Editor’s Note

At this stage in my life as a person in her

mid-20s, my greatest lesson of patience was after a surgery repairing the ACL in my knee two years ago. A tumble down a ski slope obliterated a ligament in my knee, and thus started a physical therapy journey for rehabilitation.

With a month between the injury and surgery, my leg quickly forgot how to function as it had the first 20-plus years of its life. My quad muscles wouldn’t operate as they should, and I became so frustrated that I would will them to flex or react, and they just wouldn’t. It was also an extremely humbling experience as I had to come to grips with asking for and accepting help — not an easy task for me. I needed people to carry things for me and help me with other tasks I normally could do alone.

A few weeks after surgery, I entered physical therapy. I remember looking at my physical therapist like she had lost her mind when she took my crutches and instructed me to walk from one side of the room to the other. I was scared, and promptly told her I couldn’t do what she had asked. She assisted me as I put one foot in front of the other; I successfully — but not beautifully — hobbled to the other side of the room. During my eight months in physical therapy she pushed me, hard, and for that I’m grateful.

Ski patrol personnel brought me down the ski slope after I tore my ACL during a fall. I enjoyed the rest of my ski trip from inside after injuring myself.

I learned that my body isn’t as indestructible as I once thought it was, it’s OK to ask for help and to be patient with my own body as it heals. All of this was thanks to the doctors, nurses and physical therapists in Boone who helped me along the way.

In this edition of All About Women, we get to know various local women who have a hand in the health and wellness of those in the High Country. This includes nurses, fitness trainers, midwives and a doctor. Our columnists also delve into topics such as mental health, COVID-19 and physical wellbeing. In various ways, women in the High Country are playing major roles in caring for the health of our communities.

I hope you, the reader, are doing the best you can to take care of yourself — mind, body and spirit!