09/09/2026
5th September 2025 - 1 Yr Back. Major abdominal surgery.
Couldn't sit or stand for more than 5 minutes without a piercing headache β the epidural needle had punctured the spinal membrane, and spinal fluid was leaking. Lying flat was the only relief.
Couldn't walk from one end of our bedroom to the other. And our bedroom isn't big. Couldn't get to a seated position without support.
For someone who had trained consistently for 30 years, who was fit well into her 50s β this wasn't about how her body looked. It was about not recognizing what her body could suddenly no longer do. It was a hard hit on my Identity, not vanity.
The first steps weren't in a gym. They were around our apartment complex, under my husband's watch, because my muscles didn't yet have the confidence to hold me up alone.
In dance class, I sat and took notes because I couldn't stand, do the fast movements and chakkars. I mouthed the bols, did padhanth instead of moving. It took 5 months before I could rejoin the junior batch with the simplest movements.
From there:
β December 2025 : Ran 4km in under 30 minutes
β 18th July : Performed a solo Rangapravesh, 11 months post-surgery
β 6th September 2026 ( exactly one year later): ran 7.5km
Here's what that year taught me, in a language I understand as a coach, not just as a patient.
Recovery and rebuild are two different phases β and they cannot be rushed together.
Recovery comes first. No overload, no matter how impatient you feel. Tissues need to heal. Blood flow has to rebuild. Muscles need real recovery, not just willpower. This phase runs on nutrition, sleep, and gentle movement that supports lymphatic drainage β not effort.
Only once that foundation is laid does rebuilding begin. And rebuilding is also a process, not an event β it's staged, measurable, and it takes longer than most people expect.
This is science, not motivation. And it's exactly the process we use with clients who are rebuilding after any kind of setback β surgical, hormonal, Metabolic or otherwise.