I am used to things not going my way. After two root canals, a mouth surgery that resulted in a tooth extraction and a bone graft, a broken big toe that forced me into a knee-high cast for six weekend multiple stress fractures and a hip surgery, I’ve have my share of frustration in high school.

Doctors often refer to me as the mystery patient. There is never an easy fix to my medical issues. I have so many doctors it is hard to remember them all, but here we go. Let’s break it down.

There is the pediatrician who is still stumped on whether or not I had chicken pox in the third grade. There are the mouth doctors: the dentist spent years trying to figure out why my mouth randomly started hurting until he referred me to my Endodontist who did my two root canals. Then the orthodontist saw something on an X-ray that made him refer me to the maxillofacial surgeon that did my surgery and bone graft.

Now for the foot doctors; my podiatrist told me I don’t walk correctly and have bad foot genetics. After my stress fracture healed, he sent me to a physical therapist to fix my walking problems. After I started physical therapy I talked to my therapist about my chronic hip pain that had progressively worsened. He sent me to my orthopedic surgeon who eventually did my hip surgery. Now you are all caught up.

After an MRI and visits with the hip doctor, it was determined that I needed surgery to fix a tear in my labrum and release a tendon that had been causing my hip to pop and crack. The surgeon told me there would be a six-month recovery period, but I don’t think that really sunk in. Once I was off crutches I was still feeling pain in my hip. I started physical therapy again, but my discomfort level did not seem to change. Three months after the surgery I was still limping and experiencing a lot of pain. After another visit with the doctor, he recommended a steroid injection.

The injection was not fun. I had a nine-inch needle jabbed into my hip, and although I had a Novocain shot where the injection was, I could still feel the pressure and the movement of the needle.

Now, a month later, most of my pain is gone. Physical therapy is finally starting to work and I can start to exercise again. I still have a long way to go in my recovery, but things are finally starting to get better. Looking back, I have been able to learn something from my experience. Not many people knew what was going on with me. This whole school year, I have been in pain and on different pain medications. You never know what others are going through at any given time. Many times there is a reason for someone’s changed behavior. Being in constant pain really did change who I was as a person. I know many people go through pain, physical and emotional, much worse than me, but no matter what they are experiencing, it is hard to deal with.