My Injuries

How I got them and how I am living with them. 
Sheila
The first of my three major injuries is Sheila. Sheila is my left knee cap.

My left knee cap minutes before it decide to flee and Sam

Sheila happened to cause some trouble February 6th of 2016. My teammates and I stayed late after school to rehearse our routine for our Florida Band Master’s Association evaluation. Every year each auxiliary group must put together a routine to be judged at the local level. If you get a superior at the local level, then you move on to state. Our evaluation day was February 8th, only two days away. The previous week I had been working extra hard to make sure my solo was perfect. To the point where my body was exhausted. We had already run through the routine multiple times, starting with counts, and moving on with music. This was going to be our last run through until the next day. Our very first trick was a toss illusion and I had been dropping it all day. I had a headache and was running a slight fever, I knew it was an off day for me, but I was determined to push through it. We got set at our starting pose, our coach turned the music on, I pulled up, flashed, tossed the baton, did my illusion, came up, spotted the baton…then I was on the floor. Music was still playing, and my teammates were still twirling, but I could not figure out how I ended up on the ground. I was in a downward dog/planking position and realized there was a pain coming from my left leg. I glanced down at it and saw that my kneecap was on the left side of my thigh. I immediately started screaming for help, but it took a few seconds before anyone could hear me because of the music. The girls gathered around me like flies gather around a dead animal. Do not get me wrong, they were worried and wanted to help, but in that moment, I did not want anyone to see it. My friend Sam ran to get the athletic nurse while my very brave, 5’ 2” coach, helped me roll over so I could sit down. I do not remember how long it took the athletic nurse to get to me, but I am so lucky she was still on campus or I probably would’ve had to wait much longer for someone to drive me to the hospital. No one in the room other than the nurse had any experience with dislocated joints, I know I had none. She squatted next to me and told me to straighten my leg so she could put my kneecap back into position. I probably stared at her like she had sprouted carrots from her ears. She took that matter into her own hands, told me to relax my muscles so that she could straighten my leg form me, and then popped Sheila back into her place. My coach still makes comments about how she thought she was going to need new hands after holding mine through that. My coach did such a great job. She held my head back so that I would not look at my knee, she supported my back with her legs, and held my hands the entire time. I do not know how she did it, because to this day she is still more frightened of that moment than I was.
It was a few days before I could get seen at the doctor, but in that time, I got crutches so I could move around without help. I ended up going to watch the performances at FBA, but I was so sad that I was not able to perform my senior solo or my senior group routine. I showed up with my batons and tried to convince my coach and band director that I could at least do the group. Maybe not all the fancy tricks, but maybe just the two and three baton. Of course, they said no. When I was finally able to get in to see the doctor, they told me that I had torn all the ligaments that kept my kneecap in place. They said that it would most likely come out again, and that surgery would probably be our best option if that happened. When I asked about the success rate of the surgery keeping it in place, they said it was still only about a 50-50 chance that it would work. What?! I was in a straight-leg brace for one month before they switched me to one that bent a little. The first brace went from my hip all the way to my ankle to ensure that my knee my locked. The second brace was fancy. It had a locking device that could only be taken out by the doctor. This new brace remained locked for a week, then the doctor adjusted it to where I could bend just a tad. It stayed that way for another two weeks, then he took out the locking device all together so that I could bend my leg to about 90 degrees. After two or three more weeks of that I was enrolled in physical therapy.
I loved my physical therapist, but I think she was a little disappointed to see me back so soon. See, just the previous spring I had torn my right hamstring doing a jump split. It was much more difficult to get my strength back in my whole left leg than it was to rebuild my hamstring. After wearing a brace that does not allow any muscle movement for so long, my muscles began to deteriorate. When I took my brace off to shower, my left leg was significantly smaller than my right. I wish I had a picture of it to include in here, but you will just have to take my word for it. It freaked a lot of people out. I completed my physical therapy sometime in May of 2016. My left leg was still smaller than my right, but it would eventually catch back up.

2017 AUMB Preseason Camp with my RAT class

As for living with my knee today, she does not seem to cause many issues. My first year in the AUMB was a little rough because she was still healing. It had been a year and some odd months, but Sheila was still very wobbly and weak. I wore a tan knee brace at every rehearsal and under my tights for every game until towards the end of the season. I wanted to try to push my knee to get stronger because the brace hinders that. My second year in the AUMB went a lot better for Sheila. I rarely had to wear a brace unless she was feeling wimpy. This past year I do not remember wearing the brace more than once. Sheila has been very string lately but still has her moments. These moments include times where I over use her (too much prancing/jogging, maybe I started a new workout that she doesn’t like, and when I work a routine over and over again), and when it is about to storm (or is storming). Like Karen from mean girls, I too can predict when it is going to rain.

Scottie
My second injuries name is Scottie. I decided to name her that because my chiropractor had told me I already had a spinal issue with a vertebrae that was shaped like, "a Scottie dog", or so that is what he described it as. Basically, one of my lower vertebrae is shaped like a trapezoid instead of a rectangle. That was before I even broke my back.
I have had issues with my back for a long time. I started seeing a chiropractor my freshman year at Auburn because I was having to call out of work because my back would get thrown out super easily. I highly recommend the Miller Clinic in the Auburn University Medical Clinic. He works wonders. I would go in, he would decompress my spine, and hook me up to a machine that sends shocks to your nerves to block the pain signals. I do not remember the exact moment that I fractured my spine. I think that is sad! All I know is that on Halloween of 2017 my back was hurting more than normal. I did what I usually do for back pain, I got in a hot bath, soaked it, then stretched it out. If anything, my back felt worse than before. So, I called Dr. Miller and left a voice message asking for an appointment as soon as he could fit me in. I told him that this felt like a different type of pain. His receptionist called my back at 7:30 in the morning and let me know that they had an appointment at 8:15 if I was able to make it. I had a class, but I decided I would get a doctor’s excuse. I got there and described where I was hurting and the type of pain I was feeling. He decided to do an x-ray on my lower back, and sure enough he found a fracture. I was told that the only way to fix it was to have surgery to cement it back together. Being in the marching band, I do not have the time do go ahead with the surgery, so I will most likely not have surgery at all or wait until I graduate and have a steady job.

My good friend Mr. Bones. He wasn't happy to see me that day.

Living with a fractured back is not as hard as it may seem. Probably because it is a small break and not a big one. Most of the time I just have soreness and the constant feeling of my back needs to pop, but sometimes I run into issues. These issues arise if I sleep in a weird position (it can cause back spasms for a day or two), if I do the cute drop to the ground stand back up thing in choreography, and if I sit for too long. I bought an electronic pulse simulator that blocks the pain receptors wherever you put it, and I use it at least twice a week. It is a life saver

Shelley

Last, but definitely not least, my most recent forever friend, Shelley.

Shelley decided it was time for us to be friends at one of the most inopportune times. It was the Tuesday before my third Tiger Eye auditions, and I was working on my majorette solo. One of my first tricks was a three turn. I had been catching them consistently for a while and decided it was time to put one in my solo. We had just gotten back from spring break, I was tan, my solos were complete, and it was time to put the finishing touches on them. I had dragged, at the time boyfriend, Ben to watch me practice to see if he could clean my routines for me. After working on my solo for about thirty minutes, I decided I would work trick by trick and started with cleaning my three turn. I had done maybe two or three of my three turns and on the fourth is when Shelley made her entrance. I had made it back around to the front to catch my baton, and when I went to look up to catch it, it was right above me. WHAM! My baton smacked my forehead. It was so loud! My hands flew to my face, but before they got there I was already bleeding onto my shirt, shoes, and floor of the coliseum. I was not even crying at this point. I was in shock. Ben came over to check on me and noticed how much I was bleeding even with my hand covering the wound. He told me to move my hand so he could look at it. Of course I refused at first, because I thought, “maybe if I don’t see it, and he doesn’t see it, it’s not there.” After him basically fighting me to look at it, I moved my hands away. He took one look and said that we needed to go to the hospital. I immediately said no. I mean, why would I pay that much money to get my head stitched at the hospital if I could get it done cheaper? I walked myself into the bathroom, grabbed some paper towels, and stuck them on my forehead. I had Ben call the Auburn Medical Clinic to see if they would do stitches or glue and they said they would! So, we walked from the coliseum to the red barn where I was parked. So many people stared at me as I crossed the parking lots and streets to get there, but not one person offered to help in any form (War Eagle). By the time we made it to the medical clinic, my head had stopped bleeding for the most part. It still was not hurting yet as I had too much adrenaline pumping. The second I walked into the waiting room, every student in there stared at me until I was taken to a room in the back. The nurse was super sweet and was talking to me the whole time. She was mainly trying to distract me from the pain of cleaning the wound and the pain of gluing my forehead shut. I kind of regret going to the university clinic to get my head glued because the nurse did not glue it the right way. Instead of closing the wound and putting glue on it, she put glue inside the wound. I think that is why it burned so much.

After I had Shelley glued together, I got Sonic mozzarella sticks and a Dr. Pepper, and went right back to the coliseum to practice some more. It was tryout week, what else was I supposed to do? I had a big purple spot in the center of my forehead for auditions that year, and even made jokes about how I should bedazzle it for the judges.

I ended up going to a plastic surgeon in Panama City to get an opinion because when the glue came off, there was still a wide gap in my forehead. It had skin in it, but it did not look like it would have if it had been glued properly. He said it would take a year for the wound to fully heal, and to come back then if I still did not like the way that it healed. Well, it has been a year and one month and Shelley is looking grand! Living with Shelley is easier than living with Sheila or Scotty because she does not cause me any physical pain, but I am still self-conscious of her. I am still trying to get to a point where I do not want to cover her with a hat or makeup every time, I leave my house, but we are making progress!

Shelley one year after she made her arrival.

To conclude my timeline of injuries:

1. I am clumsy
2. I like to joke through my pain
3. I am still trying to love myself