By Sachi Bhati ’18, News Editor
“How did you do it?” The one question I hate to answer about my back. I was not “saving a cat from a burning building” or “trying to reach something from the top shelf.” You should know these are all guesses people have made. It was actually a normal Monday morning and all I was doing was opening the school door, specifically the automatic one. I had never imagined that I would re-injure myself by opening the same door I had been using every day for so long. As I was opening the door, I felt my back give out and all of a sudden I could not walk. The excruciating pain brought back memories of when I first injured myself (I was bending down to pick up a tennis ball – also not a great story). My first instinct was to try to go back to my mom’s car. Thankfully I stopped myself once I realized I would have to chase the car down and that just would not work. Instead I sojourned to the nurse’s office. After explaining my previous injuries to the nurse while also calling my mom, we decided it would be best if I go home for the day.
Seeing as I could not walk, I stayed at home for the next few days. A few days turned into a week which ended up becoming two weeks. Sure, the first few days were not too bad. It was nice to just lay in bed and not worry about anything – then again I was taking quite a few medications so I was out of it throughout most of the day. After the first two days, I couldn’t help but worry about how much I was missing. Yes, I was keeping up-to-date with all of my homework, but sometimes it was hard to do the homework when I had not learned any of the information. It became pretty stressful: my medicine was not helping very much and I was missing a huge amount of school work. Not being able to put pressure on my right foot was a really big burden. My mom had to help me walk everywhere. I was hopeless because no matter how hard I tried I was not improving and that was causing me to miss more school. Thankfully, my teachers were very understanding and helpful.
By the time I came back, I realized how much I had missed the environment. I realized how much I missed actually seeing my friends. I missed hearing Mr. Faulhaber make jokes about one of the Thomases in Math, hearing Sam scream “chiasmus” when Mrs. Dunn asks for the trope in the text we were reading, and above all I missed Sage’s cookies on cookie Wednesday.
So, if you ever find yourself in a similar situation where you have to miss school, I have a few tips for you.
- Communicate with your teachers while you are out.
Keeping your teachers informed keeps both you and your teachers on the same page. - Have a friend send you notes from class.
Learning the information you missed while you are out of school means less you have to catch up on when you return to school. In my case, I was lying in bed all day so it gave me something to do in between watching Netflix. - Meet with your teachers as soon as you come back.
It helps to meet with your teachers to see how much you really have to catch up on, it is also a great time to show them what you have done while you were out. Also, plan out approximately when you want to take any tests or quizzes that you missed just so you do not keep them off too long and you don’t end up with taking them all on one day. - Once you are back do not fall back on what you are learning right now.
Yes, it is hard trying to catch up while your class moves forward, but all it takes is a little bit of extra effort and soon enough you will be caught up. - Do not stress out too much.
It can become really stressful, especially if you are out right before a marking period. Although the teachers do not want to push you, they need to put a grade in for what you missed. In the end sometimes you cannot avoid missing school, but by staying positive it will not be hard to come back.
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