"Copers"

Today, I had an appointment with Dr. Tex, the surgeon who operated on my knee. Dr. Tex talks a lot about building strength in my knee so I can work up to things like running. 

"This looks like a great sign!" he said, pointing at my bike helmet. I bike to my appointments, which is a very easy ride on the Burke-Gilman Trail. At times, it is faster to bike than it is to drive, especially in the morning when I pass the cars backed up on Montlake Blvd. Plus, I don't have to pay to park in the stadium garage. Win-win.

"It looks like you are well into the phase of doing 'activities of daily living' without a problem," he said. After my appointment, I had planned to take the Light Rail down to Capitol Hill to buy a new backpack for our upcoming trip to France. Yes, I am returning to activities of daily living. I can go to the grocery store and run errands. I can stand long enough to cook a meal. Yesterday, I stood at our kitchen counter for forty-five minutes peeling apples from our back yard for a cobbler. I could not have done that five months ago. 

I remember thinking about Dr. Backer, the Sports Medicine doctor I saw right after my accident. We were discussing whether or not I should have surgery. 

"So people are copers," he said.

"What is a 'coper'?" I asked.

"People who cope," he said. Of course, I thought, with an internal eye roll. "Those are people who have strong legs and keep their strength up so they can function without an ACL." In the yin and yang of strength versus flexibility, I am definitely in the flexible camp. The strength camp would laugh and tell me to go back to yoga class.

"With flexibility comes responsibility," Evan tells me.

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"It means you have to work harder," he said. Great.

Right now, I am supposed to be continuing to build strength in my legs, but building strength doesn't come naturally to me. I am wimp when it comes to lifting weights. I go to the gym and do the sets or reps I am assigned, but once I became competent, I stopped pushing myself and increasing the amount I could lift. I sat comfortably at the same weight for a long time. 

I thought about Dr. Backer's comments about copers. Ironically, copers would be best be able to cope with the recovery process of surgery. If they can build strength before the surgery, why not just get the surgery since building strength comes naturally to these folks? What does it mean for me, someone who doesn't like to lift weights? I couldn't "cope" without an ACL, but the recovery is harder for me than it would be for them.

This is so unfair. Or maybe not. Maybe they would have a hard time getting their extension and flexion back, which I enjoyed working on and was willing to work through. Maybe copers wouldn't like that part of recovery.