By CECILIA TIMME
Sheridan High School Student
The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.
As an athlete, I have always heard all these stories about people getting injured and being out for a year, but I never thought that it could happen to me.
I have never been someone who worries about getting hurt, so I just play the way I want to. This year, going into my sophomore sport seasons, I felt like I was ready for the seasons to start because of all the work I had put in during the summer. Four games into the soccer season, we had only lost one game and our next game was Western Boone. Before the Western Boone game, on Sept. 1, I never thought it would have been my last game of the season.
Ten minutes into the second half, I tore my ACL.
I was going for the ball and planted my left foot, then a girl hit me. My plant foot got stuck and my knee kept moving, and I fell to the ground screaming. As soon as I heard the pop, I knew … I knew that I had torn my ACL. I had never felt that kind of pain before, the kind of pain that caused me to have to stay on the ground and not get back up. As soon as I was carried off the field, I was told there was a 90 percent chance that I had torn my ACL. The first question I asked was if that meant basketball season was a no too, which it obviously was.
I stayed and watched the rest of the game on the bench, still trying to take in everything that had just happened.
The next day I went to get an MRI, but I did not need an MRI to tell me that my ACL was torn. I got my results quickly after my MRI and was told I had not only torn my ACL, but both of my meniscuses in my left knee too.
I had a lot of questions about what everything meant, but my main question was how long I would be out. I went to the doctor a couple days later and was told I would have to be out nine months. This put me back at the end of the travel soccer season, when I decided I would just start training again with my high school teams in the summer. I scheduled surgery for two weeks later, Sept. 21.
The next couple of weeks were difficult; it took me a couple days to be able to walk again. I then started physical therapy to try to get my leg as strong as possible before surgery. A week before surgery, my knee felt almost back to normal. It was strange to think that I really did tear my ACL. As my surgery date approached, it was weird for me to think that I was getting my knee strong just for it to be messed up again.
The day of my surgery I was ready to get it over with. I was ready to start rehabbing and to get the entire process started. As soon as I woke up from surgery, I was in pain.
Later that night when I got home from the hospital, I looked at my knee. My knee was swollen and covered with wraps and bandages. The day after my surgery, I went back to the doctor to get new bandages and then straight to physical therapy.
The first couple of days after my surgery it was difficult because I had to learn how to do everything over again. I had to sit on my couch for the first couple of days, elevating and icing my knee. I was supposed to do my exercises every hour, just so that I could be able to get my mobility back.
The first week after surgery was the hardest because I had to relearn how to use my knee again. For the two weeks after surgery, I would go to the doctor once a week. I go to physical therapy twice a week and each time I progress more.
One of the hardest parts for me has been watching sports. I am not a person that does well sitting on the bench, watching other people play. The very first soccer game I went to after getting hurt was easier than I expected. I think I was still in shock from everything that had happened. Watching the games through the rest of the season never got easier though, they just got harder. The closer games were the hardest, the games that I knew I could help my team out by winning. With basketball season just starting, I am having to learn how to adjust to not being able to play at all. In soccer I was able to play at least a couple games, but in basketball I do not get to play any.
I am learning a lot, though, because sitting on the bench has made me look at the games in a different way.
Going through an injury like this is very difficult, but my family and friends have made it way easier. As soon as it happened, I got a ton of calls and texts from everyone. All my friends and family came to sit with me after I had surgery, and they would take care of me. One of my favorite parts about living in a small town is the support everyone gets. So, when people heard I got injured, they brought things to help me in the rehab process. The support from all my friends and family have helped me a lot.
I am now three months out of surgery, and still go to physical therapy twice a week. I am able to speed walk on a treadmill and use the elliptical. I ride a stationary bike as a warmup now. I can do a lot more than in the beginning and can feel my leg getting stronger. I am looking forward to the summer where I will be able to practice again, but for now I am learning a new part of the game on the bench while I rehab back from my torn ACL.