Torn Ligaments (Narrative)
On 9–9–19, I tore two ligaments in my thumb. Creepy right? Three nines in one date.
That was the day after I played my first high school volleyball game, and the last day I would ever play volleyball again.
At volleyball practice, we were doing a drill to get warmed up. It was my turn to receive the ball, so I got ready to pass it and I didn't know whether to set it or just pass it regularly. It came towards my chest area, so I set it. The moment the ball made contact with my thumb, I knew it wasn’t going to end well. My right thumb hit the ball at a weird angle and got hyperextended. We decided to go to the ER that night.
Two weeks had gone by (September 23rd) and we were all very hopeful that I would get released to play volleyball again. The doctor was still really concerned about it, so I got an MRI. The results came in and the radiologist said my thumb was normal. The next step was to go to physical therapy or a hand specialist.
3 weeks of physical therapy had gone by and my thumb wasn’t better. We made our way to the hand specialist only to get the same answer as before. The doctor didn’t know what was wrong with my thumb and he wasn’t comfortable performing on it.
At the beginning of November, I had an appointment at Children’s Hospital in Denver. That doctor said I had ruptured two ligaments, the ulnar and the radial.
For 10 weeks, I was in a waterproof cast. I was still able to swim, but not to my best ability. I qualified for state in a couple relays and it was so much fun. Let’s just say it was very disappointing to not make state in my best individual event.
The recovery has been long and painful. I had to do therapy over zoom since the world shut down. I have learned my lesson and I will NEVER set a pass that is too low.
