With 6 minutes left in the game.... Kaitlin went down and went down hard!
Looks like she's out for the season. Only 2 games into the high school varsity season and #17 from Conifer High School took my baby girl out. Totally unintentional - just part of the game - no harm, no foul...ok...well there was harm ;-)
Kaitlin doesn't even remember how she fell, she only remembers falling and hearing 3 pops. She did save the goal - YAY Kaitlin!! (they ended up losing 1-0)
She was playing defense as usual, and went to cross off the angle (of said #17 who is their lead scorer by the way) and they collided. She went down and went down hard on the field. We could see her crying and was hoping it was a twist, or just initial tears from the impact, but we watched her body shudder and knew she was crying and crying good. Ref's blew the whistle and the coach and trainer came onto the field... she tried hobbling off with one arm around the coach and the other arm around the trainer but pulled that foot right back up, not bearing any weight on it. We sat and watched the rest of the game (In high school/club you aren't allowed to go onto the field or to the other side of the field unless the ref's allow it) She was being tended to by their trainer and as soon as the game got over, we b-lined it over there.
The trainer seemed worried that she had a bone chip on the inner part of her ankle near her heel. It wasn't too swollen there, however, was most tender. She recommended we take her straight to an ER. The trainer said it was one of the top 5 injuries she has seen this school year. Later when our trainer looked at it, she said she hadn't seen a sprain that bad in 4-5 years!
We headed down the mountain to the nearest Kaiser - got there 10 minutes before they closed. The xrayed her, consulted with us- no breaks severe sprain - gave her a big ol black walking boot, crutches and some vicodin and we were on our way in 40 minutes time. YAY Kaiser!!
About a week later things just seemed weird. We started thinking, surely it's broken... she still can't bear any weight on it. It's still hurting her. When she'd walk in her boot, her foot woould pop, her bones would grind in her knee and ankle area. It was just looking worse and worse. So we got her into the orthopedic doctor about 1 week after the sprain. As she was taking her boot off all the nurses and doctors were saying 'ewwwwww'', 'ohhhhhhh', 'ouuuuuch' everyone thought it was more than a sprain....but the doctor checked it out and said. 'Not broken, just "King of all Sprains" It could take a few months if not up to a year to completley heal! Poor thing, looks like she's out for the season... but we do have hope.
She is still going to soccer practice and helping out however she can. She has to see the trainer everyday during practice to do rehab. At this point it's just ice baths for her foot and flexing and pointing her foot. Soon they will start A B C's with her foot and resistance bands and some other painful exercises Kaitlin says! (She's sprained her ankle - tho not as severe- 1 other time and did these rehab exercises with her trainer and was back out on the field after 1.5 weeks). We think, all depending how rehab goes this time around. she may (and I use that term may very loosely) be able to play the last game or 2 in May.
Here's some photos
This photo was taken day 1 This was Day 2 - getting more and more swollen!