My Cross To Bear

Well, it happened to me. I woke up, my allergies were bothering me all night and I could not breath through my nose so I had been breathing through my mouth all night and my mouth was as dry as a Catholic School Prom. I was constantly getting out of the bed, running to the bathroom for water every 30 minutes or so. I did notice that when I stood up to go to the bathroom one of my nostrils would open and I could breath, but when I laid back down…..it would get all blocked up again. So after going through this cycle of what I consider to be likened to passive water boarding torture for about 3 hours, I decided to stay up and get busy around the house painting a room that was in severe need of a change. So for 3 hours I filled holes and cracks, sanded down my fillings, primed the wall and painted it while waiting for the clock to roll around to about 1:30pm so I could make my way to my flag football game. This sounds like a regular day right????

     Well I get to the game, do a couple calystenics and head out to the feild. The game started off well. I did not run too hard too fast becuase I kind of wanted to warm up a bit before I unleashed the fury on the field. About mid way through the game there was a long pass that was going toward the in-zone to my side. The ball was pretty high so I figured I would have enough time to leave the man I was covering and make it over to the intended receiver. Well, skipping the frame by frame replay commentary, the ball was still pretty high in the air when it was about to pass me.  Suddenly, I had a flash back of when I was 18 (I am 28 now) and I figured I could lift my now, 65 pound heavier frame into the air and land with the grace of a 80 pound olympic figure skater performing a routine axel. But once I was in the air (and conseqeuntly after misssing the ball) reality took less graceful approace to my Disney on Ice routine. I soon realized my err according to the laws of physic’s as I contemplated my crash landing. Unlike a bee who excels at defying the laws of physics, I was well with-in my range for verticle leaps (maybe about 36 inches or so). But my problem can be explained like this…. a 210 pound male, running close to full speed ( I run the 40 in 4.55) who is now 3 feet in the air and diagonal with one foot behind him. Now, my right leg is my “strong leg” so there should be no problem right? Well as I was in the air I visualized a soft landing, but as I got closer to the ground I figured I would let my leg collapse and roll some of the impact off. Well I came down on my right leg a little hard and I kept my toes pointing down to act as a bit of a shock absorber for the fall……and  it seemed to work. I got up, did a quick damage assesment as a Captain of a 17th century Galleon would after battle. I was perfect and felt good. I took a breather on the sidelines after the play and went back in after about three plays because it felt like my right leg was getting tight on me and I wanted to stay loose.

     Well we were losing by two touchdowns and there was only 59 seconds left in the game so I was not really trying to go all out, I just wanted to finish the game. Well, I was sent on a hook route, but I wanted a fly route, but the quaterback felt otherwise. Well I ran the hook and unexpectedly he tossed me the ball. I knew there was someone right behind me so I did not expect to make it too far so I caught the ball and just turned to go to the sidelines. Well….I took one step, or at least I attempted to, and the guy behind me must have kicked me. In my mind I thought, I felt it, I heard it, I must have been kicked. Perhaps that kick hit me in just the right spot and caused my leg to cramp up, and that is why I can’t walk right now….right? Well I limped off the feild to massage my “cramp” out, and it took me about 20 seconds to figure out what really happened. Upset, I got in my car and drove off so I could get home before the pain and swelling came. The pain never came but the swelling did, and after putting ice on it and researching ATR’s on the internet and watching a few surgecal repairs on the internet, I had learned and done the Thompsons test, was able to recognize an ATR occurence from a distance and if given the correct tools, I could probably surgically repair one myself. Lets see, some fishing line, a razor, and some needle nosed pliers should do the trick. I went to the hospital and pretty much gave the doc the rundown, complete with medical jargon and all. I got the CAM boot and almost hyperextended my knee taking my first step.

     The next day (today) I went to see a surgeon and I am awaiting my MRI tomorrow to decide if I need surgery or if the best methond would be to let it heal on it’s own. I can feel that it is mostly gone and I do not want to risk a rerupture. But in the mean time, the surgeon put me in a cast to prevent further injury. I can not stand being confined in this cast and I can not stand not being able to walk. I hate crutches and I almost fell on my face using them because I want to move faster than they allow me to move and I feel as if I would be better served hopping along on one foot. I am told that I may not even be allowed to hop on one foot or walk on crutches for the first two weeks? WTF am I supposed to do then? Lay in the bed all day? I need to go to the gym, I need to go to work (though I could work from home doing my job) and I need to…..just move around in general. Man this stuff sucks, and to top it all off, my house is 4 levels and my bedroom is at the very top, as is the other bathroom. The last bathroom is at the very bottom level, yeahhhhhh. :(   I was also told that my leg will atrophy as well due to lack of use and lack of mobility.

     I have made up in my mind that I will use this time to finish reading my Bible and studying scriptures. I need a long book to get me through this. I have no pain in my leg at all, it feels fine as long as I elevate it. My pain comes from the feeling of being imprisoned in my own home.

Went to the doctor today to get my MRI and I requested a copy of it. I will post the picture on the site as soon as I get a chance. I am not in any shape or form qualified or certified to draw conclusive medical information from the MRI photographs, but according to the research I have done on the subject…..I am screwed.

   The trip to the doctors went well. Driving an automatic vehicle with your left leg is not that bad if you have driven a manual transmission vehicle and you are sure you can mentally handle the task of remembering which pedal is gas and which one is the brake. Not that I would recommend anyone else do this, but if you do do it, test your braking and acceleration in a safe place like an empty parking lot first. The pressure you apply to the pedal is a very new feel for your left foot and it takes a moment to calibrate your left foot to its new job. The first time I went to apply my breaks I felt as if I was going to jettison myself via windshield, luckily there were no cars behind me.

    Well I got the MRI offices parking lot a noticed there were three medical buildings all on different ends of the parking lot. I saw one that was labeled Orthopedics, so I figured I would park as close a possible to that one. as luck would have it, there were no close parking spots, the only few spaces left were in the farthest back corner of the parking lot where people park their expensive 60k up up vehicles to prevent the less fortunate percentage of the population from carelessly dinging the doors of their, monetarily speaking, “house on wheels”.

    Well I maneuver into my spot after nearly getting T Boned by an Aston Martin, and I made my way towards my MRI office. With my crutches digging deep into the reddened and tender area under my armpits that they have created, I made my way across the parking lot and between cars around to the front of the building. By the time I got there I was already sweating an in slight pain and discomfort from the crutches, which at this particular junction, are by far more painful than the injury they are there to support. I make my way into the building and to the receptionist desk to get checked in, and upon finding out that I am there for an MRI, she grimaced and apologized and said that the building I needed is next door. Next door also happening to be on the other side of the parking lot! I made the long painful trip to the other building and got checked in.

     For those of you who have never had an MRI, it is a bit unnerving at first. First you fill out forms asking you about any shrapnel or other metal pieces you may have in your body and then you are told to remove everything from your pockets that might be metal. Then  you are taken to a room with machine in it that looks like it is highly capable of producing a time travel portal and you are told to lay down, relax, and most importantly, don’t move……for a half an hour. Then you are given head phones to prevent you from being distracted by the noise. This is the unnerving part, you are sitting almost waist deep in this huge machine and all of a sudden, you see some indicator lights come on and a couple number flash across the dashboard…and then you hear this weird noise. Its almost as if there are some gears turning in this machine that are stuck or misaligned and causing a terrible vibrating noise to be made. It was almost enough to make me want to slide out and dive out of the door to shield myself from the impending explosion. But the tech came in over the headphones she gave me and notified me that those noises are normal. WHEW!!!

   Now the long wait for my doctor to call me and possibly tell me my leg looks like a frayed knot and I need surgery. I felt really bad about being so negative about this whole ordeal after hearing two stories. The first story came from the physical therapist that trained me on my arm guillotines a.k.a crutches. He told me about a guy that was Wake Boarding and had a quick wave came under his board before he could realize and alter his position and pushed both of his feet upwards and snapped BOTH of his AT’s at the same time. The other story came from a guy who I have known for a while that has probably had more surgeries than he has had birthdays, and he is in his 50’s. He got a bad case of Rheumatoid arthritis at a young age and he has had surgery on his elbows, hands, fingers, spinal cord, neck, chest, stomach, legs, ankles, stomach and probably a few I have missed. He recently found out that one of his knee replacements was loose and his bones in one of his legs were deteriorating. He had to go into surgery to replace the bone in his thigh and in his calf and get a new knee replacement and his whole leg had to be cut open to do this procedure. He is in good spirits even though he will still be in the hospital for another couple of weeks because he will finally be able to walk regular again, something he has not done in over 15 years. All this and I am complaining about 3 inch cut, some stitches and a little down time? I will go on trying to keep a smile on my face through this whole ordeal.