No Means No

 By Juyoung Kim

 

"Juyoung! No! You cannot play indoor soccer!" Hannah Pickett (12) yelled at me to stop me from playing indoor soccer in the gym with our dorm siblings one Sunday night. So did Haylee Douglas (11) and Haeon Park (12). Why did they try to stop me? Because I have a slipped disc. Diagnosed with a slipped disc at the age of 19 was tragic — there is so much more adventure in life I want to explore. 

 

Back pains are probably the most irritating pain someone could ever experience. Not only is it painful, but it makes you feel very helpless. I've had back pains ever since a fall during a dance performance back in middle school, but it wasn't until my senior year that my disc finally slipped out. During a dance practice for the dorm Christmas dance, I twisted my body weirdly, causing my disc to slip out. It felt uncomfortable, but I thought it was just regular back pain and thought it would go away after a few days. The pain wasn't getting any better but worse even after two months. So I finally decided to get my back checked for the first time by a Physiotherapist. After a few tests, they diagnosed me with a slipped disc and put me in a six-month recovery state. 

 

There was a good reason why Hannah yelled at me not to play soccer that night. She knew that the doctor told me not to play any sports or do intense exercises. But I ignored all my friends' advice not to play and played as hard as I could. Running around with a slipped disc is not ideal, but it wasn't the worst pain ever, so I continued to play almost towards the end of the time until my worst injury happened. 

 

As I was dribbling the ball towards the goal, I tripped over someone's foot, slipped, and landed hard on the ground on the right side of my back, where my slipped disc is. It was a hard fall that my whole back was in so much pain, and I couldn't feel my right leg. My body was stiff, and I couldn't move my body in any way. "The gym went silent for five minutes with no one saying a word, and I thought she would never be able to walk again," Micah Pickett (9) described the atmosphere at that moment.

 

Due to the fall, my slipped disc inflamed, causing any movement I made to cause a lot of pain. As helpless as it sounds, I was in a wheelchair for the whole week. However, I am very grateful for my friends that helped me through the recovery process and wheeled me around campus. Although my back isn't in its best condition, I am getting better. After all, I learned my lesson the hard way — no means no.