2020 has been a crazy year, or so I thought. I was excited to go into 2021 with a fresh slate, it felt as if nothing could stop me.
To give you some background, my name is Brie. I am a ski racer out of Vail, Colorado. I eat, sleep and breathe skiing, school, and of course the gym.
Jan, 11th 2019, I broke my back in 3 places, but thats a story for another time. Later in 2019, I was fully recovered… In June, 2019, I went to my first ski camp in Switzerland after my back injury. On the way home, I began to feel ill. I trained throughout July, hoping to get better till one day, I started balling my eyes out on the field. Why, you might ask? Because I couldn’t breathe.
I went to the doctor, and they diagnosed me with Bronchitis. A week later, it had gotten worse. Back to the doctor, and they determined it was Pneumonia. Could 2019 get much worse? I was diagnosed with Pneumonia a week before I was supposed to leave for New Zealand for more training. Of course, I didn’t let that stop me, and I headed to New Zealand on July, 30th, with lots of nebulizer pods in my bag.
I recovered, and I was feeling better. When I got back from New Zealand, in October, I had my wisdom teeth removed. Pretty normal, right? Wrong. I proceeded to bust a suture, get a dry socket, and then get an infection. I was miserable. Luckily, by end of November, beginning of December, things were looking up. Training was going well, and I was regaining and building up my strength. I was set to leave for Jackson Hole, WY on Dec. 21, 2019 for a 4 day race series. The night before, I was struggling to breathe once again. At 7.50p my mom drove me to the Urgent Care right before they closed at 8p. I was the only person in there, and they ran a few tests. I had Influenza B. If you aren’t familiar with the flu, the B strand is the worse strand.
Crying in the Urgent Care from this horrible news, I was given a new drug, Xofluza. We were told that I would feel better within 24–48 hours. Of course, I flew to Jackson Hole the next day, with a mask and everything. Again, this is a longer story for another time.
By January, 2020, I had recovered from the flu. I was feeling better, but I still wasn’t quite at 100%. Throughout the next month, my energy began to lessen and lessen. I couldn’t take more than 5 runs in a day. That is nothing for ski racers. I ran blood tests, and discovered that I had an Iron deficiency, Vit. D deficiency, and my adrenal levels were extremely low. Over the next few months I worked on getting them up through taking multiple supplements, and I began to get my energy back. (Longer story about that for another time)
In March, exactly 2 days before everything was shut down and the season was cancelled, I hit my head very hard while skiing. I was taken in an ambulance to the hospital, neck collar, oxygen, and all. I was talking very slowly and was scanned for a broken neck and brain bleed. Luckily, it was just a horrible concussion.
The season was gone, I recovered from my concussion, and It was June. We were able to train here and there for different camps (I can write about that in another story). Flash forward a few months to Sept. 27th, 2020.
I was at dryland, of course there was no snow yet, so we were on the field training. I ended up tearing my Labrum in my shoulder and got surgery Oct. 28th. (This is a very interesting story that I will most likely write about next.)
I have been recovering from my shoulder surgery for quite some time now, and I was expected to return to snow Jan. 7th, 2021. That is, until yesterday.
Jan 1st, 2021, I woke up with a sore throat, a headache, trouble breathing, all the symptoms that I thought pointed directly to the flu. I got tested yesterday, Jan 2nd, 2021, just to find out that flu was negative and COVID was positive. Of course, I was upset. It’s almost as if the universe doesn’t want me to ski. It just tears me down once more.
I was very upset because I was in contact with 2 friends, one of which was supposed to race for the first time in a year and a half. Kinda sucks, right?
I’ll label them Friend A and Friend B. Friend A is the one who was supposed to race for the first time in a year and a half. Friend B texted me today, saying that they tested positive, and they think they may have given it to me. Interesting, right?
Today has already been a crazy day, and I don’t feel as bad for my 2 friends as I did yesterday. I don’t feel as bad because Friend B may have given it to me, so it’s not entirely my fault.
In terms of how I am feeling, I am still having trouble breathing, and I sometimes have muscle aches, I have a sore throat, but luckily, my sense of smell and taste are still there.
I guess this whole article/essay was really just giving you a background history of who I am, and what all I have experienced in the past year or two.
I plan to write/check in each day and see how I am doing.
I doubt anyone is going to read this, but if you happen to read it, feel free to reach out, or comment on this post (if you can- I’m new to this platform).
Thats it for today, and this gives me something to do in quarantine.
Have a lovely day!
BR