropriately caution me on recovery from experience, and I got a lot of encouragement, empathy and love, which was really needed about now. Hard to explain in any other way than these are my friends, even if I only see them once or twice a year, and they come from the same mindset I do. Thanks!! Lots of appreciation to my friends from Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Cyprus, England, Wales, Scotland, France and especially Denmark as we were at the same hotel again as we were in Azerbaijan! If you see the photo below with the screen behind me, the tall lady to the left of me in red and black is Dorthe, a lovely long time friend from Denmark and she won gold. I had to get the gold medal on her on the first level of the rostrum, which gave us all a humorous moment as we both adapted to reach each other. She joked later she thought she was going to have to hug me and pull me up so I could put the medal on her.
So instead of lifting photos, you get referee photos in my cute monkey suit. Starting recovery which is a slow process, but hope to be back to fitness in the early Fall. 🙂
