It's officially one week post-op and here are my initial thoughts.
PROS:
(1) You get a paratransit shuttle which will take you between classes! At UChicago, all I had to do was call the Student Disabilities Services and send them my morning schedule and now everyday before class I get picked up so I don't have to crutch 6-7 blocks!
(2) The trainers become your friends and the training room becomes your home! I am now on the level of friendliness with everyone where they let me use the microwave to cook my lunch and also let me use the "staff-only" bathroom. #winning
(3) People are so nice! The evening shuttle passengers are all so friendly and help me with my crutches. These two girls who have math class on the first floor at the same time as me have helped carry my backpack up to the second floor so I can jump/crutch up the stairs without the additional weight.
(4) You bond with your teachers! My bio teacher also tore his meniuscus AND played defensive mid in soccer! My math teacher plays center back and for one of the grad IM soccer indoor teams. Maybe I'll ref him this winter? But either way, bonding = good because it means more empathy for me. For example, my bio teacher let me take my midterm today instead of Monday because I emailed him and told him I couldn't study over the weekend because of my surgery. Also, I learned that my math teacher has lived all over Europe and lives in Brazil also - so cool!
(5) All your friends bring you food - chocolate chickpea cookie dough, ice cream, donuts, popcorn, candy - to name a few. Oh and your friends will come over and cook for you too:)
(6) You can wear shorts with your brace and while people normally think its weird that you are wearing shorts in 30 degree weather, NOW you have a real excuse!
CONS
(1) Your arms hurt and you have to stop for multiple breaks when crutching between classes. Also it takes much longer to get to different places.
(2) You don't get to travel with your team to Wash U to play in the sweet 16/elite 8 games and you didn't get to be at the round of 64 and 32 games at home since they happened 1 day and 2 days post-op.
(3) You devote about 3.5 hours to rehab each day and need SO much more sleep at night in order to focus during the day. This basically means the hours in your day get cut down and you have less time to do more fun things:(
(4) Did I mention your arms hurt?
Overall, its been good though and I'm happy I've been able to do as much as I've been able to do just one week after surgery!
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