You're listening to life kit from NPR.
Hey, everybody, it's Marielle.
A few years ago, I was running late to a friend's graduation, so I ran quickly across the street to catch a light.
And about halfway through the intersection, I felt a snap in my calf.
Suddenly, I couldn't walk on that leg or even flex my foot.
Turns out I tore my calf muscle.
In the days and weeks after, I was so frustrated.
I felt like, how could this happen?
I'm a runner.
I don't understand it.
It was like my body had failed me, and I just wanted to know how fast I would get better.
I certainly was not in the mood to sit around and convalesce.
Convalescence feels like an old fashioned word, right?
It makes me think of a time before antibiotics.
You know, a time when women in long nightgowns would pace the halls of their victorian homes by candlelight, waiting for their loved one's fever to break.
It's possible I read too many gothic novels, but Doctor Gavin Francis says the word convalescence.
It resonates with him in Latin, it.
Means to grow in strength.
And so convalescence is a wonderful word, quite a beautiful word.
I think that takes in that idea that after illness, we've been weakened and we need to recover our strength and grow in strength again.