On January 5^th, toward the end of the first judo practice of the year, I was fighting a heavier and stronger fighter from the club when something unexpected happened. I was getting slammed all across the mat, but I didn't really care because I was learning from him and it was good practice. Suddenly, I caught his foot with a foot sweep of my own and almost pulled a throw out of it. A little bit more confident, I got up and faced my opponent. I posted out my right hand grip to stop his high grip, but he managed to bend me over. Just then, he backed up a little, and I knew he was going to go in for a throw, and so I prepared to stop it. Because of that, I ended up being really far from him when he threw, and I blocked the throw (left uchi-mata),  landing on my left knee. That in itself would have been fine, except what the fighters in Tokai do is they explode even more at that moment. As he pulled my upper body across, I had no time to change my leg's position and was forced into a overly extended position. I felt a little rip in my hip and an acute pain in my knee. I yelled out in pain. At first, my partner didn't realize that I was hurting, thinking I just yelled out in defeat. But after a while he started asking me what was wrong.

The time froze for a few moments. I curled up in a shrimp position, my whole body shivering, fearing the worst. I couldn't think, I didn't know what to do. Suddenly I heard him ask me what was wrong. Obviously I was hurt. Soon, others came to surround me. Then people picked me up and carried me off the mats. I was placed on a stretcher, and given ice. My opponent just asked me what had happened, and soon left after to go back to practice.

I really hated myself in that moment. Why didn't I just take the fall? I knew this one wasn't as simple as the previous injury. Yasuhiro Yamashita sensei came by and saw me in pain and asked me what was wrong. I explained what had happened, and he awkwardly touched my injured area, then walked away. One of the trainers was nice enough to show me a few exercises on how to help my leg heal once it would be strong enough to move, but who knew when that would be.

I lost a lot of hope that day. I didn't understand why it had happened. I've been really trying my best to follow the practices and even though I get slammed all day, I push myself to stay aggressive.

I called my friend Chipa to help me walk back to the dorm because I knew I wouldn't be able to alone. Once we made it back, I set more ice onto my leg. I put ice at least 6 times that day. I called my sister and told her what had happened. She gave me a few more tips on what to do and not to do.

I went to bed completely devastated, my leg raised onto my pillow.

The next day, I limped around to get to classes. A lot of people asked me what was wrong, and I can't blame them: my walk was ridiculous. My leg was in a lot of pain. One of my friends, Valentina, noticed this and begged me to go to the hospital and even offered to go with me. So after school, she helped me limp over to the bus station, onto the bus, off the bus, and into a clinic near the station, where she had went when she had broken her knee cap a few months ago.

After waiting a few minutes and filling out the necessary papers, we limped over to see the doctor. He could see that I was in quite a lot of pain. After a few tests, his verdict was a 2^nd degree tear in the MCL. He then recommended that I use a supporter. I tried it, but it didn't seem to give me any protection at all. His next recommendation was a cast. I had never had a cast and so I was a little hesitant. I called my sister to ask her opinion but it was around 1 A.M. in Canada, therefore she was sleeping. After a few minutes of deep thinking, I made a decision.

It was my first time seeing how they put a cast on. One thing I have to say about the doctors here is that they are... different than in Canada. There were like four of them around me, two holding my leg and moving it too quickly to my liking. I was soo scared someone would trip on it or drop it or something. They placed the tissue over my leg, and the doctor molded it to my leg. I had to wait a bit there, my leg on a stool for the whole thing to dry.

Valentina was there next to me, and I was grateful for her presence. But I could not help but let out a few tears. I would have to wear this thing for two weeks, and in total, my full recovery would take up to three months...

After paying the bills and grabbing the crutches, I limped out of there. It was really hard to use the crutches. I looked up the proper way later on Youtube just to make sure.


January 15^th: It's now been a week and two days since I got injured. Last Tuesday, January 13^th, I went back to the doctors and asked them to remove the cast. When my sister had found out about it, she was a little skeptical, and told me it would be best for me to use my leg. Therefore I used my leg in the dorm at first, and by two days later, I was no longer using the crutches. The cast was putting a LOT of pressure to different areas of my leg, and I actually had to take pain killers, which I never do. But I knew the sooner I started using my leg, the sooner I would heal.

The doctor used a tool that looks like a cutter, but only melts, and cut through the cast. Once the cast off, my leg was soo weak, it scared me. It was very itchy, and as I tried to bend it, it shaked uncontrollably. I even started to regret my decision. After tapping my leg, I was out of there. I called Chipa again to help me walk in order to go find the Judo Club's hospital, as my father recommended I go there. I forgot where I had went last time, and therefore we walked around a lot before I called Mrs. Mitsumoto to help me find where it is. It took us another 20 minutes to get there.

Once there, I consulted with doctor Miyazaki, and he opted for a smaller brace. He gave me a few tips and off we were. I was grateful for Chipa to be there because even with the brace, for the rest of that day, my leg felt soo weak.

Today (January 15^th): My leg is getting stronger and stronger. I can now actually walk down and up the stairs. My strut is becoming closer and closer to normal, yet I still get some jolts of pain when making a false step. Yesterday, I went to the dojo to say hi, and start my rehabilitation. I walked back in forth with my brace at first, then without, to get my leg used to walking again. After that, I spent half an hour just slowly bending and unbending my leg. It hurt terribly, and it would tremble soo much. After that, I ended the session with chin-ups and pushups. After eating, I put ice on it to let it cool. Today already I see that yesterday's efforts paid off. As I said, I can now walk down the stairs, which is quite the challenge since it forces you to bend your leg to a specific extent.

Hope is there, yet I know it will take time, therefore I'm not rushing it. I just don't see any reason not to smile. After all, I can still study and talk with friends so no point wasting this time complaining!

Note: My family has been giving me soo much support it's crazy. My "aunt" came over all the way from Tokyo to visit me for like only 10 minutes since she was worried. Also a lot of friends have been very supportive, and I want to say thank you!