Rankin resilient indeed

Prairie Ridge’s Kari Rankin recently returned to the softball field after having brain surgery.
(Jason Geil/For the Sun-Times)

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Kari Rankin is really interested in sports medicine. Maybe it helps that she has spent so much time in the trainer’s room, getting her ankles taped and having her other bumps and bruises treated.

But that’s nothing compared to what the Prairie Ridge senior went through this school year.

She had a sinus infection that morphed into an abscess in her brain and missed 1œ months of school. The two-sport athlete (volleyball and softball) was cleared to play April 16 and was in Prairie Ridge’s lineup the next day as the designated hitter.

There was a catch, though. Rankin, a four-year starter, couldn’t go back to her usual spot at third base. Her doctors were worried about the chance she would get hit on or near her head. So she moved to the outfield, where she started April 18.

‘‘It was tough,’’ Rankin said of coming back to play softball. ‘‘When I couldn’t do anything at all, I would do shoulder exercises. And when the team was conditioning, I would ride a bike.

‘‘I was surprised I started [the first day back]. Our team has been doing awesome, and I didn’t think I’d be able to get back into the lineup. [The outfield] is different. I’ve played third base all my life.’’

Prairie Ridge coach Mike Buck put Rankin lower in the batting order than her usual No. 2 spot, and she got a hit in her first at-bat. She was the Wolves’ leading hitter last season.

It’s scary to think a common ailment such as a sinus infection can turn into something else so quickly and make someone so severely ill. But it can.

Rankin started feeling sick during volleyball season. She got sick during regionals and missed all but one day of school that week. That was also the week Rankin lost her hearing — for the first time.

She went to the doctor and was diagnosed with an ear infection, but none of the antibiotics prescribed worked. Her doctor eventually put her on a different drug and gave her a shot, which provided relief.

‘‘But then I started losing my hearing again,’’ Rankin said. ‘‘I went to the emergency room, and they decided to put tubes in my ears.’’

The tubes didn’t seem to work, either. Rankin still had pain in her ears and head. A trip to an ear, nose and throat specialist determined the infection had spread to the bone behind her ear. She underwent a procedure to remove a quarter-sized piece of bone. Her head hurt, but doctors said not to worry.

‘‘I had unbearable headaches, and I was on Vicodin,’’ Rankin said. ‘‘I took an MRI, and they found something and were going to do the surgery at a local hospital. But the neurosurgeon had to leave, so they took me by ambulance to Rush [in Chicago].’’

Rankin didn’t know she had had brain surgery until she came out of the anesthesia and asked her mother what was going on.

‘‘I asked my mom what was wrong, and she said, ‘You just had brain surgery,’’’ Rankin said.

Rankin wasn’t really freaking out and didn’t seem too worried, even though an abscess is nothing to take lightly. But Buck was scared.

‘‘We all were,’’ Buck said. ‘‘It happened so quickly that people outside the family didn’t realize the severity of her illness. All of a sudden, she’s having brain surgery. It is a scary thing.’’

Rankin had cabin fever, stayed up until 11 every night and didn’t get up the next day until noon. A tutor would come by her house and help her get caught up with her homework.

It seemed the only word Rankin heard was ‘‘can’t’’ — as in, ‘‘You can’t do this and can’t do that.’’

‘‘She had to stay home and was as crabby as ever,’’ Buck said.

Rankin was going crazy at home. She always had played sports and never had to sit out for an extended period. But once she got back to school, she had to readjust to classes, sports and her social life.

And she got accepted to Michigan State.

‘‘I’ve had my fair share of injuries,’’ Rankin said. ‘‘I’ve had an ankle injury and, recently, a knee injury. I really like dealing with injuries, and I feel I have a knack for it. Being in the training room so much, it is a good thing for me to go into.’’

Let’s hope she has to deal with less serious injuries from now on.

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