Ian's ACL surgery

by Ian
(Tennessee)

I was a pretty good soccer player and was going to be a freshman in high school. My brother played football so I decided to see if I could kick a field goal. I could kick a 40 yard field goal so I joined the team.

The second week of practice in tackling drills a kid was wrapped around my leg so I tried to twist out of it and my knee popped 2 or 3 times and I was freaking out for like 5 seconds. My coach thought I just twisted my ankle or something and told me to walk it off. I was able to limp to the athletic trainer and he just said I probably sprained my LCL or PCL or something. After about a week I could walk normally, though it hurt. My mom told My uncle who is an orthopedic surgeon and he said 80% of the time twisting your knee and hearing pops is a torn ACL.

So I got an MRI and was told I had "complete disruption of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament." Not only did I not play a game of freshman football, I was not allowed to play soccer in the spring. I was pretty nervous about the surgery, which my Uncle would do. My dad said I would have the best nap of my life when they knocked me out. My uncle prayed for me, They put a mask with a tube attached to it over my mouth after sticking a needle in a vein in my hand. I woke up and could have stuck a knife in my thigh and wouldn't have flinched. It hurt though, but on the inside.

I was an out-patient so I went to my uncles house went to sleep since I was still half asleep half high on pain pills and they elevated my leg on top of some pillows. I woke up in the middle of the night, was thirsty, hungry, in pain, crying, and could not get back to sleep. I'm still wondering why I didn't ask for my ipod or already have it with me because some songs just make me happy no matter what mood I am in. But I got through the night. Physical therapy was hard, then tiring, then kind of fun but tiring, then bored for a few months, and now I am 5 months out and I have been running 2-4 miles a day. I can't do anything but run so I thought I may as well get in shape and wait until next year.

There is a bright side to tearing my ACL because now I have a 4.0 instead of a 3.5 GPA. I still think about what I could have done every now and then to have not torn my ACL but it doesn't matter what I think because it is not going to change it. I don't get to do a lot of the things I love, but it was God's will. Can't wait until Sophomore year!!!!