Lindsey Vonn comes home, "long and painful" rehab ahead

Happy to finally be home, Lindsey Vonn said in a social media post on Sunday that "a hard and painful journey" is ahead as the American skier recovers from a devastating crash last month in the women's downhill at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Vonn, 41, has undergone five surgeries since suffering a complex left tibia fracture after clipping a gate and sailing off course 13 seconds into the Feb. 8 run. She said later that the damage was so great that she might have had her leg amputated if not for Team USA's orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Tom Hackett, quickly treating the resulting compartment syndrome from the crash by performing a fasciotomy.

With compartment syndrome, the excessive pressure building up inside a muscle from bleeding or swelling restricts blood flow and can lead to permanent injury if not treated quickly. Hospitalization for four surgeries followed for nearly two weeks in Italy and then a fifth surgery and recovery in the United States before she could travel home on Sunday.

"Home sweet home. Feels good to sleep in my own bed," Vonn shared on Instagram. "I'm focused now on therapy and getting healthy. It's going to be a hard and painful journey but I am putting all of my energy into it, like I always do."

Vonn noted emotional pain for a different reason, the death of her dog Leo, a shelter dog that she adopted in 2014. She wrote earlier this month on Instagram that Leo was diagnosed recently with lung cancer after surviving lymphoma a year and a half ago.

"The day I crashed, so did Leo," Vonn had written, giving Feb. 9 as the day he died.

On Sunday, Vonn wrote, "wheeling through the front door without Leo greeting me like always was a very hard reality. A reality I had to face. Along with many other hard realities that lay in front of me as I move forward...."

She informed followers that she is "going to take some time for myself" and will provide updates when she can, then thanked them for their love and support.

Coming out of retirement with a partially rebuilt right knee, Vonn was considered a medal contender at the Olympics before her final World Cup race a week before. In that downhill, she tore her left ACL, though she said she still could ski in the Games.

Vonn was in search of her second gold medal in the downhill, having won in 2010 in Vancouver. She also has two bronze medals. She has 84 World Cup victories, including two this season.

--Field Level Media