Alyx Sperling

I came to HSS in January of 2018 after being diagnosed with a large lesion, hanging by a thread, in my left knee. I was having severe pain while playing on my varsity basketball team and I actually benched myself because it was unbearable. Since OCD is not well known, I went to HSS because I knew I would receive the medical care I needed to get back to being the high level athlete that I was. I play varsity basketball, softball, tennis and now golf, and before my injury, I also played flag football for fun. I had surgery February 12 and was in PT until October. I was cleared for tennis in mid-August but had a setback when a dissolvable screwhead came off and lodged itself in between the back of my knee and my calf muscle, causing discomfort and the inability to straighten my knee. I was again benched for four weeks and came back for the last two weeks of the tennis season. I played doubles in the last match and we beat a doubles team who was undefeated and won the division championship. I was finally starting to feel myself. Fast forward to November and basketball season began. It was a tough comeback, and there was always a fear of failure, but I worked hard in the offseason and got my game back together, and did OK, although I was still not at my pre-injury best. I made it through the season and decided this spring to play varsity golf instead of varsity softball because I am not at the level I was before, so I am only going to play travel softball this summer and I will work toward getting my skills back to where they were. As always, there is that fear of failure and possibly of getting hurt again, but I am working hard to redevelop all of my athletic skills, to come back stronger for my senior year of high school. I am thankful to Dr. Fabricant for being able to fix the amount of damage that was in my knee so that I could once again play the sports I love!