Parents Recovery After Illness

[Empowered]

So I have seen plenty of girls recover after injuries and mild flu/cold bugs, but I am wondering what to expect from my daughter coming back from a very serious pneumonia. She missed a week of gym which is nothing if you're just doing regular activity and healthy, but she pretty much slept non stop for 4 days and lost close to 10% of her body weight. Although she is now feeling 100% better and ready to head back to gym full time she is SOOO weak it's unreal.

She has done 2 partial workouts and her coaches have been great with taking it really slow, no running or cardio obviously because of the lungs, mostly stretching, a little bars (mostly spotted). No beam because of potential balance issues... no flipping at all.

My daughter however is a nervous wreck because move-ups to the next level are coming soon and though prior to the illness she had all her skills, she is worried it will take too long to get them back after this illness and she'll end up not going to L7.

So my question is for any parents who've had a child pick up a serious illness - How long did it take your gymmie to get back to normal?

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

Since the new competitive season does not start again for many months, I would hope that your DD's coaches would cut her some slack knowing she's recovering from pneumonia! Our L7 season isn't even over yet! At our gym, even though kids start training for the new level, their skills evaluation won't occur until about a month before the first meet.

 

[Empowered]

No grey area at her gym in terms of skill and moving up which is why she's so stressed. Either she has all her L7 skills by May or she doesn't compete L7 next year. Their season beings in December and the L7 season isn't done here yet either.

I am just wondering if coming back from being that sick will take a few weeks or a few months. I've never seen her this ill, and I've never seen a teammate with this extreme of an illness either so I don't even know what to tell her in terms of expectations.

 

[MaryA]

Wow... Seems kind of harsh that there's no wiggle room in the move-ups, especially given the situation. I don't have any feel for how long it would take to come back from something like that, except that it's probably vastly different from kid to kid. Glad your DD is through the worst of it, and just make sure she knows that, if she ends up having to repeat 6, it's not her "fault" and that she'll be doubly ready to take level 7 by storm the following year. Unfortunately, injury and illness is something that we have little control over.

 

[Esoteric]

my 8yo dd got mono last spring. A few of the 2nd graders (!!!) in her school class had it as well. She was out of the gym for 6 weeks. Granted, she was just on pre-team at the time, but she completely missed the move-up's with other pre-team girls. Her coaches were empathetic to her situation, and knew her capabilities, and when she returned to gym she was placed right in with the level 4's. Interestingly enough, after a week or so being back, she was even better than before she had left. Her coaches thought the rest had done her good. I think if your dd's coaches are NOT sympathetic to the situation, that is incredibly unfortunate. I am very grateful that I am not in an environment like that.

 

[JessLW]

Could you maybe have a pre-emptive meeting with your DD's coaches about the situation? If she had or was well on her way to having her L7 skills before she got sick, perhaps they could give her some leeway due to her illness. Do they not give injured athletes any wiggle room on move ups? It does seem unreasonably harsh.

Hopefully though your DD will bounce right back very quickly and it won't even be an issue!

 

[GymBee97]

Unfortunally there is no way to give a time to get back. Every person is different and how their body heals and recovers will be different. Your DD sounds like she had a very bad case of Pnumonia and with the weight loss etc she may take a while to get back to normal. You really don't want her to push it before her body says she is ready. The kids are always sad when they don't move up because of injuries but they are young and its only gymnastics - her health is more important.

It sounds harsh I can't imagine anyone having the next level skills by May if they are still competing. I would talk to your dd's DR and see what they think and also a meeting with the coaches/owners to see what exceptioins they may be able to make. Nothing is set in stone I know in my area they uptrain for the summer and by Sept they make the decision of who is close enough to actually compete that next level. Maybe the gym would be willing to let her train the upper level with the understanding that she could still be held back. Cant hurt to ask.

 

[bookworm]

Last year my daughter had pneumonia and it took a full TWO MONTHS for her to be back to full speed...patience is the word on this one...

 

[gym law mom]

I think it would be a good idea to talk with the doctor and get his/her recommendations for physical activity and when she can increase it. Then talk with her coaches and mention she's stressed about move ups. You might find there is some "wiggle room" if she can't practice at 100% for awhile. The worst thing to do is try and do full practices when she's so weak----she'll be back out of the gym and nobody wants that.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

you can't predict. but you can go slow. mono could set in if the body is not fully recovered.