As 2023 wrapped up, I was excited about going on my first Kundalini yoga retreat, then I would go strait into the Christmas holiday and finally would wrap up the year jetsetting to Vegas to ring in the New Year by watching the Dita Von Tease show. Sounds awesome right? It pretty much was except, the flight from Mexico to Charlotte gave me a half hour to go through customs, transfer my bags to the connecting flight and ultimately go through security. Pumped up with total adrenaline, I was set on achieving this goal. Feeling like a new person after my week of Kundalini yoga, I ran with my carry-on like I was in a marathon, only to find myself at the wrong gate and ultimately missing my flight. Two days later, I couldn't use my right arm. Swimming has been off the table ever since leaving me perplexed as to why it wasn't healing as quickly as I wanted it to. The irony in all this was I was losing weight, becoming in better shape and even completed in the 400 IM and 200 fly at the "Dr. Bill Ross Memorial Masters Swim Meet" on November 19th. Coming back from the COVID era was difficult for me. I had developed some really bad eating and drinking habits and was up to 214 lbs with absolutely no exercise routine at all. I started with walking because it took awhile for pools to consistently come back. From 2021 to 2022, I was battling bad sciatica and finally found a physical therapist who had made a difference in the pain. During this time, I had agreed to reduce my yardage and since then I only hit 3,200.00 yards as a high on average. However, in the later half of 2023, my yardage was starting to increase. I had set my sights on Nationals and it looks like I've secured two top ten wins for 2023 (unless some results sneek in in the next few days). "Nothing lasts forever". It was a phrase my that mom's mom is known for. There is a lot of widsom in this statement. It actually aligns strongly with the buddhist principle of "impermanence". It's also a word commonly mentioned by my guru and it's just a fact of life I guess. It does teach us to value what we have when we have it, but also not to grasp and become attached, as indeed it will not last forever.... nothing does. So after living it up in Vegas for 2 days stuffing my face with great foods, and watching incredible shows, I also had time to jump into the Venetain pool. My friend is not a swimmer but as we swam in this pool parallel to each other, I struggled through the pain to keep up with to him and wondered... Why hasn't this healed yet? Something is really wrong.

After returning from Vegas, I was hit with a massive sinus infection which also was another factor to not hit the gym or pool. January 8th was my follow up with my physiatrist at Hospital of Special Surgery and I knew I could have her check out the arm. After tests, she was not sure if it was torn, and I was scheduled for an MRI. The results came in over the weekend. The x-rays had initially shown early arthris - not great but o.k. The MRI showed that there was no tear but unfortunately I've lost 1.3 cm of cartilage already on my shoulder joint. I was in so much shock in the appointment I forgot to ask when I could swim again. Apparently one day I'll be a candidate to have a shoulder replacement but this didn't sit well with me because it will severely limit my range of motion. My next stop is consulting with a specialist in shoulders at HSS because I'd like to know if there is anything we can do to slow this down. Apparently, this is a plight that a lot of athletes have. So, apparently I'm not alone in this by any means. I wish that made me feel betterabout the whole thing. My plans for Long Course Nationals are on hold as I await my first PT appointment. I simply do not know at this point when I'll be back in the water. It's so incredibly frustrating because I thought I could make a comeback. Now I really don't know how far I should push it to help preserve the life of my shoulder vs what I can get out of it today. On November 08, 2021 I started my new job at Cannondale. Ironically, I bought 2 bikes this fall as an investment as I wanted to see if I could get better at cycling. At least the knees are pretty good. Looks like more biking is in my future, at least for now. See you at "Cycle Bar" next week bitches! Water, I miss you. Love, A Mermaid.