Personal Narrative: It's Time To Come Back After Surgery

I was devastated, and it was extremely hard for me to recover, but after months of training and physical therapy, I gained my strength back and came back stronger than I ever have. Softball is focused on skill, physical and mental strength, and repetition. I have lived by the motto “Perfect practice makes perfect,” and I still do to this day. It takes patience to gain strength, and even if it takes months to accomplish, it all worth it at the end (trust me I should know). I have traveled all over the country to play, and have won multiple tournaments during my career.

Sports has always been a huge part of my life. I would be the one team player who took the sports season a little bit too seriously. I was the number 1 doubles player on my school's JV tennis team. Unfortunately, I fractured my ankle during my junior year and wasn't able to play with my team. I was devastated, but I didn’t allow myself to become disconnected from my team. I became the team manager to allow myself to still play a role in my team, despite my injury. I would record scores to my division leaders and take pictures to post on the website I created for my team. After the season was over, my doctor told me my ankles required surgery to become fully healed. I knew that meant I couldn’t continue to play tennis, but I didn’t want to give

I had been cringing about day for so long. I was completely terrified to go into that room. As the door opened I was exposed to a cold draft and I could feel the dense air. The day I was told this needed to be done was horrifying, and now it’s actually happening. They rolled me over to a new bed and I looked around seeing doctors everywhere. There was a table that they rolled next to me and on it was things that I can’t even explain. They put a green mask on me with tubes going through both sides of it. They told me I’d get drowsy and all of the sudden I closed my eyes and it was happening. I was getting knee surgery.

The accident happened just hours before the first softball tryout of the season. Unfortunately, I knew that this would be an end to my years in softball due to the drastic proportion of the break. Yes, I was bummed, but then I remembered that breaking my arm was a new opportunity to meet people or have new experiences. As I laid in the hospital listening to how my 2 surgeries were going to work out I whispered to myself repeatedly, “remember this is a new, helpful experience.” That was exactly what it was, too. My time through the hospital was full of influential people that to this day I continue to think about what they taught me. For example, one special nurse taught me that breaking my arm wasn’t a lost opportunity, but only a set back and once my arm healed I’d be stronger and better than ever. Though I never returned to the softball field I still remember from time to time that again, when bad situations happen, it is not the end of the world, it’s only a setback to push you into something

I stand awkwardly as a scrub nurse dresses me in a cap, gown, and booties in a hallway. At seventeen years old, it is a dream come true to have the opportunity to shadow an orthopedic surgeon for a day. Standing outside of the operating room, I pause to take a few deep breaths and remind myself to keep it together. I enter the room and stand behind the surgeon, wide-eyed and silently taking in the sights of the staff, the patient, and the assortment of astounding medical equipment in the room. The surgeon goes in for the first cut and opens up the patient’s right arm. In that moment, the room begins to spin slightly and a ringing overcomes my ears. Horrified, I sway over to the corner of the room and find my way to the floor. Convinced that I have completely humiliated myself, I sit there wishing for a way to disappear and escape from this embarrassment.

Back in November 2015 I underwent a heart valve repair and bypass, was not aware that I had had a heart attack in the paste, found out later that these are known as a silent attack. Immediately after my operation I started to notice the change in how I felt within.

I had my fourth knee surgery this past winter and my goal is to let go of my fear. I have one more sports season left before graduation. If I complete the full season, it will be the first time since my sophomore year that I have done so. I know that I will not be able to achieve the goal of playing a full season without letting go of my fear, and after four consecutive seasons on the sidelines I have come to fear more then just injury. I have come to fear not having the talent to play at the high school varsity level. I fear that the coaches will only see my as a injury waiting to happen and not as an athlete. I fear a season spent worrying about what could happen oppose to whats happening in the moment. I fear another season on the sidelines.

Katlynn was out of the hospital after about a week and a half. All of us girls cleaned the house spotless upon her arrival. That may not sound like much, but we were young girls that lived on a farm, so being messy was pretty much our thing. Katlynn came home and we all showered her with hugs. The first week she was home we watched her like a hawk, trying not to make it noticeable. Since Kate got out of the hospital she has to take pills every morning and night, and she had to make a trip to Mason city twice a year. Today she only goes once a year because she hasn’t suffered a seizure since. There have been a few scares here and there, though. It’s been seven and a half years since that terrible day, and Kate’s doing great. She is at the age

I started playing softball at the age of 5, as I grew up I continued playing, eventually getting to the highest competition for my age. I worked extremely hard. Softball was my whole life, my world revolved around it. I was a pitcher; I played for multiple different teams. I had a team Canada pitching coach, did personal training, every day I practiced or played ball. I didn’t have breaks and I didn’t want breaks. I worked hard to get where I got. At the age of 15, grade 10, I had developed nerve damage, I was in a walking boot or a cast for almost a year, nothing got better, we did cortisone injections into my foot hoping that would help, I got the injections then was put in a cast, I was scheduled for surgery but before the operation when

One morning I asked my surgeon/author friend to describe how he prepared for each surgery. He went on to explain how he filled out a “menu” of the surgical instruments he would need, which varied depending on the type of surgery he was about to perform. He would put a check mark next to numerous scalpels and other items (which I wouldn’t know what to call) and then turn in his menu. When he entered the operating room, he’d find his requested instruments and accessories neatly lined up waiting for him. With those specific tools, he could perform his surgery efficiently, competently, and confidently.

My heart pounded inside my chest as the doctor analyzed my knee for the first time since the incident. It appeared as though my career playing softball had concluded with one wrong twist of my body. He placed his brisk hands on my lower leg and I braced myself for the pain I assumed would follow. I would have been relieved from the lack of pain as he maneuvered my knee. That is- if I had not been inspecting the doctor’s weathered face, searching for any slight facial movement that would indicate an extensive injury. But with a furrow of his brow and a slight frown in the corner of his mouth, both his and my worst case scenario had been confirmed.

I have been in recovery now for about five years because of my drug and alcohol dependency. I started doing drugs in middle school and kept appearances up until my senior year of high school. My senior year of high school I stopped dancing and other positive activities. I believe that being a part of activities kept my drug use at bay until it took over my life. Some positive factors in my life that helped me not use every day were self-control and teacher monitoring. Also, I kept busy so I could stay on track for the most part. The risk factors for me using drugs and alcohol are having a hard time expressing emotions in a healthy way. I was unable to delay gratification and using drugs so young made it hard for me to mature like the rest of

Undergoing a foot surgery at the age of 10 was the worst, as well as a meaningful experience that I had in my life until now. Having been born with flat feet, I discovered that my feet was aching from when I was 9, but I just disregarded the numb feeling for six months since the pain was not so intense. To be honest, I thought that this will eventually become better if I leave it alone for a while. But rather, the shape of my feet was gradually turned into a shape that resembled a garden gnome.

I got surgery on my eyes, after three surgeries on them I could finally see. My parents were so relieved that I could see again so was I,I was jumping up and down because I was so happy. The doctors let me go finally but I had to wear glasses. I was always talking about Timothy about all the things we did together and how Timothy always cared for me,to my parents. So one day my mom and dad said let's get together some of Timothy's friends and family to have a funeral for him. So later that day we all went down to the market where all the African Americans were and we talked around seeing if people knew Timothy and we found a couple of friends who knew Timothy. The friends were Jared,Greg,and Chris they did not know Timothy had passed away they were upset they were close to him.

An experience that took place in my life was when I had to go through major surgery. It was something that I wasn't expecting to happen. Life tends to be that way sometimes. I had to have an appendectomy (removal of my appendix). The day it happened was a normal day for me. I'm glad it happened the way it did because if I hadn't eaten that strawberry shortcake ice cream who would've known what the outcome would've been. It was all in God's plan for it to have happen that way and I thank him. I wasn't in a lot of pain just cramps and vomiting.