Bartlett's recovery nearly complete

By Eric Wade

Daily Mail Sports Editor

Mikayla Bartlett has always been a well-known name to fans of Nevada High School sports and though she's been away from the volleyball and basketball courts for the better part of the past two years, the wait for her return may finally be approaching its end.

"The doctor loves how she is progressing and wants her to increase activities to get ready for basketball season," Mikayla's father and Nevada Lady Tigers head basketball coach Brent Bartlett said. "He wants to see her Nov. 27, to possibly release her for the season, if things go good with increased rehab." Mikayla has been away from the court since the second game of the district tournament her freshman year, when she was taking the ball up the court and hyperextended her knee on a jump stop. Initial tests showed no apparent soft tissue damage, but an MRI performed later ultimately proved the injury to be far more severe than was originally thought.

"It ended up being a lot worse than I thought it was," Mikayla said. "So, that wasn't good." After the injury, surgery was required to repair the damage and that was where the real roller coaster ride began. Over the next several months, setback after setback followed, ultimately leading to two stress fractures in Mikayla's tibia, a meniscus repair surgery in October 2012 and a second surgery to fix her ACL after it was discovered by a new doctor in Columbia that the first graft failed due to a lack of blood flow.

That resulted, essentially, in a complete restart of the recovery process as the graft had to be completed redone in April. At the time of the latest surgery, Mikayla said her doctor projected a nine-month recovery, but now, that time frame may be in question.

"So, we'll see," Mikayla said. "My therapist says when I'm ready, I'm ready." Since the latest surgery, both Mikayla and her father said recovery has gone well, with no major setbacks, aside from some pain in the tibia that has now been gone for more than a month. With the new-found strength she has been able to gain in her legs since the pain stopped, Mikayla has now been able to move on to getting ready to get back on the court, even doing some running and shooting over the past several weeks.

That has been far more work than anything she's done up to this point, but that hasn't stopped the ever-present resiliency in the mind of the Nevada High School junior.

"I got to run for the first time in probably a year," Mikayla said. "So, I was feeling it." Despite the increased intensity, neither Mikayla nor her father have really had to take a dominant role in pushing her recovery. Since both player and coach, as well as father, want to see her back out on the court so badly, neither Mikayla or Brent Bartlett could pinpoint who has pushed harder.

"I don't know if you could be more excited than what I am, seeing her starting to do things she hasn't been able to do," the elder Bartlett said. "To see her excited makes me excited."

"He's kind of felt all of the emotions I've felt, too," Mikayla added. "I mean, he likes seeing me out there as much as I like playing." On top of the fact that neither Bartlett has pushed harder for a return than the other, one more thing has remained constant in both minds and that is the simple fact that both Mikayla and her father want her back on the court and strongly dislike the fact that it can't happen sooner.

"As a coach, her teammates want her back," the elder Bartlett said. "They know what kind of player she is, a team player. She has a coach's mind and along with some other players we have, just to have her thinking like me out on the court is just going to, even if she may not be 100 percent when she comes back, it's going to be a plus for our team." "It's hard to see everybody playing and you're not out there because you're so used to it," Mikayla added. "But you've just kind of got to keep a good attitude and stay positive.

"That's what I'm trying to do. You can't let your setbacks kind of ruin your outlook, I guess." Though it has already been far longer than either Bartlett wanted to wait, it now looks as though recovery may be nearly complete. Though her father doesn't want to put a timeframe on her return, the nine-month estimate Mikayla was given after the second surgery has now been shortened, thanks to a visit to her doctor last week.

The new timetable puts Mikayla at a possible return date of Nov. 27, just in time to play most of this basketball season. Though that is encouraging, the elder Bartlett is still taking a cautious approach.

"We're just going to take it slow," he said. "When she's ready, she's ready. It looks like it's moving faster than what, I guess, the doctor was anticipating." Though the recovery process has been a long and arduous journey for both Mikayla and her family, she still has kept her head held high and her outlook positive, especially as the process appears to be nearing its end. Mikayla credits most of that healthy attitude and endurance to the help she has received from her family, friends, teammates, doctors and God.

"I mean, I couldn't do it without any of them," she said. "I definitely couldn't do it alone."

"A lot of things could be worse in life," the elder Bartlett added. "We see a lot of people going through some tough times in life and this is going to heal up."