I was in 5th grade at the time the school year had just started. I thought it was a great time to jump right into soccer while having no experience. I have always been amused by the sport so when my friend said her team needed people I thought why not and decided to join them. After the first practice, I noticed pain and swelling in my right foot. There were times before I've noticed some pains there but I never thought much of it. I ignored it and went to another practice but by the end, I was crying in pain because it was hurting just to walk on my foot. That's when I decided it was time to bring it to my mom's attention.

Once we got home we looked at my foot and she noticed the swelling, the first thought was it was just a sprain or maybe I hit it on something so we put ice on it and decided to wait and see if anything changed. The swelling went down but putting any pressure on it still caused a lot of pain so we decided to go to the doctors for it. This was the beginning of many doctor's appointments. At this appointment, they ordered an x-ray and told us it was just a fracture. I was put into a cast for 2-3 weeks and was told to come back after and they would look at it again the next appointment. During these few weeks, I wasn't really taking this injury seriously, I was constantly doing things I wasn't supposed to while in the cast like running on it during recess. 

I went back for the follow-up appointment and explained that it still hurt and after looking at it they had decided to put me in yet another cast. They told me it would be on for another 2-3

weeks, which was another 2-3 weeks of me not taking it seriously causing myself more pain on it. When we went back for this follow-up appointment I explained it still hurt. They put me in a boot and ordered another x-ray and I was told to wear the boot all day every day until we heard back about what they saw in the x-ray.  While in the boot I still continued to run around in it but I made sure to still wear it like I was told. A few days later my mom gets a call and they tell her they may have found the cause of the pain and ordered for me to get an MRI.

We went in to get the MRI but at the time I didn't know what an MRI was so when I found out what it was I became nervous quickly, especially thinking about the fact that you can't move, and if you do it only makes the process longer. After a long 15-20 minutes of me trying to sit still in a compacted machine, they found what was causing this pain. I had two bones rubbing together and the only way to fix it was surgery. I was relieved because I was finally going to be out of pain but also became scared because I was only 10 after having my first surgery. An appointment was made where a doctor would then explain more about what it was and the next steps that needed to be. 

A week later and still being in the boot we made it to the appointment. She explained that I had bone on bone in my foot, the cartilage is worn down completely leaving my bones rubbing together which is what's causing my ongoing pain. She then explained that to completely fix this I will need surgery but also explained that as I grew this problem could occur again leading to another surgery. After getting the knowledge on what was wrong and what the procedure would be we decided to go through with this surgery knowing it could occur again but not wanting to continue to have this pain at a young age. We made an appointment to get the surgery and had a week to prepare for it.

I was counting down the days to it, getting more and more anxious each day. I was super nervous not really knowing what to expect or what it was going to be like after. It was finally the night before, I wasn't allowed to eat after a certain time as I was going to be put under anesthesia. I couldn't sleep the night before because I was very nervous but also slightly excited. I was in pain for over a month and also my leg was trapped in a cast and boots not being able to do as much and I knew after I was healed all that was going to end. 

Finally the day of, I woke up super anxious which continued the whole way there. When we got there everything happened so quickly. They explained everything they were doing as they were doing it. They started getting me ready to go back into the operation room, my nerves began to grow the closer we got to the surgery. Everyone there was super comforting seeing how nervous I was. They took me back to the operation room and the next thing I knew I was done. But of course, having another cast on but joy grew knowing it was going to be my last one. 

After surgery everyone was super comforting, I had to stay overnight in the hospital but I wasn't complaining because that meant I got any meal I wanted, and for free. The night after the surgery went by fast and I don't remember much besides the nurse constantly coming in. The next morning I was in some pain but mostly just tired. Before I left I was taught how to use crutches because in all the other casts I was able to walk on my own in the cast. At first, learning to use the crutches was strange but I quickly got the hang of it. 

The recovery process was fast and I didn't have any problems thankfully. I took this healing process seriously, knowing that unlike the other cast I had to stay off of my foot. After a couple of weeks, I was finally out of my last cast and into my final boot for the rest of the recovery. At the

beginning of this boot, I still had to use crutches but after a week or two, I got to stop using them. After a couple of weeks of the boot, I was finally out of it for good, I hope at least.

Fast forward to now I haven't had any problems with my foot. A couple of months ago I had some pain on that foot but it looked fine and eventually went away. I hope no serious problems come up later in life with it and I never have to go through that process again.