Football Fail

on Sunday, May 13th, i went to a park to play football with some of my local guy friends.

started out fine, we had been playing for awhile, all was well, my team was winning...

then the other team started fighting back- they were about 3 yards from a touchdown that would tie the game. my team decided to blitz. i told the rest of the guys to do man-to-man coverage and block, and i would blitz. i successfully blitzed just before the ball left the QB's hand, but i suppose i came at him with too much speed because as i hit him, he twisted to get out of the way which caused me to twist and fall over. as i fell, i felt something snap in my right knee and i went down, grabbing my knee. i lay there for awhile trying not to cry as all the guys ran over and looked at me terrified that they'd hurt me (i was the only girl). couldn't walk on it, so spent the rest of the game on the sidelines.

monday i was supposed to go on a hike with the STINT team, jeremy, and his friends. obviously i couldn't, so i spent the afternoon at Starbucks finishing my staff application. honestly, i kind of thought that maybe i had gotten hurt because God wanted to force me to finish my application, and maybe it would be better the next day. it wasn't. went to the ER and they said i had torn my MCL, that i probably wouldn't need surgery but to go to the orthopedist in a week or so anyway if it wasn't better. went to the orthopedist the wednesday before we left for Maui. he said i definitely blew out my ACL and would need surgery. i felt myself tearing up as he was saying it- it was so frustrating and disappointing to hear, especially after the doctor at the ER said it wasn't my ACL. BUT he did say i would still be able to go to Japan for the summer but to be careful.  i was able to get an MRI that Friday, and left for Maui that Monday. i called the radiologist from Maui but they wouldn't give me the results over the phone so i had to wait til they had sent them to my mom a week later.

the results:
- torn ACL
- torn LCL
- complex meniscus tear
- bone contusions

football fail.

needless to say, that definitely solidifies the fact that i will not be doing much physical activity here in Japan. i packed tennis shoes just in case i'd be able to do some hiking or yknow, climb Mt. Fuji like i've been wanting to do for 4 years...guess that's not happening now.

i won't say it's not frustrating. especially because all my clubs in Japan (with the exception of English club) are physical activities. i was in 1 soccer club, 1 futsal club, and 2 dance groups. now i can't do any of those. i know God's trying to teach me patience and humility, and i'm sure many other things, but it's hard to have everything that i enjoy taken away. i can't bike to campus anymore, i can't take long peaceful walks, i can't jog to my favorite park, i can't hike, i can't dance, i can't play soccer or futsal...it's frustrating. but it's more frustrating knowing that once i get back to the states, i'll have to have major surgery and it will take a year to fully recover. i've never had surgery before, and not gonna lie, i'm a bit scared. i'm scared that something might go wrong. scared that my knee might continue to give me problems the rest of my life. my ankles are already weak after tearing all those ligaments and tendons in high school, now my knee. why do i always get major injuries resulting from something stupid?