Marie-Anne blogs for Santé about the cartilage problem in her knee. It once started after a skiing accident, today Marie-Anne reveals the full story.
How it started
It is 1999 and after a turbulent year I decide to go skiing in Austria with friends. The conditions are good. A nice hotel, fresh snow and sunshine. After a few wonderful days, things go wrong in a drag lift. Always found it a bit uncomfortable actually:a kind of mushroom between your legs where it comes down to dexterity and timing. Not quite my thing, as it turns out when after a clumsy maneuver I suddenly end up in the snow with my nose. My left knee is cracking and my leg is at an odd angle. In the Austrian clinic, the doctors and I see that the knee is getting quite thick and blue. The X-ray is inconclusive about damaged tires or soft tissue, so raise your leg, put ice on it and come back tomorrow.
Après Ski
Not quite the holiday I had in mind beforehand. And so, you are young and reckless, my girlfriend can persuade me to go to the pub on crutches in the evening. How cozy it is in Westendorf! Doable with a painkiller and a beer. There is singing, dancing and dancing. New friends are made left and right and the evening seems endless. Suddenly, completely out of nowhere, there is suddenly a dark blond woman who is after me. I would have talked to a man from her group of friends for too long and who do I think I am on those "interesting" crutches. pat! There I lie. Pulled to the ground by my hair. Totally bewildered. The attacker thinks it's not enough and stamps on my knees with her clumsy ski boots. Strangely enough I don't feel anything. Probably because of the shock and the adrenaline. I see that my friend who has come to the rescue is also thrown to the ground by her hair. Bystanders, in the crowded pub, look at it and do nothing. The music continues. Only after a while (in my opinion) the pub owner comes to relieve us. We take a taxi to our hotel and are quiet.
Shame
Back at the hotel, the woods of hair fall on the table. We can't get over it. That someone would just do such a thing! But also:that no one in the pub reacted or jumped in between. Why did that woman attack me? I play the movie over and over in my head, it is now hours later. I had only been talking about small talk, hadn't I? Had there been something in my body language that triggered her? I can't think of anything and that makes the attack even more incomprehensible to me.
Back to the clinic The next day I can't do anything with the knee anymore and I go back to the clinic with lead in my shoes. The doctor doesn't understand. He sees that my knee is even worse than the day before. Could I have skied again and fell? I have a hard time telling the true story. He keeps asking questions and eventually the high word comes out:someone has stepped on my legs with heavy ski boots. I can hardly get it out of my throat. What a nasty, dirty and unbelievable story. I am ashamed. Also because in my mind there are always people who jump to conclusions (too) quickly. 'Where there's smoke, there is fire'. "She must have caused offense." Nothing could be further from the truth. There was no fire and no smoke.
Declaration The doctor talks to me for a long time to make a report to the police. This is physical assault with injuries that he can easily prove to the police. I do not want it. I'm afraid. The attacker stays with a large group of friends in that roguish ski village and I only stay with a few friends. The unpredictable aggressiveness of the woman has taken a toll on me. If I were to file a report, I would have to constantly look over my shoulder nervously for the next few days. You can't run fast anyway. After returning to the Netherlands, an operation appears to be necessary, the first of many. I have never dared to tell the Dutch doctors about my Austrian adventure. Falling from the elevator also sounds very plausible, doesn't it?
Who is Marie-Anne? Marie-Anne, 48 years old, is married and mother of three daughters. She has a serious cartilage problem. It all started after a skiing accident, but hereditary factors and factors that doctors still don't know much about also play a role. Every other week she blogs about her (patchwork) family, the care in the Netherlands and her knee, which she recently had surgery on for the ninth time.
Read all of Marie-Anne's blogs>>
