Justine Pulte Personal Essay

Tell us a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

During my sophomore year of high school, my dad asked if I would like to participate in track. Despite the constant rain and cold during spring practice, I became a fast runner and made it to varsity team. I told my dad that I wanted to set a school record, but I was out of shape and overweight. He set out a workout regimen for me and over the course of two years I worked hard to loose weight and gain strength. During the off-season, I also participated in basketball. I made it my goal to get into varsity too. I took private lessons from an expert, Gary Gardner, who taught me how to shoot and ball handle. The spring of my junior year, I cut track season short so I could participate in the Advantage Basketball Program in Juanita. I learned a lot of great skills, and joined the most interesting tournament basketball team. There was always a lot of drama and after a few months the team broke up. Over the summer, I was one of the few girls who stayed to see a new team formed. I lifted weights in the gym when I wasnt practicing basketball. I also went on a diet. By fall I had lost at 10 pounds of fat and gained an unknown quantity of muscle. I participated in the fall basketball league for Interlake and quit the Advantage team. I also took a P.E class that focused entirely on basketball. When basketball season finally started, I tried out for varsity, but I did not make the cut.

Over the course of my second JV basketball season, I kept up my training in the weight room. I was sad that I did not make it into varsity basketball, but I still focused on doing well in the 200-meter dash when track started in the spring. On January 11, 2013, during the last 10 seconds of a home game against Lake Washington, I went up for a rebound. I launched off my left knee and twisted to reach the ball at the same time. I heard a huge pop. When I came down on two legs, I could not put any weight on my left knee. The game ended, and I was carried to the high school trainer. My high school trainer did not think anything was wrong with my knee after doing tests; she thought my kneecap had temporarily dislocated and popped back into place. My parents still took me to the ER. At the Virginia Mason emergency room, the ER doctor did some tests and agreed with my trainers opinion. The nurse who came in afterwards recommended we go to the Sports Medical division to consult a sports medicine doctor (just in case). Over the weekend, my dad made me take a lot of anti-inflammatory meds, and insisted that I ice and elevate my knee. I consulted the Sports Medical doctor the following Monday. He thought I only had a mild sprain. I asked him if something inside the knee could have gotten injured, Oh thats the ACL, I dont think that anything like that happened. He told me to take a week off from basketball. A week later, the knee did not get better. The doctor, Callahan, only became concerned when I couldnt straighten my leg completely. He then advised me to get an MRI scan.

A week later my MRI revealed that my ACL was completely ruptured. He recommended that we sign up for reconstructive surgery immediately. Reconstruction would require partial removal of the hamstrings. My dad wanted to wait on doing the surgery, although my mom and I felt strongly for it. We talked to two other doctors about our options, one in Swedish Medical Center and the other in San Diego, California. The Swedish doctor was the most honest. He recommended that we do the surgery soon, because he believed that the rate of re-tearing the reconstructed ACL was low. My mom wanted to donate her hamstring as a graft. He asked why? with honest confusion. He seemed to think that removing a hamstring was not a big deal. The doctor in San Diego also believed that I should have reconstructive surgery, but I did not need to rush the decision. I chose not to do the surgery during my senior year. I skipped a month of track, to recondition my knee in the weight room. I worked hard and eventually reached my maximum weight again. I also practiced running on the treadmill, but had to avoid sprinting for a while. Track season only lasts for a couple of months, and I was running out of time to recover. I ran my last high school track meet on a rainy day. I only ran two races, the 100 and 200-meter dashes. In the past, those had been my best events. The time from that 100 meter dash was a full second slower than it had been sophomore year. The 200 meter dash was two seconds slower, and on top of that, my knee was hurting. I didnt mind that my knee hurt, but I knew that I lost the bounciness that you get when you sprint train every week. In less than 3 months, after my injury, I was back in shape, but my left leg was still weak and I was off balance when I sprinted.

My track season was essentially over. Now that graduation is here, six months after my initial injury, Ive learned more about ACL ruptures. Research has shown that ACLs can repair and remodel themselves. Although most doctors in the US advocate ACL reconstruction surgery, there is some evidence that my knee may fully recover on its own. Even though track season is over with, I am still motivated to fully rehabilitate my knee. Having goals keeps me motivated. I have a new goal now. I have also learned that doctors are human. They have their own motivations and opinions and may not take my own into consideration. I plan to go into pre-med once I start college.