1) What was the cause of the bad experience?
My bad experience happened last year when I injured my knee, and I ended up getting surgery. It was the second week of band camp, and I was messing around with some friends in the band room. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. I was jumping around, laughing, and ultimately making a fool of myself. We were all doing the same goffy things. I guess I moved my leg wrong, and my knee cap popped out of place.
2) What was lost?
During the whole time I was injured, I missed out on a whole week of school, I temporarily lost the ability to walk, I couldn't even stand properly for a while. When I first got injured I was almost forced to quit marching band. It is something that I would never want to lose. Losing the ability to be able to hold up your own weight or move your own legs is an awful thing to feel. The first brace they put me in was so large I could barely hold it up. I kept tripping over it while using crutches. In, marching band Inplayed an instrument where it is best to stand up while playing, but I couldn't. I lost the ability to stand properly, and I lost the ability to play my instrument properly.
3) What was your initial reaction?
The feelings were overwhelming. When my knee first popped out of place I was in such a state of shock. In a split second I had fallen to the ground. I could look at my leg and see that my knee was on the side of my leg. I was in such pain, and I was completely terrified. I remember hitting my knee back into place. I don't even know why I did it. Everyone was so worried for me, and that made me feel worse. I felt bad for making them all so worried and scared. I could only think of the worst possible scenarios. It was something I dreaded the instant it happened.
4) How did your feelings about this bad experience change as time passed?
For a while I started to accept that my leg was injured. I was feeling happier knowing that physical therapy was helping my leg. I could heal, and be fine before the marching band season was over. Those feelings didn't end up lasting for too long. I started feeling more and more dread as the time went on. Our repeated visits to the doctor brought nothing but worse news each time. Soon enough, my feelings went from improving to drastically falling. I was getting more and more scared as the time went on.
5) What did you learn/gain from this experience?
This experience made me learn a lot about my life. Certain childhood issues suddenly made sense. I learned that I need to be very attentive to my knees. I can't slack on anything or the same thing could easily happen all over again. This experience is something I never want to happen again. It made me really grateful for my friends and family. They helped me a lot through this. Surgery is a life changing experience that I would not ever want to repeat, but I wouldn't wish that it didn't happen. I learn from my mistakes, and I try not to make the same ones again.
