About Me

Craggin Classic in NRG

Hi, I'm Olivia and I don't keep up with my blog very well. I started this blog as a way to document my recovery from shoulder surgery, but I really didn't update it much because I kept telling myself things weren't worth writing about. I really hate writing, so convincing myself to not formulate a personal essay to be published online every week was easy.

I tore my labrum in July of 2014, and eventually had surgery at the end of September 2014. I tried to not be injured. I kept telling myself it was fine to not be able to lift my left arm over my head without pain, it doesn't matter if my arm actually won't reach behind my back for a jacket sleeve, and that I could climb through the constant pain. My doctor told me that for this degree of a tear, surgery wasn't an option, it was a necessity. It was a hard decision to have surgery and give up my last bouldering season in the southeast, but I'm glad I went through with it. If anyone has any injuries that may be serious, I would encourage a doctor's visit. It's better to fix injuries sooner than drag it out over months or years of semi-misery.

For the six months I was completely out of climbing (not including the month before surgery when I couldn't climb), I went out climbing every day I could just to be around the people and things I love. I picked up photography once I got my sling off (six weeks post surgery), and once I had a productive thing to do at the boulderfield, it wasn't as hard to not climb.

I dropped photography as soon as I could do a pull up again and went out to circuit warmups. I felt very fragile for a while, but I've been getting over feeling broken and have been putting my entire body back together. Taking about seven months off activity was strange for my body, and I've been tweaking all of my muscle groups back into balance in the following months. I'm about 11 months post surgery, and not 100 percent yet. My shoulder is still weak in some planes and I am working on my core tension, but I'm proud of how far I've come in almost a year.

Photo by Zach Silberman 

Instagram @oliviapenelopececil, if you want to see blurry iPhone shots:

I just want to drink hot tea and dig in the rice bucket