Personal Narrative: My First Injury

A time I had to overcome adversity in my life was when I became injured during the middle of cheer tryouts. At the time I was very passionate about competitive cheer, and my goal was to make the junior five team. When I got to tryouts everyone was tumbling, stunting and doing the dance routine. My adrenaline was pumping as I went to warm up my tumbling and throw a roundoff, back handspring, layout. I was determined to accomplish this for tryouts and impress my coach, but I was still very nervous. As I was running into the roundoff back handspring, I knew something was bound to go wrong. The next thing I knew I was in the middle of the air and suddenly landed on my knees, with my ankle twisted under me. My face got bright

The first concussion I had was in late May of 2016. It was at a memorial soccer tournament. Our team was not good. We tied our first game and lost our second. So really, there was no chance at all to go the finals. The last game which was around noon on that Sunday. We had a goal lead from a goal I had scored earlier in the game and coach wanted me to play defense so we wouldn't give up a equalizer. It was about 5 minutes left in the game and the other team’s goalkeeper had just punted the ball. Me and a forward for the other team both went up to get a head on the ball. When I went up the back of the kid’s head collided with mine. I right after went onto the ground and covered my nose because that also had started to bleed.

Three concussions. Five months. The hardest hit to my life so far, was me being hit. The physical pain of headaches, the mental pain of slower brain process, and the emotion pain of losing the ability of playing the sport that I love so dearly, has affected life in all aspects. I was removed from sports, dance, school, and even at times I felt like I was removed from my own body.

Three concussions. Five months. The hardest hit to my life so far was me being hit. The physical pain of headaches, the mental pain of the slower brain processes, and the emotional pain of losing the ability of playing the sport that I love so dearly, have all affected life in many aspects. I was removed from sports, dance, school, and even at times I felt like I was removed from my own body.

November 15, 2011 started out like any other day. After getting some of my lessons completed I took my dogs for a walk. Well upon returning my sister put up a challenge I couldn’t refuse. She wanted to race with me. Well being the older brother I just knew I would win. Well things took a turn for the worse quickly. Running as fast as I could go, my foot caught on a tree root and I went flying. I fell to the ground and let out a blood curdling scream! My sister panicked, my dogs panicked and I simply held my hand and walked in the house to show my grandfather. My left little finger was bent at a 45-degree angle at my large knuckle!

Anytime I revisit the memory, I tend to review multiple different times throughout the course of the injury and recovery process. I first come to the exact moment the injury occurred. The estactic joy I was feeling as I reached the 18 yard line box on my opponents side of the field, knowing that it was just me against the same girl I had beaten and scored on during the previous possession, quickly dissipated once I made a spinning move and the girl rammed into me from behind. Almost suddenly, the joy was replaced with confusion. For an injury this severe, people assume that the first thing one feels after tearing a ligament is pain, but in my experience, they are wrong. Rather, one feels time almost stop around them. The sounds surrounding them seem to increase in volume as well.

It all started on a beautiful day, It was nice and warm, the breeze was just perfect, the sun was gleaming, and the birds were chirping. My sister and I were bored so we wanted to go to the school. We walked outside and my sister wanted her friend to come too, so we went to go pick her up. We walk up to her front door, then knocked.

My head tilted close to her ear so my voice carried over the alarms in the intensive care unit. With a breathing tube impeding her speech she nodded no. “You were in a very bad accident, you are in the hospital, we are doing everything we can,” I murmured before turning my attention to squeezing bag after bag of blood into her veins.

The first time I realized something was wrong I was in the middle of an ice storm. I didn’t realize I was injured until I was sitting in the car as it meandered toward The Dollar Tree for some late night snacks. My right knee started to smolder as if someone had lit every tendon afire. Absentmindedly, I rubbed the affected area, as if my hands possessed magical healing powers that could make the pain dissipate. Mentally retracing my steps proved enlightening as I tried to figure out what had caused this irritation. No one had seen me slide and jerk on the black ice that enslaved my friend’s rear porch while I had been running to keep pace. I tried to convince myself that I could deny the pain and it would depart. Consequently, time continued to pass, and the pain only intensified. It nagged like a child in a grocery store, yet I still tried to refuse it. No, my knee is fine it will be gone in a day or so. That tactic only worked for a miniscule moment.

I am back in the hospital for round 4. Since I recovered so quickly after round 3 Dr V increased my chemo dose. Hopefully, it does not result in additional side effects. I started chemo at 6pm last night and so far I am feeling pretty good so praying that continues. My IV pump only beeped once last night and was woken another time for blood draw and vitals so I actually slept pretty good last night comparably. Maybe I will actually be able to stay awake for the Cubs win tonight

I was expecting junior year to the best, but honestly it was the worst semester. I can honestly say I have no idea how I passed with no fails. I stopped and thank the universe for my recovery because there's no doubt my momma would beat me down to a pulp. I went back to my old habits of not paying attention in class, talking and distracting other and I even started to finish up yesterday's homework in advisory. My mentality was “I’ll bring it up at the end.” This is what I did by the way! Dreams do come true kids. Nevertheless, I slacked off a lot of my classes, I was still involved in extracurricular activities like, volleyball, HOPE, and on the side volunteering. Even with all of these extra activities I wasn’t going to be able to further

There was a sharp tearing pain in my leg. I jerked away from it, a thick red line standing out on my bleeding leg. Before I could process further, grief was ramming into my chest, and I was on my back.

Throughout my life, I have experienced many medical hardships in my own medical history. Around the age of 10 years, I developed seizures which took over my life for about two years and hospitalized me almost every day of those years. The frustration of dealing with some of the medical professionals that were involved in my care drove me to a desire to care for others in a manner that was indifferent and did not matter what a previous diagnosis labeled a patient. I found a challenge in my medical history of a lack of communication between the doctor and the patient, I also found that if a physician didn’t know the cause, they just labeled you by the books instead of taking time to find out what truly was going on. I think the biggest thing

Pain is an experience everyone has dealt with and recovers from in many different ways. The pain one suffers from can be temporarily or last a number of years both physically and mentally. The only good news about pain is that no matter how long it lasts there can always be an end to that pain. We can even grow from our experiences and make ourselves a better person. As a person whose future will lie in the world of health care I believe that if we remember and reflect on our own personal experiences with pain we can have a little better understanding in the pain others may be going through.

I recently finished a round of rehab with Aaron Schauble at your Decatur location and before too much time passes, I wanted to be sure and send a note to you about my experience at the clinic. As a business owner myself, I know how much I appreciate constructive feedback and I want to give credit where credit is due.