Pride and Pain, or Permanent Damage?

There are four kinds of injuries, the kind that takes you out for the rest of the game, one that takes you out of the game for a week, one that takes you out of the game for months, and the kind that takes you out of the game permanently. Every year thousands of professional athletes are taken out of their sports due to injury, and every year those numbers increase.

When I started feeling pain from my foot, my heart sank. A million thoughts ran through my mind. I have been working out on it for three months, is there permanent damage? How much will this injury set me back? How long will it be until I can fight again?

All of a sudden I was faced with all these mental, physical, and not to mention emotional decisions and the possible consequences of those decisions.
So what do I do? Do I keep my mouth shut and risk permanent damage, or do I listen to the doctor and stop all progress until it is healed?

It can be really frustrating when you have gotten so far, and given so much of time, energy, and resources to something that has to be put on hold. It makes me feel like if I stop this momentum I have going, I might not be able to get it back.

But I have to weigh the consequences for either decision. I have to decide what injury is worse: the one that takes me out for a few weeks, or one that could take me out permanently. My heart sides with my pride but my mind sides with the doctors. Its at times like these where I wish I was raised to set my pride aside.