Patterns of Oppression

Throughout my adult life I've found that as I try to do something to improve my health there's always something that speed bumps me. In the past, these speed bumps have been anything from back pains, shoulder dislocations, illness and no more gym access which leads to no movtivation.

This time around though I had a plan! I was sure I could avoid getting hurt, For my back and shoulders I've been stretching each morning and every night on a daily basis to keep everything rotating properly. To ensure proper muscle support, I've been doing 200 sit-ups before I sleep and after I wake as well as 60 push ups after I do my sit-ups. For class I make sure I have at least 15 minutes before class to stretch out and warm-up. I've even started taking some supplements to make sure that my body has extra vitamins and minerals that I might need during training. I felt I'd covered a good majority of the bases that have gotten me in the past and I was confident that this time I could avoid the BS!

Enter Friday night, I get home from work, my son is done with his homework and he asks if we can roll. A few times during the week I show him stuff I've learned in class and we just go over that and we both enjoy it. We threw on our Gis, hit the mats in the garage and I was showing him an escrima technique with your legs that I was taught that night. After that, we went over a double arm bar that we'd drilled a few Sundays ago and all was well. After an hour of drills he asked if we could just free roll, I agreed and we started rolling.

My son is not a small kid, he's 16 about 5'8 and weighs roughly 160lbs but wrestles for his High School team at 170. As we roll he pulls some weird wrestling technique which ends up twisting my ankle beneath me thigh, I felt a weird pain in the area above my ankle, but I decided to roll through it. I was able to get my left leg over his shoulder and head for a triangle set up and I pulled my ankle to stop him from posturing but he was able to work his way up, in my attempt to keep him down, I felt the same sensation again and this time I told him I needed to stop and check something.

Back when I was his age I'd been hit by a car which ended up with me having a compound fracture of my lower leg. Rods and pins were placed in there and it all healed well. The doctors said I had the option to remove the lower rod and pins or keep them in but I may have to go through phyisical therapy again so I opted to just leave that stuff in. So I've got 2 screws holding in a plate right above my ankle, they kinda protrude out of the bone and all you need to do is run your finger over my ankle and you can feel right where they are and that's exactly the spot where my pain was coming from. I ran my finger over that area and could feel no pins...WTF?!?!

It's been a couple of days, the pain has subsided but now there is a strange bump which looks like a third pin has been inserted. When I push down on this bump there's a dull ache that increases to pain when more pressure is applied. I think I'm gonna go see the doctor to have this checked out.

I knew something was bound to happen, it's been too smooth, in my opinion I've been doing good! Have cut my smoking to 3 a day, been eating properly - with the exception of a few pieces of fried chicken -, been going to the gym, have been steady with the stretches and workouts, so everything was all gravy, up until a few days ago.

I'm gonna call and make an appointment to see a doctor this week.

OH THE OPPRESSION!!!!