You hear about people having surgery all the time. It's almost as common as breathing now a days. Especially cosmetic surgery, it seems like everyone has had something done. But what about when it's not cosmetic and it's you who has to have surgery. Well tomorrow I suppose I will know how that feels, because I have shoulder surgery tomorrow.
As of tomorrow, Friday February 22nd, I will be the 5th girl to have shoulder surgery in the past 3 1/2 years from the UNCW volleyball team. I feel like that speaks volumes. But why are so many of us getting surgery? We all have either torn a rotater cuff, torn labrums, or biceps tears. Or in my case, possibly all three tears. As well as missing cartilage that I will never get back. But why are such major reconstructive surgeries happening to such young athletes. Considering the average age of shoulder surgery is around 60 and male, neither categories we fit into. Kind of weird that my dad, who is 60 and obviously male, will be having the same surgery as his 20 year old daughter a week after my surgery, isn't it? Do we push young athletes too far? Are we destroying our bodies so when we are only in our 40's we will have arthritis and double hip replacement surgeries? These are all questions I sit and ponder as I think, tomorrow I will be another statistic.
It is easy to feel sympathy and empathy for people who are going to have surgery, but when it's you, the world looks a little different. I have always thought of myself as unstoppable, invincible to such injury because I am very in shape and have always been a 4 sport athlete, but I was wrong, very wrong.
Now I must sit and ponder what to expect, realize some of the simple things of getting dressed on my own will be taken from me, and to come to terms with the fact that I will be in a sling for a month! So take a second to realize how blessed you are at this very moment, look around, you have everything, you need nothing,you want everything, but you are blessed. I will miss my right arm for the next 5 long months, farewell good arm!ha :(
Surgery starts at 11:30 tomorrow, wish me luck.....
Good luck with your surgery! I can definitely relate. I have had a few surgeries throughout my life, one of which was a knee injury I got during soccer when I was in 5th grade. My knee now has an ugly scar and I have had to wear a brace on it when I run ever since then. I even had slight cosmetic surgery on my knee to remove some of the scar! I was pretty vain when I was younger. haha My point is that it is easy to feel invincible, but we all must realize that we definitely are not. This doesn't mean we shouldn't live life to the fullest! I hope your shoulder heals well enough for you to be able to play sports again! :)
ReplyDeleteKim!! Hopefully you are recovering well from your surgery! It is pretty crazy that you are the 5th girl on your team to be having shoulder surgery. That makes me question how many of surgeries go on a year specifically for athletes at all universities in the US. I’m sure it is an extremely high number! The one thing that scares me for all of you is the fact that because you are so young this will probably bring you arthritis at a younger age than expected. I just hope that because you went through with the surgery your shoulder will be stronger and healthier than it was before!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I hope everything goes well for you.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the question you posed about why athletes are getting surgery, I do think young athletes these days are overtrained. When you compare the athletes of today to athletes of say 30 years ago, it is like night and day. The advanced in nutrition and training methods have made today's athletes more like machines.
And with these new methods, people seem to be pushing themselves further and further to try and get an edge on everyone else. I definitely think athletes these days are a bit overtrained, especially college athletes who also have the added stress of school.
I hope your surgery went well!
ReplyDeleteI actually know half-way how you feel. I've done gymnastics my entire life (have been competing since I was 8) and my junior year of high school I tore my rotator cuff, but it was only a small tear, so I did physical therapy and learned what I could and could not do. Surgery was an option that I got to deny which was a good thing.
It's hard to be an athlete with an injury- injuries are what keep you from doing what you truly love. For me, my shoulder injury helped me move my focus from competing and being the best to helping coach and turning a career out of my hobby. Hopefully you will have the same positive experience with your injury that I had with mine =)
Wow, that is horrible that you needed to get surgery while you are here in college. I was on the swim team as a diver here at UNCW my freshman year in 2005-2006. I stopped after that first year but ironically enough, I have twelve girls in my freshman class on the team, and 4 of them had to get surgeries in the first year we were there. One, being my teammate, who did a dive at conference and popped her shoulder out of the socket when she hit the water. I had to pull her out of the water as she was screaming and everyone was watching. It was really scary watching her go through everything on that team, along with all the other swimmers that had to receive Cortisone shots to numb the pain.
ReplyDeleteCollege sports are very demanding. I mean, I have only been in the one sport, but words of mouth, it is very overwhelming. How about the fact that three of the five seniors on the woman’s soccer team all had knee surgeries all around the same time.
I am sorry that you are now put into the statistics of injuries of athletes. Hopefully you won’t have to hurt anymore.
You make a great point that 5 girls from UNCW volleyball have needed surgery in the last 3 1/2 years. Do think that is a problem here or in college volleyball in general? Are the numbers of injured players here similar to those around the country? It would be really interesting to research this and see if possibly UNCW's athletic/training department could be doing more to prevent injuries among its athletes. Anyway, I hope you fell better and good luck with your recovery!
ReplyDeleteKim, good luck with your surgery i know it can be tough at first. I completely agree with you also. I mean how many young baseball players are having to get major shoulder and elbow surgeries. Football and soocer having to get knee surgeries almost weekly it seems like. I wish that it was not so damaging but it seems that is the price we pay to play at the next level.
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