| Student hit in crosswalk recovering
By Nancy McGee, staff writer While other students anticipate the fun and sun of Spring Break, Mary Ragsdale is at home recuperating after a car struck her while she was walking across Aggie Road Feb. 11. A week after the accident, Ragsdale, a freshman undeclared major of Black Rock, was scheduled for surgery. Ragsdale's surgery lasted nine and a half hours, she said. Ragsdale said the doctors at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tenn., repaired her pelvis and put in a prosthetic socket. She said the doctors said her pubic bone was also broken, and the impact had pulled the muscle above her hip away from the skin. Ragsdale said she needed eight units of blood to replace the blood she lost during surgery. Ragsdale said she cannot put any weight on her leg for 12 weeks. She uses a walker or a wheelchair to get around. Ragsdale said she must also wear thick, itchy tights to prevent blood clots. After 12 weeks of not being able to put pressure on her left leg, Ragsdale will undergo physical therapy. Ragsdale said her doctors decided she would benefit more from waiting until she could apply weight to her leg before starting physical therapy. "I have to learn to walk without the leg, and then I have to learn to walk with it," she said. "I think I'm getting my staples out Thursday," Ragsdale said. She said her doctors told her another 10 to 12 months would pass before she could run. Though she said she plans on returning to Arkansas State University in the fall, her doctors also told her she might never go into the National Guard. She said she had planned on attending basic training this summer. "They showed me an X-ray. My hip looks as if I swallowed a bunch of nuts and bolts," she said. "It doesn't look like a hip." Ragsdale said she cannot get her incision wet, so she cannot take showers. She said she relies on sponge baths and said she uses a tray full of water to wash her hair while in bed. "When they first made me sit up in bed and dangle my legs over the side, I got so dizzy I was ready to throw up," she said. "You don't realize what lying in bed for a week can do. "I've been watching TV; I can ride in the car, but it takes an act of Congress to get there," Ragsdale said. "This has made me have a lot of respect for the handicapped. "One day you're on your own living in the dorm. The next day your parents have to feed you," she said. "It takes getting used to; they (my parents) have to help me turn over (in bed)." Ragsdale said a few people came to see her at the hospital, and a lot of people have called. She also said a lot of people have stopped by since she has been home. "It's been a very humbling experience," she said. "You don't think anything of waking up and making a pot of coffee. Now I have to call my parents in to get me out of bed and into my wheelchair." |