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Tuesday, September 27, 2005

POP!.. 


And so, we find ourselves back at Monday Tuesday, not having accomplished a damn thing with our weekend, or even the first day of the week, and still feeling as if we need a "weekend" to recover from the weekend...

Or is it just me?..Anyway...Here's a bit of what's been goin' on...

As I alluded to on Friday, I was compelled to pay a visit to an orthopedic doctor. This less-than-pleasant medical necessity stemmed from an incident which occured on Wednesday of last week while I was playing some hockey in the city of Pueblo (south of here, 'bout 30-some miles). At one point during said game, I had to make a sudden move to my left while already in the butterfly position in an attempt to stop a rebound shot. The good news, I guess, is that I did, in fact, stop the shot in question. The bad news is that, as I made the move, my left knee twisted under my (ample) body weight and emitted a mighty *POP*, after which I found myself in a state of partial disability, unable to rise quickly to my feet. When I WAS finally able to get up off of the ice, after play had stopped, I told everyone not to worry, that my knee "popped" but that "these things happen" and I'd be just fine...

I was, of course, "lying." Things were not "fine." In fact, they were quite far from "fine."

I knew damn well that something was drastically wrong (more so than normal, even) because, following the "pop," the lower part of my left leg felt as if it were "mostly detached" from the top part and, when I would leave my feet (as I am wont to do many times during a game), I found myself struggling to get back into an upright position. The ironic thing about all of this is that I wasn't experiencing a significant amount of pain (I'm thinking that adrenaline was doing a fine job of masking that), I just didn't have any strength remaining in my left leg. The limb, at least the lower half of it, felt like a dead weight suspended from a rubber band, swaying helplessly in the breeze like a giant pendulum...Tick, tock, tick tock...While suddenly wondering if I could finish the game, which was only half over, and, even more importantly, wondering if I'd even be able to drive the 40 minutes or so back home afterwards, I could hear the now prophetic words of my doctor rattling around in my head...Every time I visited his office, he'd find time to include the phrase "I'm surprised you haven't blown a knee yet"...

Thanks, doc...Looks like you'll have to find a new line...

At this point, noble reader, you are most likely reclining in your (comfortable) chair, reading this tale of woe and thinking to yourself "OK...I know this guy's kinda stupid, but he CERTAINLY would've left the game knowing that he was hurt, right?" Look at you, making assumptions! Suuuure, leaving the game would've been all "smart" and stuff. Hell, I'd even go so far as so say that leaving the game probably would've been "for the best." Let's see...Did I leave the game...

...that would be "no."

Hey, before you go off, pontificating about how "stupid" and "competitive" us "men" are, know this fact: MY TEAM WAS WINNING! I couldn't very well just toddle off into the locker room with half the game yet to go! "See ya later boys, the rest of the game is on you!" Noooo, there was to be no LEAVING! I had to finish what I'd started...Besides, this was my first game with a new team in an established league where I had to actually TRY OUT and get DRAFTED for "Pete's" sake! I wasn't just gonna duck out of the game, leaving these players (who don't know me from "Adam") thinking that they just wasted a draft pick on some sort of quitter...By God, I was gonna finish that damn game and I was gonna leave a solid impression on the guys who saw fit to draft me...I just needed the other team to...not shoot the puck for the rest of the game...or something...crap...

Ok, you can go ahead with your pontification...But I ain't listening...

Anyhow, long story short, I "sucked it up" and made enough stops (on my one "good" leg) to earn one of those ever so elusive "wins" for my new, but soon to be "former," team. Sure, they were more than a bit disappointed when I broke the news to them in the locker room that I was likely done for the season (the league was short goalies to begin with). Some of the players, after I told them that my knee was likely "blown," offered helpful advice such as "wrap it real tight," but I knew better. Hell, I've been there...4 years ago, I WOULD'VE just "wrapped" it...I've played through a myriad of injuries, great and small, since I started playing recreational hockey. Over the course of the last 9 years, I've ignored a pretty severe hip contusion (made the save, though), a few broken ribs (puck didn't go in the net, though), broken fingers (I had to tape my stick to my glove), blown hamstrings (skating isn't like running), torn groin muscles (just increased my range of motion, I used to say, without that pesky groin holding me back), a concussion (or two), a broken ankle and even pneumonia...I even TRIED to continue playing after having been plunked in the head with a slap shot, but was told, in no uncertain terms, to leave the ice and find a hospital in that instance. I strongly suspect that I've fractured both elbows, at different times, and continued to play in spite of such things...I damaged my sternum during a game about 6 years back to the point where I could barely breathe, but didn't miss any time...Look, I'm not throwing all of this out to impress anyone...On the contrary, I think I'm actually trying to make a point to myself... To make another (already) long story short, I love hockey, which should be readily apparent, and I love to compete, but I've been placing hockey before my own well-being for 9 years now and I ain't gettin' any younger...

I think that it's time I wised up...

So, to sum up, the injury which I suffered was significantly less serious than my doctor, who referred me to the orthopedist, initially feared. I HAVE torn my MCL, but I will not need surgery to repair it. I DO have a really cool brace that whirrs and clanks when I walk and, according to all of the information I've been able to find, my recovery time should only be 6 weeks or so...This "information," of course, doesn't mention anything about how hockey goaltending places a unique kind of stress on that area of the knee...I believe, and this is the new, less self-destructive "me" talkin', I believe that I'm gonna have to take it slow in coming back to the ice. I'm gonna take time to let more than just my knee heal...I'm gonna let my groin heal...I'm gonna let my achilles tendons heal...I'm gonna let my shoulders heal...

And I'm gonna heal up that part of my brain that makes me ignore "pain."

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