Compare a career ending injury to other life event

Okay, I have now torn my ACL in both legs (awaiting surgery for the second one) and have decided to give up the sport of wakeboarding. I have been trying to explain to my girlfriend what Im going through so I tried to put it in words and situations she can understand.

I compared it to losing a child at birth. Needless to say she all but flipped out at this comparison but hear me out here...

Since I was introduced to wakeboarding it has been the single most positive influence in my life. Wakeboarding is/was my antidrug. Not that I did crazy drugs or anything but I was your typical 20 year old guy, drinking 3 or 4 nights a week, randomly jailed for being a drunken retard, etc. It wasnt till I found wakeboarding that I began to give my friends grief because they didnt want to go to bed early to get up at 5 for a ride on the butter. When I wasnt boarding, I was watching videos, researching techniques and riders, scoping out the top notch gear. I made friends over the years in this community and have grown competitively with them. When Im out in the X-Star, I often times think to myself, this is what makes life worth living.

Now... strip that all away. Lets talk about ACL surgery, from the moment of injury, when you hear that dreaded "pop", you know bad things are coming. You hope for the best but when the MRI results come back and you hear your doc say. "Got some bad news." your head drops and you feel that feeling in the pit of your stomach. Those who have experienced it know what I mean. Id rather be hit in the face full swing with a baseball bat then hear that horrible news. Well, this is my second ACL so I need to make a decision whether my health is worth the enjoyment I have experienced over the years. I know Im in for about 6 months of severe discomfort, with at least 6 weeks of extreme pain (surgery and rehab). Now I cant compare this to a pregnancy but from what I know of it, sounds fairly similar.

Now, go through all that pain and suffering, just to have that one thing you live for and want so badly to be taken away.

Obviously, since I am not a woman I cant reall make the comparison but it was the closest thing I could come up with to help her understand how depressed I am feeling. Most people just think, oh, hey dumba$$, way to go messing up your other knee, do you now finally realize how stupid wakeboarding is? You know where I tell those people to go.

Please, I want to hear objective opinions on this (just out of curiosity on my part), not the pro life opinions like, "How could you ever compare a sport to the loss of a life." I agree losing a baby is tragic and Im not saying I would agree to have a baby killed to save my knee. All I am tyring to relay is that the depression and sadness felt by the mother in that situation is similar to my feelings right now. Sure I can wakeboard again if I like, sure she can have another child. Sure Ill get over the injury, and she will get over the loss. But I guarantee I will never forget the day I lost something I loved, and she will never forget the day she lost what she loved.

I hope I didnt morbidly offend anyone or bring them down with this post, just wanted to get some things off my chest.

Ill get by, and more than likely will not be able to keep myself away from the sport, just sucks to be so accident prone I suppose....

Peace out. Good luck to everyone, I will live vicariously through you!