Oct. 13, 2005
My sophomore year has been a lot different than from my freshman year is so many different ways. I finally moved out of the dorms, I am not the youngest in the gym or on campus anymore and last week, I had surgery. Ok ok, before anyone panics, I'm fine - I just have a tough looking scar now. I also got a quality week of pre-season under my belt before I went into surgery.
My right ankle had been randomly swelling up and I would loose range of motion once every two-three weeks for a few months before I actually took it seriously. On Tuesday morning I woke up and my ankle had swollen up again. I went to our trainer Dru who took me to our team physician - Dr. Smith, that night. Dr. Smith was worried that might have several bone chips in my ankle, and sent me for x-rays the next morning. Sure enough, he could see 2 big bone chips (there were actually 4) and booked me for surgery the following Monday. I have been really lucky with my body and never really had any serious injuries before. I'd definitely never had surgery and was really nervous about the whole process. At first I thought I could work through the pain and postpone surgery until April, but eventually I was convinced that having surgery was the best thing for me. I didn't get the bone chips from any specific incident or fall, they just built up over time from years and year of pounding. That's what six years of doing double back and full twisting double back will do to you.
The following Monday I had to be at the hospital eight am. I was really nervous, but the night before I had several question and answer sessions with my teammate, and old roommate Nikki Bowman about what to expect. She's had three ankle surgeries and just one month ago she had undergone the same surgery to remove a bone chips from her ankle. My mom was also willing to fly all the way from Boston to help me recover after the first few days of my surgery, which made recovery much easier. My Mom had been a nurse before she decided to have children, so she knew exactly what she was doing. Right before my surgery, I don't remember much, but I do remember getting my IV and seeing my coaches briefly (ok sorry, I don't remember seeing you, Rob!). During surgery Dr. Smith went in a scoped out the bone chips, they were huge and he actually gave me them to keep. The whole process only took about an hour. My first few days after surgery were actually very easy. The anesthesiologist gave me a nerve block that lasted almost two days and by the time it wore off, I didn't have any pain. Not being able to feel my leg or move my toes for a few days was kind of weird, but better than having my ankle hurt. My mom, wonderful trainer and teammates took care of me for the first few days that I was in a cast and using crutches. By that Thursday I had my cast off and was walking normally. The surgery went incredibly smooth and I never actually had any pain at all through out the entire process, which was great.
Now comes the hard part - therapy! I've been at it for a week, an hour each therapy session, twice a day, six days a week. The hardest part of physical therapy is watching my teammates get better and better and not being able to be out there improve with them. The big question is - when will I be able to vault and tumble again? I'm pushing Dru, our trainer as hard as I can but he's not budging, however I've been told I'll be 100 percent by the beginning of November. Which is obviously too long for me, but I'm being as patient as possible with it. I'm real hard headed and convinced if you told me to vault today, I could do it, but that's not an option right now.
With just three weeks of preseason underway, the team looks awesome and everyone is working very hard everyday. Girls are pushing through aches and pains and really getting the job done. As a team we are doing a lot more community service this year, which has been great. Last week, we worked the water stations at a half marathon. Cheering on the runners was amazing, and using walkie talkies with Paul's wife, Traci and my teammate Lisa, wasn't half bad either. Also, Paul, Kira, Rob's wife Joy and Kira's husband Chad all ran a leg of the marathon as well. It was fun switching roles for awhile, being able to cheer on and support our coaches as well as their families after all that they do for us.
That's about it for now, I can't wait to be able to work out with the rest of the team again and see how the rest of preseason unfolds. And of course we can't wait until our first meet of the year - Super Six! See you all in January.
GO TIGERS!