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Virada Nirapathpongporn LPGA Blog
5/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Virada Nirapathpongporn is a 2004 Duke graduate and a four-time All-America for the Blue Devils. She is a rookie on the LPGA Tour and is writing a blog during the season. Blog from www.lpga.com.
Hello, I'm back!
Long time no see! It's my bad. Sorry I've been slacking with the blog during my break. Well, my break turned out to be much longer than I anticipated. Some of you probably wondered where I went and why I hadn't been blogging in. I had an eye injury happen in the middle of a break I took that set me back a bit. Emotionally, I wasn't ready to write another blog, and I also didn't think it was a good idea to keep you guys worried so I waited until all is fine.
So, after the Phoenix event, I got to go home to Orlando for three weeks. While I was bummed about missing out on the ultimate "hospitality tent" (among all the other great things about the event!) at the Kraft Nabisco, getting to be at home was the next best alternative. I spent my break catching up on rest and working hard on every aspect of my game. I remember how I was feeling so good about everything that I couldn't wait to tee it up again.
But then as I was getting ready to come out to Vegas, I injured my right eye while doing an exercise with a rubber tube. The tube came off the hook and hit my eye, causing internal bleeding that blocked my vision for a week. The doctor ordered me to do no activity and stay mostly upright until the bleeding stopped and drained, which took a week and a half! (before this injury, I don't think I knew how to be "still"!). The recovery period felt very slow and agonizing to me (but still fast compared to most cases, Doctor said).
So I went from being so excited and motivated to come out and play to feeling so down about the state of my health and about missing the tournaments. My roommate, Leigh Anne Hardin, wanted to cheer me up so she brought home one evening my favorite Chinese from P.F Chang's. The sweet gesture made me smile and boosted my spirit, but then the fortune cookie shot it right back down! The little fortune note said, "You will find time for a long vacation". How ironic. I was hoping that the time I was having didn't count as a vacation, or if it did, I sure hoped that it was not going to be a long one.
Two weeks had passed since the injury (four weeks since my last tournament), and I started feeling better at this point. So I got up from bed rest and began getting myself ready again. In a way, I thought of the injury as a blessing in disguise because my previously inflamed shoulder seemed to have gotten a nice break, and my always-go-go-go body and mind were forced to have a real rest (for once in who knows how many years!). It was the most refreshing break I ever had!
By the 4th week, my doctor was very pleased with my recovery that he gave me the green light to start competing again. I was so excited and so thankful to have my vision back and even a chance to play healthy again. This break with the injury really gave me some perspective. I've always taken good care of myself most of life, but now I know that accidents and injuries do happen. I'll never want to have the game that I love be taken away from me like that again, but it's not a guarantee, now I know. So everyday, I realize that it's a gift for me to be out here and play golf. Moreover, it reminds me to go out there and seize my present opportunity. The Ginn Open in Orlando was my first tournament back after a 5-week gap. It was a comfortable place for me to resume my season because I was able to stay right at home. The comfort of sleeping in my own bed, eating at home, and having my eye doctor close by helped me feel more secure and relaxed. And it was probably why I ended up playing so well all week. Afterwards, I received an email from one of my friends saying "with the way you played this week, you might as well have injured the eye too!". Haha, it is funny, now, Stan!
It's certainly nice to be up and traveling again. All in all, the break did me a lot of good too. My mother came over from Thailand to hang out and help out, and I got to spend my birthday with her. The best was that she got to share the fun at the Orlando tournament too. And now that my eye is fully recovered and things seem to be back on schedule, and "looking up", I'm on my own again. But I know that my mother looks forward every morning to following my play on LPGA.com from our home in Bangkok.
By the time this blog gets posted on the Web site, I'll be in Williamsburg, VA. I hear that it's a beautiful place and a great golf course. I'm looking forward to both! Thanks for following my progress so far. Let me tell you again how nice it is to see the cheers and support from you all out there! I apologize for the delay this time.
I'll see you again soon!
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