Some rather ironic things have happened since my knee injury.

One such instance occurred when we had two items delivered to our home at the same time. One item was the Olympic tickets I'd purchased to my events, and the other was an ice machine to help rehab my knee.

It's moments like these that give me pause. I'm on a new path and fully committed to my rehab, but my Olympic passion and spirit still burn strongly inside me. That part of me is still adjusting to my new reality and learning to let go of a dream I held so close to my heart for so long.

This emotional wound will take a while to heal, but I still love my life and feel like one of the luckiest people alive. This is how I know I'll be just fine, and I look forward to the new and different opportunities that I'll have over the next eight months of rehab.

Torch update

Teck, my title sponsor, has just told me that they've purchased my Olympic torch on my behalf so that I may have this keepsake forever. I was so touched by their generosity and this wonderful gesture. Truly an exceptional organization, and one that I'm proud to represent.
Introducing... (drum roll please)... Degree Watch!

What's this? Well, Degree Watch is my new measuring tool of my knee's progress. The number of degrees I reach is how far I'm able to bend my knee. To help explain, when  my leg is extended totally straight, that's considered zero degrees. My goal is to be able to bend my knee so my heel touches my butt. This is just shy of 180 degrees.

Right now, the Degree Watch sits at 25 degrees. A long way to go, but at least I'm now working at it.

For the next three or four weeks I'm only allowed to bend my knee while lying flat on my stomach. This is the position in which my PCL is most protected. I'm doing this work three times a day with the help of either a physio or David (who I'm sure didn't read that part in the fine print when we got married).

David and my family (while I was back in Ontario) have all been amazing and vital help in all I do. I can't thank them all enough.

New hobbies

As you can imagine, I have lots of time on my hands (though it's not nearly as much as I expected, as media requests have been pouring in as our country catches Olympic fever -- my favourite kind of fever!).

So, what's keeping me busy? Well, I've been a long-time photography buff at heart and I finally jumped in and bought myself a great SLR camera. I had some old lenses and equipment from when I jumped in as a teenager (but this was pre-digital, so it's mostly just been collecting dust). I'm now all set up and learning so much. It's been wonderful to get back to this passion of mine.

I'm also working towards improving my German - though, I have to admit, I've been procrastinating on this. But I'm going to do it. In my sport, knowing French, English and German would be amazing!