Her latest surgery, of many, was six hours in length.
“I was in the hospital a little longer than I had hoped because I had a very low hemoglobin from all the blood loss from all the surgeries,” Vonn said.
“I was really struggling. The pain was a little bit out of control, and I had to have a blood transfusion, and that helped me a lot. I turned the corner, and now I’m out.”
Vonn will spend the next few weeks in a wheelchair after she also fractured her right ankle. However, she said she was hopeful of making it to crutches as soon as she could, although she would likely be using those for up to two months.
She will need to go in for surgery further down the track to repair the ACL she ruptured nine days before her crash at the Olympics.
“I’m going to get it right, work on rehab, see what I can do and take it one step at a time, like I always do,” said Vonn.
“But, I can’t tell you how painful it’s been. It’s been really hard, and it was definitely not the way I wanted to end my Olympics … I wish it had ended differently, but I’d rather go down trying that not try at all.”
Medics attend to Lindsey Vonn on the slope after her crash.Credit: AP
Vonn said, despite it all, she was able to accomplish more than anyone expected of her to begin with.
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“This year was incredible, and so worth everything. I worked really hard to get back, and it was so worth it. This was just one blip on the radar. It was the one thing that I wish didn’t happen,” she said.
“But life is life, and we have to take the punches as they come, so I do the best I can with this one. It’s really knocked me down, but I’m like Rocky, I’ll just keep getting back up.”
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