One of the biggest adjustments during the coronavirus pandemic: getting used to spending most of your time by yourself. Most college students had gone from being surrounded by friends, to returning home for spring break and staying in quarantine.
The thought of seeing my friends again on campus concerned me because of my upcoming knee surgery. Since September of 2019, I have had leg and knee problems due to a benign growth in my knee joint. It hurt to walk long distances, stand for long periods of time at work and even drive around. This was obviously an exciting surgery for me. Had COVID-19 not happened, my surgery was scheduled for the middle of May. The surgery I was looking forward to all year was pushed back to June 8, and I was skeptical about going back to school in August too soon after my surgery, with the risk of injuring myself again.
After knee surgery, I spent most of my time in bed watching Netflix— from “Gossip Girl,” to “The Carrie Diaries” and “Grey’s Anatomy”— which was a given during quarantine.
My bed also became my desk. I ate all of my meals and did my schoolwork while propped up by a bunch of pillows that acted as my “desk chair.” I did at-home physical therapy exercises. My knee started to heal after months of unbearable pain, and I was ecstatic to start exercising and to stand on my feet at my job and drive without pain. That was until Aug.18, a few days after being back in Morgantown, when I ended up fracturing my Femur on that same leg.
In short terms, the Femur is the strongest bone in the body and supports most of the muscle in your legs. I was rushed to the hospital where I had emergency surgery the next morning to have a metal plate and screws put in where the bone was fractured. It fractured right above my knee, and it was the most excruciating pain I have ever endured. It hurt to move, readjust, sit up, stand— you name it. After the surgery, I went back home to go through another recovery process for the remainder of the semester, and classes had not even started yet.
For the following six weeks, most of my time was spent in bed again. I was unable to put weight on my foot until my doctor allowed me to start physical therapy. Online classes during the pandemic turned out to be a blessing in disguise for me. Had I fractured my leg with no option of online classes, I would have had to withdraw from my classes for the semester.
Now, it is easier for me to attend class six hours away from campus. I have the academic resources needed, such as online textbooks and the ability to meet with professors online during their office hours. Although I do feel very burnt-out after doing schoolwork online for long periods of time, the option of having classes online has been less stressful during my recovery.
Of course, the most challenging part of recovery is self-care. Being in isolation has greatly impacted how we think about self-care and mental health. Taking time away from my phone, eating right and having mental health days have been some of my self-care regimens.
Spending most of my time looking at a screen makes me feel exhausted, and it makes schoolwork more time consuming and difficult. Taking time to sit outside, eating a healthy meal/snack or journaling helps me relieve some stress.
My recovery process does not mean sitting inside all day or laying in bed. Some days, I sit outside and eat breakfast while completing a word search, eat dinner with my family or go on spontaneous drives with my boyfriend. Little things like that help me feel better and get me out of the house while still being safe.
Recovering from surgery during the pandemic has made me realize that being alone is not always a bad thing. I miss my friends, but I remind myself that after this, I will feel stronger and better than I did last year. We have all had our ups and downs during the pandemic, but just like recovery, we will come out better than we were eight months ago— physically, mentally and emotionally. Recovery takes time, and time heals all.
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Edited by Zoë Skvarka