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My work space, once a high-tech newsroom with a Mac desktop computer, a rolling chair, and the support of my peers, is now a vintage recliner in my grandparents’ living room. Between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., you can find me here, under a cozy blanket, with my laptop in my lap and my cat Lucky keeping me company.<\/p>\n
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SARASOTA, Fla. <\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 It was the morning of March 11, and my friends and I were reveling in our fifth day of spring break. <\/span>\u00a0I was\u00a0sporting some nice tan lines and a touristy \u201cAnna Maria Island\u201d T-shirt. Then I heard some exciting, yet disconcerting,<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0news from the University of South Carolina \u2013 our spring break would be extended due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.<\/span><\/p>\n I started brainstorming how I\u2019d spend the extra week. The world was my oyster.<\/span><\/p>\n Then – BAM! – a beautiful 15-mile bike ride to Venice Beach with friends turned\u00a0<\/strong>upside down. We made it to the beach, sipped pi\u00f1a coladas and walked the pier. On the return trip, I lost control of my electric bike and collided with rough asphalt going 20 mph.<\/span><\/p>\n I hit the ground and went unconscious. After about ten seconds, I woke up to see my two friends hovering over me. I looked down to assess my wounds \u2013 my left wrist looked contorted and my right arm, hand, leg and foot were covered in road burn and\u00a0oozing blood.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I knew right away my wrist was broken and I needed to go to the hospital. I insisted we find another way there rather than an ambulance. My family would kill me if I racked up a huge bill from that. My friend’s mom, our host for the week, drove me to the hospital.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At Sarasota Memorial Hospital, my superficial wounds were bandaged and I was sedated so the doctors could perform a reduction \u2013 a non-invasive procedure to put my wrist bones back in place \u2013 and put me in a splint. A temporary fix.<\/span><\/p>\n I needed to see an orthopedic surgeon, one within my health insurance\u2019s network. The next day I bought a $30 flight back to my hometown of Charlotte<\/span>. <\/span>My spring break was cut short.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Within a week I had surgery on my wrist where the surgeon used a plate and six pins to put all of the pieces of my radius and ulna back within their designated zip codes. My left arm was immobile.\u00a0My right leg was so mauled, I couldn\u2019t bend my knee.\u00a0I could barely hobble around.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For almost two weeks now I\u2019ve been inside my grandparents\u2019 home, hobbling from room to room, only leaving for doctor\u2019s appointments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My former carefree, independent life\u00a0– going to school on weekdays from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., working out each evening, cooking healthy dinners with my roommate – has disappeared.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m naturally an introvert, but the only face-to-face contact I\u2019ve had has been with two senior citizens. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Since the crossroad of my accident and the spread of the coronavirus, I spend my days in a recliner, dialing in to our newsroom’s virtual meetings, working on stories, and eating the meals my grandparents make me. I\u2019m incredibly grateful for their support during this trying time<\/span><\/p>\n Oh, how I\u2019d love to feel the freedom and excitement of cruising around Florida at 20 mph with my girlfriends and not a care in the world. Those days seem lightyears away now.<\/span><\/p>\n In five weeks I’m scheduled to graduate and move to Raleigh for a new job – an entirely new chapter of my post-college life. I was suppose to be using the coming weeks to prepare, but I’m using them to recover. Yet, I remain hopeful and excited.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″ prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_video _builder_version=”4.4.1″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I finally understand why movies are made about people going insane as a result of isolation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":33194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[1706],"tags":[1557,1717,190],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33063"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33063"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33858,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33063\/revisions\/33858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}