I don’t go out often but when I do, I dislocate my knee

You could be grooving the night away and all of the sudden you are down on the floor wondering how this all happened.

It was a Saturday night around 9pm. I was debating whether or not I had the energy to exert on actually showering, putting on make up, and making the trek to go out. Although, a few snapchats from my friends with the pinnacle, “where are you?” and I knew what my fate was set for the night. Let’s face it, going out was way better then actually being productive on a Saturday. I mean, that is simply not what Saturdays were made for.

Before I dislocated my knee

As the night had progressed my usual nerves for dancing had calmed. I was feeling carefree. However, in just a few moments, I realized I let my guard down just a bit too much. A small rhythmic (okay probably awkward) twist of my leg, and I could feel an entire piece of my kneecap lock out. Immediately, I sat down afraid of putting any pressure on the now locked straight into place leg. A few of my friends looked down wondering what was going on and all I could get out was “feel my knee, feel my knee.” The knee was completely shifted over outside of its usual centered place in the kneecap.

A few minutes later and I was still stuck in the same up right, legs straight position, in the middle of the dance floor, left leaning up against a couch. There was spilled WOP on the carpet to the right of me, and the party was still ragging above me. I felt a little like the squished WOP fruit in the carpet.

Luckily, the thing about UW Madison is out of the people you attend parties with a lot of them are probably future doctors. One girl who was pre med told me not to move, another said maybe to call an ambulance, or to see if we could somehow shuffle me to the hospital across the street. Finally, a friend convinced me to (for lack of better description) butt shuffle into her room about 15ft away to at least get away from the crowd. Then, we decided we had to make the decisive move to place me on top of her bed. It was the closest we had probably ever been as, both of us struggling, she hoisted me up. Faced with the realization that my leg would be stuck like this the rest of the night I settled in.

That was until a friends boyfriend walked into the room, he was an avid snowboarder and had apparently had this happen to him several times. He asked me if I was able to bend it, I answered with a definitive “GOD NO”. So, instead with the help of my friend, we gently tried to place it straightly on the floor. Before I knew it I felt a harsh jousted movement, an instant of harsh pain, and then a wave of relief. He had popped my knee BACK INTO PLACE. What?! At a party?! The night of?! Yes, yes, yes. My constant awkward teeth chattering from the pain was exchanged into literal tears of joy.

Knee incredibly swollen the morning after having been put back into place

It was still visibly swollen through my skinny jeans, and there was no way I was going to move off that bed that night; but, it could at least be bent and I could at least take off my heeled boots.

Soon, my friends came to my rescue to start the healing process with some chips and queso from Qdoba and it was just the cure I needed after a crazy night. I left the rest of the worrying about healing for us in the morning.

The morning after: