Tennis, Tears & Turbulent Times

I’ve been following the site for a while now and I’m pleased that I can finally write some entries.

I don’t see many teens on the site so fellow adolescents or Britons would be grand to share experiences!

So, I suppose I ought to start from the beginning…

On June 3rd my friends and I thought it would be fun to play some tennis near her house. It was a last minute decision so I didn’t bring any trainers with me to play in so I just played in my ordinary flats. We’d been playing doubles for about 10 minutes when I went to hit a backhand and POP I suddenly fell to the ground shouting. The initial pain didn’t last for long and I shouted and swore thinking someone on the neighbouring courts must have hit me with one of their tennis balls! Alas my friends informed me that nothing had hit be although they agreed that there had been a loud noise.

It wasn’t til I tried to get up again that I realised the huge pain that I was in.  I cried like a baby and called for my mum to take me home. Limping to the car I thought I’d twisted my ankle really bad and my dad, who’s a doctor checked it out and due to all the swelling he thought it was just a bad sprain. As I tried to go upstairs to bed I did all I could to hold back my tears! It wasn’t til the next morning when my dad checked it out again that he realised what had actually happened.

So I went to my local NHS A&E, and after an agonizing 4 hour wait, which involved being told by a nurse that it was only a sprain and being told by a doctor that I was ‘far too young for this to happen!’ and eventually having my fears confirmed by the orthopedic consultant. My dad made plans for me to have a consultation with a private surgeon the following Tuesday.

That Tuesday I hobbled in on crutches to see my surgeon who undertook the Thompson test and scheduled my surgery for Friday 11th June. He said in all his years he’d never seen an ATR in someone as young as me! A female at that! (I’m 18) Again I held back tears as he told me that it would take around 6 months to be as I was before that fateful match and that I would need to spend 8 weeks in plaster. EIGHT!  I panicked. Over the next 8 weeks I had exams, my Prom, the beginning of what was meant to be the best summer of my life before I went to university as well as 2 holidays. There was no way I could possibly do all those things with a big fast cast on and crutches! As I left the hospital I cried as I told my friends what was before me. Yes I understand that all I seem to do is cry…!

Luckily my surgery was a success and I was able to leave that same day in my first plaster cast. I won’t lie to you, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the special treatment from my family although I did often have my times of anger and frustration at not being able to do things for myself. Thanks to the advice from this website I rested and elevated religiously, factors which I’m sure contributed to the amazing quick healing of my surgical wound. No infection no problems! My surgeon also said that the quick healing of my wound is also due to my young age. After 2 weeks of the horrendous wet plaster cast I was delighted to receive a lighter, smaller fibreglass cast, again in the pointed position.

I’m going to move on to another post now but if you’ve been patient enough to read all of this I thank you for your time!

- Kristy

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