The Saga Continues

Happy Wednesday, everyone! How are things in your area today? I hope they are going well and that each of you is well, too.

Today’s post is more of an update on everything that has happened in the last few weeks with my injury. Yes, the collarbone was dislocated. You already knew that, but what you didn’t know, is that I kind of added to my issues last week. My tournament was last Saturday. Three days later (last Tuesday), I went back to training. I wasn’t feeling the greatest, but I went. I just assumed that it was because of all the adrenaline that had been running through my body for a month was now gone. I thought it was just an adrenaline “dump” as some people like to call it. No big deal. So, went to training that night. Everything was going fairly well. I didn’t fight very well, but nothing terrible. We finished up the first class and started the second one. Everything was completely normal and uneventful.

Now, I should probably explain how the two different classes work. The first class is called Fundamentals. This one is for all belt levels. This is the class that all new people start in and work through. We do drilling for the first half then we have live fights for the second half of it. The second class is a little different. The second one is the Advanced and/or the Competition Team training. The second class is usually much more physically demanding than the first one is.

Once the first class was over, people started to trickle out of the dojo. Normally quite a few people from the first class stay through to the second class. Not that night. That night, only three of us stayed with the two coaches. Five of us total. This isn’t always a bad thing. A small group usually means things are more laid back, and we are able to concentrate on things a little easier. We made it through the drilling with no issues at all. Then came the live rolls. With only five people, one of us would sit out and rotate into the live rolls at the end of a round. But this time, the fifth person happened to be a coach who also is recovering from a major injury and isn’t allowed to roll yet. No big deal. He would sit on the side and watch. The other four of us would just switch with each other and everyone would roll with everyone.

But, I was the only girl, and my coaches knew my collarbone was still messed up, so they had me stick to rolling with the coach or the one other guy that knew about my collarbone. It was going really well, and everyone was having a good time. We finally made it to the last roll of the night. Our coach announced that it would be the last roll, so we were going to do a ten-minute round. No big deal. We’ve been doing ten-minute rounds for a month getting ready for the tournament. So, here we go!

The guy I was rolling with is one of the nicest guys you would ever meet. He is a big teddy bear who also happened to win a gold medal the previous weekend in the brown belt division. He is an amazing Jiu-Jitsu artist. But he is also one of the safest people to roll with because he is very good at gauging his opponents. He is good at knowing what they can handle and how much stress and pressure he can put on them. He is an amazing training partner. We made it about five minutes into the roll when I managed to get out of his guard and get back to my feet. He was sitting on the mat, facing me. We were both waiting for the other person to make a move. Neither one of us had a finger on the other person. And that’s when it happened. I faked one way to start to work past his guard, and he scooted in to be able to grab his grips. His head connected squarely with the bridge of my nose.

His head hit with so much force that it echoed in the dojo. Those are padded floors and walls, my friends. Not much echoes in there! As soon as he hit, his eyes got huge, he gasped, and covered his mouth. I remember him saying “Are you ok??! I’m so sorry!! Are you ok??!” All I could do was laugh. He wasn’t real sure how to take that. I told him I needed a second to get the stars and blackness to go away. He went pale when I said that. I was kind of swaying a little bit. I remember him grabbing my uniform and my arm to try to steady me. The coach on the sidelines was asking if I was ok and if he needed to go get the blood cleaner for the mats. LOL! Surprisingly it hadn’t started bleeding yet! I was shocked. With the way our heads connected, I was sure it was going to be a faucet coming from my nose.

Once I got my bearings again, I was able to stop laughing and tell my training partner that I was ok. I looked up at him from my bent over, resting my hands on my knees, position. His face went even more pale. He said, “Brittany, your nose is crooked.” I laughed even harder! That’s when the bleeding started. I had to run off the mat before I got the blood anywhere besides my rash guard that now had a streak of blood on it.

Once I got back from stopping my nosebleed, we still had about a minute left in the round. We shook hands and started over on the fight. The rest was completely uneventful! I think my training partner was afraid to move! Poor guy!

After we finished class, I went to get changed into my normal clothes again. I hadn’t really looked at it when I was trying to get it to stop bleeding, so I figured I should scope out the damage. It was REALLY crooked. I didn’t want to go to the ER for a stupid broken nose, but I figured if I made an appointment later to get it straightened out, it would probably have already healed too much to do anything about straightening it without breaking it again. Any guesses what I did next?? Yep. I pushed that baby back to where it was supposed to be. I straightened my own nose. I have never heard so much crunching in my entire life. And it made my eyes water! It was the weirdest feeling I have ever had! But, I got it straightened out!

I finished changing my clothes and went back out to the main area. I started getting my shoes and stuff on to go. I walked into the office quick to say goodbye to everyone. My training partner was there along with the two coaches. My training partner asked me one more time if I was sure I was ok. The second coach asked what had happened. He was rolling with the other teammate when all this went down. We explained what happened, and he started smiling. He looked at me and said it didn’t look too bad. My training partner got a funny look on his face and looked closer at my nose. He started to say something, but I cut him off. I said, “It’s fine now. It broke, but I pushed it back so it’s straight now.” All the guys started laughing! I don’t think they knew what to do with that answer! I’m still not sure if they thought I was nuts for pushing it back, or if they just think I’m crazy in general for everything I’ve been trying to work through these last few weeks. I’m learning quickly that, when horrible things happen in life, you can either laugh or cry. I hate when I cry. I HATE when I cry. So, that only leaves one option, I suppose. Laugh it is!!

Because of everything that has happened, I took the rest of last week off from Jiu-Jitsu. I think my body was telling me I needed a little break. I finally got the worst of the headache to go away on Friday. My nose is still sore and bruised, but it is much better than it was. I’m just thankful that I didn’t get a black eye from it! A little over a week off has also helped my collarbone. It’s still achy and a little sore, but it is definitely starting to feel better now. It always amazes me how much our bodies can handle and how much they can fix themselves if given the chance to rest. I don’t very often give myself a chance to rest, but when I do, I know my body appreciates it!

Maybe that’s the lesson I need to be taking away from all this. Maybe I need to learn that it’s ok to take a break every now and then. Whether that’s a physical break or not, is up to you. Sometimes we just need to give our mind a break. Do something you enjoy that doesn’t take any brain power. Do something you enjoy just to enjoy yourself. Don’t put a deadline on it. Don’t make yourself feel bad about relaxing for a few minutes. My body, physically, feels so much better after taking this last week and a half off the mat. I’m hoping to go back to training toward the end of the week. I’m excited to get back on the mat and start working hard again. My mind and body has had a break. Now it’s time to get back to work.