We ended up in Washington DC for about a week to process my green card. While we were there, we had a video call set up with my doctor to get the results from the biopsy. It was around noon on February 26. There was so much anxiety, sitting there for the call, thinking, What’s this going to be?
When the doctor said that the tumor was benign, relief doesn’t even begin to describe it. I broke down, I cried, I smiled. It was the first time I could breathe in weeks. A weight lifted off my whole body.
A lot of people had been asking what was wrong and why I had been off the platform, not teaching live classes. “Has something happened? Are you leaving Peloton?” Once I knew it was benign, I wanted to be open about what was going on. I took out my phone and recorded myself on the street telling the story and what was on my mind.
I’m super grateful for the Peloton community. They’ve been nothing but supportive and lovely. When I first came to Peloton, I didn’t want to talk about my stroke. I didn’t want to seem like I couldn’t do the job as well as anyone else. But then I realized I should talk about these things. If someone on the bike is going through the same issues, it can be powerful for them to know they’re not alone.
Life happens—to all of us.
Any awareness we can bring to these topics is a good thing. I’d never heard of sarcoma, but about one in five people get some form of cancer now. Before I had a stroke, I thought no one under 60 years old had a stroke—but an increasing number of younger people are affected. (For me, anyway, there was no connection between my two conditions.) Sharing my story—and hearing other people’s stories—has been extremely positive.
By the time I shared my story, I was still in pain, but I was feeling better. And beforehand, the doctors had recommended 10 days to 14 days off from Peloton after surgery. So when we got home, I returned to work. I was desperate to get back to prove that I was fine, I could do this, and nothing could stop me.
In truth, looking back, I was 100% not ready. I was in pain during workouts. Afterward, my whole bandage would be full of blood.
Thankfully, I had a holiday booked two weeks after my return to teaching, our babymoon in Tenerife. Usually, on holiday, we’re like, ‘We need to climb this mountain, we need to do this skiing adventure.’ We have 10 things planned every day. But for the first time ever, we did nothing. We read books, sat by the pool and the beach, chatted, got food. It was a great little holiday to have with each other.
Those days allowed me to slow down and let the body and mind heal. I finally got the recovery I needed.
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