The Adventures of Scooter Girl

At physical therapy this week, my physical therapist informed me that I should be out of the boot at some point next week! I am so excited to finally be done with this injury, even though I will attend physical therapy through the end of October. I am hoping once I am out of the boot that I won’t have to take any steps back and will hopefully be able to start playing basketball soon after. Considering that exercise (and basketball in particular) is my main method of coping with stress, I feel very relieved that I will hopefully be able to return to those things in the next few weeks. This has definitely been the longest period of time I haven’t been able to play basketball (with 2 ankle sprains back to back), and I cannot wait for this 5 month period to finally be over!

This week was the first week I had to walk to all of my classes without the assistance of the university shuttle or the scooter. While this was certainly an adjustment (the hill to and from Booker T. Washington is insane!) it is also exciting because it is another step in the right direction. In addition to the actual walking part, I also had to readjust the times that I leave for class to ensure I am arriving on time, because walking takes twice as long as the scooter does and the shuttle is even quicker. I may or may not have been late to calculus, but the professor also happened to be late that day so I ended up being just fine in the attendance department, thank goodness!

This week in physical therapy, I was told my ankle was not where it needed to be as far as recovery goes. Unfortunately, that means my physical therapist had to physically loosen the ligaments of my ankle. Yes, this is just as painful as it sounds. In order to loosen the ligaments and give me more range of motion, the physical therapist pulled and twisted my ankle in ways that I never would have tried on my own out of fear of doing more damage. Even though it was quite painful, I was able to make a complete circle with my ankle for the first time in a month and a half, so we are definitely going in the right direction!

Since starting physical therapy, I have been able to walk much more. I have walked to most of my classes, which is good since this week is the last week I have access to the disability shuttle. However, today I walked from Coker to Capstone and then from Science and Technology to Capstone, and my ankle was absolutely NOT having it. Like I’m talking toddlerscreaming in the store because they want the candy by the register and their parent says no not having it. As a result of all this walking, I had no choice but to take the scooter to dinner because of all of the swelling. However, I’m sure that Dom Toretto (my rubber duck co-pilot) was happy to get out and take the scooter for a spin!

Now that I have officially started physical therapy, I have to do my exercises every day to ensure maximum progress. I think as human beings, we often don’t know how good we have it until it’s gone. For example, who ever thought standing on your toes would be so stressful? In addition, who ever thought we would take making a full circle with our ankle for granted? I certainly took both of these things for granted, and it is incredibly frustrating to stare at an injured body part and tell it to do something with your brain, only for it to fail you miserably. While my range of motion has improved in only a week, I still can’t make a full circular motion, and am working towards that every day.

This week, I was finally able to start physical therapy for my ankle. Thankfully, the Student Health Center had availability and I am able to do my sessions there so I do not have to go off-campus. I have only ever gone to physical therapy for a hip flexor injury, and was unsure of how many exercises I would be able to do due to the very limited mobility in my injured ankle. As I suspected, the range of motion was minimal, and it was quite difficult to do simple tasks such as writing the ABC’s in the air with my foot. I never knew the letter “S” could cause me so much grief! Thankfully, I think it is helping and hopefully I will be out of the boot in the next few weeks.

Since I am starting physical therapy for my ankle next week, my doctor advised me to start walking short distances in my walking boot. I have walked a few places in the past week, but nowhere too exciting. However, today I took my first steps without the boot on in over a month. After ordering pizza and garlic knots (I had to celebrate getting to the final round of PhiDE recruitment), I was able to walk from my room to the trash room on the opposite side of the floor and back. Even though this sounds ridiculous, I was very proud of myself (and my ankle). While I am still using the scooter to get around for the most part, I know I am definitely on the right track in my recovery.

As a premed student who has always worked towards being a doctor, when I heard about the medical fraternity on campus, I knew I had to rush. This week Phi Delta Epsilon held open recruitment for premed students, and most of the recruitment events required standing. In order to follow the business professional dress code to the best of my ability, I decided against the scooter and used crutches instead. Even though the heels of my hands are now sore, I know I was definitely a memorable applicant (which hopefully works to my advantage) and I should know within a week if I get a bid or not.

I had quite a week. I got dumped, was told one of my best friends was in the hospital, failed a quiz and practice exam, and completed roughly 18 hours of chemistry homework over 3 days. All while dealing with a swollen and painful sprained ankle. However, this weekend was my youngest brother’s 13th birthday, and he was unaware I was coming home for the weekend. He was so happy to see me that he cried (which of course then made me cry), and I am so grateful I was able to come home to celebrate with him. Even though I felt physically, mentally and emotionally battered and exhausted, being able to be home and celebrate a milestone with my family was a great way to end the week. Happy Birthday Charlie!

I attended a doctor’s appointment earlier this week and finally got the green light to start walking again. This morning, just after 4:00 AM, I took my first unassisted steps in over a month, putting weight on my right ankle. Although the sprain is far from healed (and is now sore from “walking”), this is a literal step in the right direction. In addition, navigating Charlotte Douglas International Airport on crutches is no small task, as the scooter was too much of a hassle to come back to Maryland for the weekend. It was strange traveling somewhere without the scooter, but I will definitely be needing it on campus again next week. Although there were some challenging moments (airplane aisles are much narrower than I remembered), I successfully made it home for the weekend just in time for my little brother’s 13th birthday on Sunday.

Last night, the UofSC women’s volleyball team took on Pitt at home... and lost in three sets. As someone who has played volleyball for over 4 years, the dynamics of the two teams were very different, but so was navigating stadium style seating on a knee scooter. Thankfully, my friends were kind enough to carry the scooter up and down the stairs, but hopping up and down the stairs to get to our seats was no easy task. I was able to escape with no further injuries (thank goodness), and I think I could probably add "hopping up and down stairs on one foot” to my resume now!

It was a long process to register for Temporary Condition or Disability Transportation through the university. After spending 3 hours on Monday emailing back and forth with the director, I finally felt comfortable thinking I was set. However, being the anxious person that I am, I still had a knot in my stomach as I waited for the shuttle to take me from Gambrell to Booker T. Washington. Unfortunately, the director neglected to mention that the shuttle stop was down 4 flights of stairs. Being on a knee scooter unable to walk, it was impossible for me to access the transport sitting 50 feet from where I stood. I then had to make the executive decision to scoot down the Bull Street hill (on the road) in order to make it to class. Thankfully, I made it and was only 6 minutes late.