Assignment #21 - metal leg - Buddy Goodwin

This summer I was playing lacrosse in the Chicago Cup tournament in Chicago and broke my leg. The upper part of my tibia bone broke off and allowed for my knee cap to dislocate as well. I had to be rushed to a hospital and then transferred to another one. I ended up having surgery later that night and woke up to my leg in cast and three metal screws in it. It would stay that way for the next few months. This was an extremely difficult obstacle that had popped up in my life. It happened right at the beginning of summer so my whole summer was gone. This also meant that I could not go to a summer bible/sports camp that I had been looking forward to for over a year. I am also a very active person and this meant that I couldn't do anything physically for the next few months. It also made daily necessities like using the bathroom and showering extremely hard. In addition to all of this I was in pain for a majority if the time. The time that I was immobilized in a cast was very hard for me. After about three months though I got out of the cast and out of a brace that I had been wearing for a few weeks. I was able to slowly start doing the things that I loved to do. I had physical therapy twice a week for about a month and a half. This got my leg stronger and back to where I was comfortable walking on it again. At this time it was around November and lacrosse season was set to start in February. I decided then that I was going to get back into good enough shape and get my leg strong enough to be able to play that season. I started going to the gym twice a day. I found a personal trainer in lexington that was cheap and that I really liked and started going to him multiple times a week. I did this for almost three months leading up to our first game. It ended up all paying off. I got to play and start in our first game. I had our teams first goal of the season but more importantly I had such a fun time with my teammates on the field.