Lexi Franco

My name is Lexi Franco and I am a rising senior on the Wake Forest Women's Tennis Team. It was September of my freshman year  when I first started feeling pain in my wrist and hand. My trainers had me in doing rehab with them everyday, but the pain never went away. It got to the point where I couldn't brush my hair or even open up doors. That is when I received my first cortisone shot after an x-ray. Two months later after an MRI, I was diagnosed with a ganglion cyst and metacarpal boss. I was told that I was going to need surgery which is something that I had never been through before. That surgery took place on November 22nd, 2016. After my surgery, I started getting back into tennis, but about three months after my surgery, the pain was back. I received another cortisone shot and continued to do rehab. After taking another month off of tennis, I was playing again and was able to finish my freshman year playing third doubles.

However, during the beginning of my sophomore year, the pain was back. I received another cortisone shot around the beginning of October hoping that it would help my pain as I did not want to have to go through another surgery. After multiple visits with the doctor and another MRI, I was diagnosed with another ganglion cyst and a partial tear of my radio-carpal ligament. The surgery took place exactly a year after my first one on November 22nd, 2017. I thought that after two surgeries and three cortisone shots, that my wrist would be back to good health. But I was wrong. I ended up getting my fourth cortisone shot at the end of February. To this day, I experience pain and consistent swelling in my wrist and hand, but I do everything that I can in order to compete and play alongside of my teammates in the sport that I love.