Volleyball Journey - Part 7

Kaitlyn tries to land after being knocked off balance, as her right foot touches down first her toes impact the court, the momentum of the collision continuing her motion sideways, as the rest of her body weight comes crashing down. Her still recovering right ankle can’t take the pressure and instantly rolls outwards and forwards at a violent ankle. The ankle brace she is wearing offers some resistance, but not enough to stop the damage from being done. As the pressure comes down she feels her ankle let go, and instant sensation like never before and a pop radiates from her right ankle like a guitar string snapping.

 

Kaitlyn and Jasmine end up entangled crashing to floor, and it all unfolds in a matter of seconds. Jasmine starts to brush her self off and gets up. Kaitlyn at first not realising what had happened as it happened so fast thought maybe her ankle brace had broken. As she turns on her bum and goes to mover her right foot instantly the pain hits her. 

 

She lunges for her right leg as the pain continues to intensify. Alex whom is right there realises straight away that something is wrong when Kaitlyn goes for her leg, her facial expressions tell a story of pain and despair. 

 

Alex goes to her side straight away, “Kaitlyn are you” she asks with a concerned tone. 

 

Kaitlyn responds immediately, “No its my ankle its bad, I think it might be broken” she says. 

 

Alex immediately raises her arm to flag Sam and Andrew, who are already staged to come on the court as they saw the collision unfold. As they come rushing to the court, Kaitlyn is over come by emotions and starts to weep. Alex takes her hand and starts to reassure her, “Its ok Kaitlyn, you will be ok”

 

Sam and Andrew arrive and instantly go to work, Sam starts to talk to Kaitlyn asking some questions to try to ascertain the severity, “where do you feel the pain?” Sam Asks, 

Kaitlyn between weeps starts to respond, “its all over my ankle, I think I felt it snap I think its broken” She goes onto say. 

 

Sam turns to Andrew immediately, “let’s get the shoe and brace off and treat it as a suspected fracture. Alex continues to fold Kaitlyn’s hand as Andrew goes to work, starting by cutting her shoe laces off trying to minimise as much movement as possible. 

 

“It’s going to be ok Kaitlyn” Alex keeps reassuring her. 

Andrew slides her shoe off gently, causing little movement, and then takes his scissors to her ankle brace. He slices through it slowly and gently, until it unfolds in half and falls free of Kaitlyn’s foot. As the brace comes off, Kaitlyn feels a surge of blood head straight down her leg. The throbbing intensifies immediately, as Andrew takes his scissors to her long sock, slicing it in seconds and removing it straight away. 

 

Sam looks down at Kaitlyn’s ankle as the sock is removed and the damage is revealed, and instantly her ankle starts to multiple in size. “Oh god I can feel it swelling” Kaitlyn murmurs through her slight tears. As she leans forward just enough to look at her ankle she immediately sees a huge bulge on the outer side of her ankle. It literally looks like someone has put a tennis ball under her skin. 

 

“Ok let’s get a temp cast on that ankle and leg” Sam tells Andrew. 

 

Andrew gently lowers her foot down to rest it on her heel and digs through his medical bag. Sam is on the phone immediately and calls an ambulance so they can take her to the hospital straight away. Andrew pulls out two long firm pads which will form the structure for the temp cast. He then pulls out a couple ace bandages. He places the two individual pieces either side of her ankle and then grabs the bandage. Starting a the top of the braces just below her knee he starts to wrap around the her leg securing the side pieces in place. As he works his way down Sam helps to raise her leg and foot supporting it as Andrew continues to wrap several bandages about the whole leg. In a few minutes they have it secured and they elevate it on one of the medical bags for the moment. 

 

They decide not to move her until the paramedics get there, and Sam leaves to talk to the coach quickly. 

 

“How is she” He asks concerned, “It’s hard to say at this point but I think its potentially fractured. The ambulance should be here any moment, and we will get her up to the hospital straight away for further assesment.”

 

“Ok thanks Sam” The coach says before turning to the bench to get another player ready to go in. The ambulance arrives and two paramedics enter the arena escorted by one of the home team’s training staff. They make their way to the court side and lower the bed in preparation. Sam gives them a brief of the injury and symptoms and swelling etc and they go straight to work. Firstly, their administer some pain relief in the form of a morphine ventilator, Kaitlyn, takes the 1 inch round tube ventilator in her hand and starts to breath it in. 

 

The paramedics get the bed ready and then with the assistance of Sam and Andrew they help lift her onto the bed keeping her leg and ankle as still as possible. As they raise the bed and prepare to take her out, Alex consoles her one more time. “Kaitlyn I’ll be here for you, don’t worry you will get through this” Kaitlyn holds her hand and thanks her for being so kind to her. 

 

As the paramedics get ready to leave they ask if someone will be going with her, Sam turns to Andrew and says, “Grab your stuff and go with Kaitlyn, ring me as soon as you know more, and ill arrange separate transport for us home. 

 

Andrew knobs and rushes off to grab his things from the sideline and then briskly takes off out of the arena closely in tow of the paramedics. 

 

By this point the team is a little rattled, as they all watch from the sidelines in preparation for going back on court. Jasmine sits in a chair like she doesn’t even care. Once the court is wiped down they ref calls the game back on and the teams return to the court. 

 

The game kicks off again and they just are never able to find their grove and loose the second set in quick succession. 

 

As the team breaks for a drink, Alex can overhear Sam on the phone to Andrew, worried how Kaitlyn is going. “So, what have they said so far” Sam impatiently asks.

Andrew on the other end of the phone starts to explain, “Well the doctor took a quick look and he suspects severe ligament damage and potential fracture of the lower fibula bone, They are taking her in for an Xray shortly.” Ok well keep me updated and ill be over as soon as we are finished here” Sam Says before hanging up the phone. 

 

Kaitlyn’s pain has now subsided with the aid of the pain relief, but she is still somewhat emotional. Andrew keeps reassuring her that everything will be ok.

 

The 3^rd set kicks off and the team is all over the place, they manage to take a few points here and there, but they are struggling to be consistent. Alex’s tries her best to rally the team, but her efforts are futile. The game ends and they lose in 3 straight sets. 

 

As they head back to the benches, they can see they frustration on the coaches face as he reminds the team of how poor their performance was. Alex can’t help but grab her phone and text Andrew to see how Kaitlyn is. 

 

Andrew responds after a few moments and fills her in on what the doctor has said so far, “we are just waiting for the doctor to come back with the X-ray results” he says. 

 

Alex heads with the rest of the team to the locker room to freshen up before the trip home. Sam takes a call outside the locker room as girls head in. “Hi, Sam, its Andrew, so we have just had the x-ray and the doctor has come back and reviewed it. They are confident there is no fracture at this stage, but he is concerned the swelling maybe be masking it and has recommended a follow up x-ray in a week’s time. He is almost certain that there is some significant ligament damage though and has given her a referral to an orthopaedic specialist in a week’s time after the x-ray also.” Sam nods his head as he listens taking it all in, “Ok Andrew, I will chat to the coach and see if we can come past in the bus and pick you two up on our way out, ill text when we are on our way.”

 

Andrew acknowledges the comments and hangs up the phone. 

 

The girls load up into the bus after freshening up and the bus heads off making a detour via the local hospital emergency department. The bus pulls up in the loading area right at the front doors and Sam makes his way off the bus. 

 

A few minutes later, Sam, Andrew and Kaitlyn appear through the glass sliding doors. Kaitlyn is on crutches with her right ankle bandaged and she is wearing an air cast stirrup for added support and protection. 

 

Andrew and Sam help Kaitlyn into the bus through the narrow stairwell and she enters the walkway of the bus. They team all comes together and claps her on the bus, except for one person jasmine who is sitting in the third row from the front. 

 

The coach looks up and says, “Jasmine get up and sit somewhere else” Jasmines jaw drops to the ground as she grabs her things and moves back in the bus. Kaitlyn navigates her way down the narrow walkway in the bus and sits in the third row where she has a seat all to herself. She rests her crutches on the floor and raises her injured ankle up onto the seat with her leg out straight. 

 

The bus door closes and the bus gets under way. Alex makes her way forward to see Kaitlyn and takes a seat just behind her. “What did they say Kaitlyn, is it broken?”

 

“At this stage they don’t think its broken, but I have to have it rechecked in a week and then I have a follow up with the orthopaedic specialist to see if I will need surgery. They think the ligament is severely torn” Alex can hear in her voice how gutted she is, and that she knows she will be missing the finals and good portion of next year if she has to have surgery. 

 

Alex tries to reassure her again, “I’ll help you get through this Kaitlyn, OK” She says. Kaitlyn smiles back at her as if to say Thank you for being there for me!!

 

The journey home is a quiet one, the coach and the trainers talk at the front of the bus about their game plan moving forward and the roster for the following game into the finals.

 

As they return to the campus, they unload off the bus. Alex offers to help Kaitlyn to her room to make sure she is comfortable for the evening. She helps her navigate her way to her bedroom and helps her get in and get comfortable. Alex fetches some water for her so she can take some pain medication and helps her prop her foot up on a pillow.

 

“Now you just ring or text me if you need anything, I’m just down the hall” Alex says. 

“Ok you are too kind Alex, thank you for being such a good friend even in the short amount of time we have known each other”

 

Alex departs to her room for the night and gets herself settle in for a good sleep. 

 

Throughout the night, Kaitlyn gets little sleep. The pain coming and going as the medication wears off and she takes some more. Her ankle and foot feeling increasingly tighter by the hour in the bandage and brace. In the dark of the night Kaitlyn ends up removing the brace, and loosening the bandage several times to help stay comfortable. As day breaks Kaitlyn finds herself just lying-in bed wide awake. Down the hall Alex has arisen and is preparing to go for a morning jog but decides to message Kaitlyn to see if she is awake, to her surprise she gets a response almost instantly. “Hi Alex, yes I’m awake had a terrible sleep” Alex replies to the message, “Ill pop down and see you”

 

Alex continues to get into her sporty cloths and running gear and then heads down to Kaitlyn’s room. Once there she knocks on the door and then she hears Kaitlyn call out, “Its open”

 

Alex makes her way into the room closing the door and heads straight for Kaitlyn who is lying in bed on her back with her right foot up on the pillow. The bandage in place but somewhat very loose. “Hi Kaitlyn, how are you feeling this morning? Alex asks as she takes a seat on the edge of the bed next to Kaitlyn. “I’m ok, very tired I didn’t get much sleep the pain was coming and going all night and I have been avoiding getting up for the toilet for the last hour” 

 

“Oh Hun, it’s the worst isn’t it not being able to sleep. Let me help you get up so you can go to the toilet” Alex replies. 

 

Alex stands up so that she can assist Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn sits up on the bed and looks down at her ankle and then turns to Alex, “Would you mind taking the bandage off so I can see my ankle and let it breathe for a bit?”

 

“Of course” Alex replies and positions herself closer to Kaitlyn’s foot on the pillow. The bandage is wrapped very loosely after Kaitlyn loosened it in the middle of the night. She starts to unravel the bandage layer by layer until its complete removed gently resting Kaitlyn’s ankle back down on the pillow.

 

“Oh gee look how swollen it is” Kaitlyn says as she gazes down at her ankle. 

 

 

Her inner and outer ankle and most of her foot is totally engulfed by the swelling. The definition of her regular ankle is completely gone and even her toes are looking swollen. 

 

“Doesn’t look good” Kaitlyn says to Alex. Alex tries to be reassuring as possible at this stage, “The swelling is expected, don’t get to worried, wait until the review it in a week and im sure you will be fine.”

 

Alex assists Kaitlyn to rotate and sit up so that she can crutch to the bathroom. As Kaitlyn stands Alex offers her support, and then Kaitlyn once resting securely on her crutches, starts to make her way to the bathroom. 

 

A few minutes later and Kaitlyn exists the bathroom, right ankle held up behind her as she makes her way back to the bed. Once she arrives she sits and then Alex helps her raise her foot back onto the pillow. Alex fetches her some more water, and helps her take some more pain medication, whilst seated next to her on the bed. 

 

She can see the distress in Kaitlyn’s eyes and takes her hand in hers and gently holds it reassuring her that everything will be ok. 

 

Alex decides to stay with her for a while and they have some general chat about the bus ride home, and Kaitlyn comments on how the coach told Jasmine to get up and move, and the look on her face. After about 30 minutes Kaitlyn is starting to feel very tired from the pain medication, so Alex decides to leave to allow her to sleep. 

 

“I’ll come and check on you later” Alex says as she stands to leave the room. 

 

During the day Alex checks on Kaitlyn many times, stopping by bringing her some food and helping her with anything she needs. By night fall, Kaitlyn is still feeling very sleepy from the medication and pain killers and has an early night hoping to get a better nights rest. 

 

 

Friday rears the corner and the team head to the courts for training after class. As they all gather and start to stretch up by the court side, the coach walks onto the court. “Ladies lets all gather round” he demands. 

 

The team gets together in a huddle in preparation for the coach to address the team. He starts by telling the team how disappointed he was in their performance on Wednesday. And then continues to say this week there will be some changes. 

 

He starts to call out a list of names and asks those members to take the court. One by one the huddle breaks down as part of the team disburses to the court area as their names are called. He calls 6 to the court, “That’s our starting 6 for the next game” He says. He then continues and the following 4 will be our substitutes. As he rattles off the names the last is called, and Jasmine has been excluded from the team. 

 

She calls out, “Coach what about me”…

 

The coach looks up to address her enquiry before calmly saying, “You will be playing with the junior squad this week and that’s my decision.”

 

The look on Jasmines face was priceless as the remainder of the team, relish in the due justice to Jasmine.

 

The team, warm up for their training session as the remainder of the squad sit on the bleechers watching. Jasmine is fuming by the coaches decision. 

 

After the training ends, the team heads to the locker room to freshen up. Jasmine decides that she wants to talk to the coach about her being left out. 

 

“knock Knock” Jasmine taps on the coaches door.

“Come in” He calls out. 

 

Jasmine turns the handle and makes her way in closing the door behind her. 

She walks towards the coaches desk and takes a seat in the chair. 

 

“Yes jasmine, how can I help you tonight” The coach says whilst looking down at some papers on his desk. 

 

Jasmine sits up and starts to plead her case “ well coach I was wondering why I have been left off the team?” Before Jasmine could even get another word out the coach slams the papers he had in his hand onto the desk. 

 

Taken back, Jasmin slides back in her seat. 

 

“ Well Jasmine, the thing is we are a team, we need team players and after the last few weeks you have shown that you are not a team player, in fact your lack of care for the rest of the team has now resulted in a serious injury to another player, and I will not have a bar of it. As far as I concerned, you can play juniors for the rest of the time here or find a new sport.”

 

Jasmine completely taken back, starts to speak up “But coach, my parents will not like if I’m dropped from the squad, I’m a ….” 

 

“Enough” the coach says in a deep direct voice. “I don’t care about your parents I care about this team, if you had any respect for that you would have handled yourself differently. I’m sure your parents would love to hear how you have caused a serious injury to another player due to your selfishness. Now leave my office this conversation is over”

 

Jasmine, breaks down into tears as she gets herself up and heads for the door, exiting and closing the door behind her. As the rest of the team exits the change rooms, they see jasmine walking the hall in tears. 

 

Alex unsure of what had transpired decides that she wants to see the coach quickly. 

 

She knocks on the door, “Knock Knock” 

 

“Come in” he calls out. 

 

Alex enters the room, and closes the door before taking a seat In front of the desk. 

 

“Hi, Alex, how can I help you?” he asks. 

 

“I just saw Jasmine in the corridor and she was very upset, I just wanted to make sure everything was ok” 

 

The coach places the papers down on his desk before looking up at Alex, “ Alex I admire your care and dedication to this team. I think you know why Jasmine is upset and unfortunately, I need to make decisions that are best for the team, and if that is a team that is without Jasmine in the seniors then that is what is right for the team.”

 

Alex ponders the coaches response for a few moments, “ I understand that coach, and you are the coach so you know what is best. I do see come good in Jasmine, she is a determined strong player.”

 

The coach sits back and listens to Alex, before speaking up.

 

“Alex, That right there is a quality I rarely see in a player. No matter what has happened, you see the positive in people, for me that’s a true sign of a leader. I want you to be the team captain moving forward. I think you have the motivation and skills to take this team to a final and even a state championship.”

 

Alex humbled by the words of the coach, “Thank you Coach, I appreciate hearing that. I would love to be the team captain and I think the team respects me. I want to make this commitment though, I think we will need Jasmine in the future if you give me sometime I think I can make her a team player.” 

 

The coach, who at this point is very surprised by the sheer determination and excitement and forethought of Alex, looks at her and says, “Alex, if you believe the team needs jasmine, Then ill leave it to you to show me this and how she has changed to be a team player.” 

 

Jasmine smiles, and looks at the coach, “Ok ill get straight onto it”

 

She exits the coaches office and heads back to her room. 

 

That evening she starts to think about her new role in the team and how she can be a better player and a better leader. 

 

The weekend consists of very little, Alex and Andrew relax together for the evenings, and Alex checks in on Kaitlyn regularly. 

 

By Sunday evening Kaitlyn is feeling somewhat better but Alex can tell that she is feeling very down, So she decides to surprise her with some dinner and company for the evening.