Karen's ACL/PCL trama

by Karen Morris
(Bangor, Wales or Ireland)

After having a hell of a day trying to get to Manchester from Bangor, North Wales to play a University Gaelic football match I didn't think the day could get any worse. We arrived and finally started to warm up, I was excited and ready to go. As I jumped up to catch the ball I could feel something wasn't right. I landed with my right foot firmly planted on the ground and my knee completely twisting to the right. I heard a pop and knew something was really wrong as the pain was unbearable.

I was brought straight off the pitch but was in so much pain I can't remember much. However, being me I was twice as worried that I wasnt able to play the match the the possibility that something was really wrong. My team mates wanted to call the ambulance but I decided to stick it out for the match (which we lost) and got it looked at back in Bangor that evening. After spending 5 hours in the hospital i had an x-ray and was simply given a bandage and crutches and sent home with an appointment for the following week. That night with a lot of tossing and turning I think I managed to get 1 hour sleep. The appointment a week later however was pointless as they could not tell what was wrong because excessive swelling so told me to come back after Christmas, 4 weeks later.
My 3rd trip to hospital 5 weeks after the incident proved a little more useful then the others as they refered me for an MRI scan but still unable to tell what was wrong because of the swelling which had not subsided. Nevertheless it was another 4 weeks until I had the scan and a further 2 weeks until the results came back. It was bad news. The MRI scan showed a complete rupture of my ACL, partial tear of my posterior cruciate, and sprain and twisting to the lateral ligament and meniscus. Being a sports science student this was very bad news for me and extremely upsetting to hear I would need surgery.
They continued to inform me that this was an urgent case and I would be referred straight away to a specialist for surgery which with my look still hasn't happened!! It has been nearly 5 months now and nothing has been done about it. I have not been able to take part in any of my university activities and is really hard for me to deal with. Sport is my life and there is nothing I want more then to play football, badminton and volleyball again. I still need to see a specialist and set a date for surgery so I have a long road ahead of me, I just hope it will happen soon..