“I didn’t sign up for this…”

I WAS going to post about the lovely creepy, crawly critter I found in my bathroom, and the trauma it caused me (yes, I was ridiculously dramatic upon sighting and proceeded to have nightmares and feel like things were crawling on me all night).  That is until life decided to laugh at me and give me something actually traumatic to write about…. 

It’s funny, before any of my soccer games I tend to have an image of myself getting hurt and before my most recent game I imagined myself having to walk down the aisle of my friend’s wedding with an injury.  Little did I know, this time my wandering mind was more of a premonition.  

 

After 19ish years of playing soccer, I guess it was time for me to pay my dues. The interesting part is the mechanism of injury.  I wasn’t slide tackling, no foul play, instead it all just came down to the “luck” of physics.  I stepped or twisted or did something along those lines and gravity took care of the rest, complete with a nice loud CRACK!  I may have said a less than nice word right about then…
 

On a lighter note, or perhaps a higher note, I learned that I can be quite entertaining when sedated.  They had to reduce my ankle before splinting it because it was dislocated so they gave me a sedative, which puts most people to sleep.  Not me!  Instead, when they told me to start counting down from 100 I did… however, they did not expect me to get all the way to 0, at which point I began counting forward again until they finally told me I probably didn’t have to count anymore.  Apparently I also made some pretty awesome faces, told them about getting my wisdom teeth out, and at one point exclaimed, “I did not sign up for this!” while shaking my finger (yea, definitely don’t remember that part).  Afterwards the PA told my mom that I was hilarious and didn’t stop talking the entire time and that she had never seen anyone count all the way down.  Glad I could at least at some entertainment to their evening shifts.

 ---> Fractured fibula, dislocated ankle, torn deltoid ligament ---> bring on the surgery.

I will admit it has been a bit of a roller coaster couple of days, but all in all I’d say my spirits are pretty high.  I was seriously bummed when I realized that not only would I not be starting my clinical this week, but I won’t be starting it for at least 6 weeks because I have to be full weight bearing first.  It’s upsetting, but it makes sense.  I would rather have a quality clinical experience even if it means we have to get creative with the timing of it.  I’m just really bummed because I was really excited about my placement and having a whole semester of clinicals.  I’m lucky to have such great clinical coordinators who make the whole processes easier for me.  I am also once again feeling ridiculously thankful for my parents.  My mom has been so great, even though I feel really bad asking for things. This whole experience would be a lot more difficult without her.  That’s the other thing about my clinical, there would be a LOT of obstacles I would have had to work out to start any time soon, but instead I can just focus on getting better.  I know it will all work out.

Back to my parents being wonderful, when I talked to the doctor I was really stressed about my upcoming trip to Texas.  I am in a wedding on August 10^th and was supposed to fly down on the 7^th.  Seeing as I am having surgery on Thursday, this was going to be difficult partially because I was going to be by myself but also because the plane would be ridiculously uncomfortable and wouldn’t allow me to elevate my leg or anything.  So instead my mom and I will be driving down over 2 days.  Yes, this will be a much longer journey overall but we can take breaks and I can sit in the back with my foot up.  I think God had this all planned out already when he had my parents get a new car very recently.

I won’t lie, having a bum leg is frustrating, but it’s not the worst thing in the world.  One blessing of PT school is that it has provided me with a lot of valuable perspective.  Maybe God just wanted me to have a little break.  Maybe he wants me to take a look around and appreciate all that I do have.  Maybe he wants me to stop complaining about stupid things like how I look and start appreciating my health and all the gifts he has given me.  Maybe this is meant to be a learning experience to make me more empathetic towards my future patients.  Sometimes things don’t go the way we want them to, but often times that is when we learn the most.

It’s going to be an interesting next few weeks.  Thanks for all the support so far, continued prayers for healing, a safe trip to Texas, figuring out my clinical situation, and for my sanity when I’m stuck being way less active than I would like to be are much appreciated.

Now go do me a favor and go for a run, walk, bike ride, or anything active for me.  I will sit here and bounce my beautiful niece to keep up my arm strength instead ;)

Oh and one more word of advice:

-- Always shave your legs before athletic events (whoops)

-- And have pretty painted toes to liven up a splint ;) (nailed it!)

-Fo