The bright lights from the O.R. illuminated the room; I heard people talking to me, and then all of sudden everything went black. I have been through many experiences in my life, but none quite like this one. Through my entire life, my parents always taught me how to persevere. Sometimes you do not realize how hard perseverance can be until it is right in front of you.

On a chilly February morning, I woke up and excruciating pain invaded my left foot. When I tried to walk on it, I looked like a ninety-year old man walking with a cane. After hearing some racquet from my room upstairs, my mother came to see what happened. At first, she thought it was just a bruise, but when she saw that I could not walk, we both knew at that moment that there was something seriously wrong. I am such an active person, so when I felt this pain I was terrified that I would not be able to come back for the rest of the basketball season. We cruised down the foggy highway and stopped at the emergency clinic to have the doctor look at my foot. When the doctor began to examine my injury, she realized that it swelled up like a balloon ready to pop. Any slight touch made me grimace. The doctor felt around the infected area of my foot, and she felt like there was a small object of some kind buried in my foot. She then took an x-ray of my foot, but nothing showed up so there was some speculation. As the doctor was thinking about what to do next, the wheels began to turn in her head. She then realized that glass would not appear on an x-ray, so she scheduled me for an ultrasound, which can detect shards of glass.

When the doctor could not figure out what was burrowed inside my foot, I began to get butterflies in my stomach worrying about what it could be. When I went to get an ultrasound of my foot, I felt the pain of the metal tool forcing pressure on the tender part of my foot. After the nurse did the ultrasound, I was told that the results would come back in a few hours. While waiting for the results to come back, I was getting a little antsy. I started to think of the worst-case scenario, which was the dumbest thing I could have possibly done. In about an hour my mom’s phone rang, the results came back. I was waiting for the good news, but I never got it. The doctor ordered a surgery for my foot within an hour. After we heard the news we had to rush to the hospital so that the anesthesiologist could prepare me for surgery.

As soon as we pulled into the hospital, I got so sick to my stomach because I absolutely hate surgery and anything that deals with needles. When the nurse wheeled me up to the O.R., I had to get changed into the ridiculous looking gown. I felt like an absolute clown when I put it on. Once I was laying in my bed getting ready to be prepped for surgery, they asked me this question, “Did you eat anything this morning?” I said “yes”, but I had no clue why they were asking. If you had to think of the worst possible things that could happen, they all happened to me. When I responded to the question the anesthesiologist said, “I’m sorry, but you are going to have to wait two hours until you get surgery; otherwise, when you go under anesthesia you could aspirate, and possibly die.” I tried not be frustrated so I answered back politely with a, “Okay, thank you.” In the meantime, while I was waiting to get called in for surgery, they prepped me for the procedure. This was probably the worst part for me because I absolutely hate needles and basically anything that involves blood.  When they took my blood pressure and then pulled out the needle, I almost passed out. The idea of a sharp object penetrating my skin, freaked me out!  When the nurse was putting the needle in, I had to turn my head so I did not have to see it. After she was done, my body began to feel really warm and I started getting hot flashes.  I felt so awful that I just wanted to get this surgery over and done with.  About a half an hour later, the doctor called me in for surgery.  Once they called me in, they injected the anesthesia into my tube to knock me out for the surgery.  In about thirty seconds after they did that, I began to feel myself drift.  I was trying to say something to my mom but I just could not get the words out.  All of a sudden, I saw the huge bright lights in the O.R., and then, BOOM, I was completely out.  When I woke up from surgery, my foot was so sore, and I felt like I just got hit by a truck. It was awful.  On the way home, I just felt so exhausted and tired, and as soon as I went home I hit the sack.
The very next day, I went to the doctor for a checkup.  When I got there, my doctor showed me a picture of the glass in my foot.  When I saw the x-ray, it looked like little diamonds from a ring, and they got really close to my heel bone.  The very next thing the doctor said was, “You are lucky because if we waited any longer the glass would have entered your blood stream and there would have been bigger problems.” When I heard that, I was just thanking God because it could have been a lot worse.  The checkup went well and she said, “I will see you in a couple of weeks.”  I was so frustrated because that meant that I would not be able to play for the rest of the season.  Before I left, I asked the doctor this question, “Will I be back for playoffs for basketball because my team needs me?” She said that if I work hard on my exercises and do what she tells me, I can possibly come back for the playoffs. When she told me that, it gave me so much motivation. I was up for the challenge!

After a long 4 weeks of therapy and sitting through game after game, I went for my last checkup with the doctor. This was the day I was waiting for. She looked at my foot and she said, “It looks awesome, when is your game?” My game was tomorrow. When I told her that, she said that it will be really painful if I play on it, but I could play if I wanted to. The thought ran through my head, and I decided to persevere and play.

I went to practice that night after school, and it felt so awkward running and playing ball. I was so frustrated because I wanted to play so badly, but I think I needed a week to get back into the swing of things.

The first playoff game came and I played a few minutes, but I was not playing like I could so I was taken out and I did not play for the rest of the game. I was so disappointed with myself, but we won the game so I knew that if I worked hard that week I could play. Once that week passed, it was finally the time I was waiting for. After a month and a half of hard work, it was time for me to finally play.

I will never forget when I stepped onto the court that night. I felt like a completely different person; I felt so fresh and ready to go. I played my heart out that game and even though we lost, I was proud of all the hard work that I put in, and how it paid off.

Even though I went through all the pain of my injury, I began to push myself to understand perseverance! I was so frustrated that this event happened to me, but in the end, it made me a different person. It showed me determination, taught me to rely on God, and persevere through any and every circumstance that comes my way in life. I look back and think about how a bad thing turned into a life changing moment in my life, and for that, I am extremely grateful!