Waking up at six to go to the hospital was not a fun time. My friend Noel Guevara on the soccer team went with my mom and I. I was not that nervous for surgery, I was more nervous for what I would feel when I woke up. It took the nurses four stabs to find my little veins and then came the leg block. What a weird feeling that was! I got a numbing shot in my groin so they would make the feeling in my leg go away for 48 hours, and I am so glad I did it because when I woke up I did not feel my knee or hamstring at all. Instead, I was extremely nauseous from the anesthesia and had to stay there until two.
I am at six weeks now, but it seems like my injury was forever ago. I get new exercises in therapy every week but the wait to get better is not a fun one. All I want to do is run and jump around but I have another three months until I can run and even longer until I can jump. The one thing I have learned since sitting out is how easy the game is. When you are forced to watch your sport for a long period of time you notice things you never understood or saw before. I can completely see why coaches get so frustrated with their players now because unforced errors should hardly ever happen. It is just you, a ball, and six people trying to stop you from winning. Just six, and there will always be a chance to score if you are smart about it.
Injuries are difficult, but playing the game, that’s easy!