Popping joints & Tearing Ligaments
I snapped the ball. It hit the quarter back straight in the hands. Fast and powerful but not too powerful mind you. He dropped back to pass the football. Right as he releases the ball, all the lineman begin to go down field in a perfect unison. The perfect play.
Seven months later, I never thought I would be sitting in rehab Im attending my last appointment at the physical therapy office in Berkeley, CA. Ive been here for a full six and a half months now. My left knee is just about back to full strength and my therapist says that I can start to work out on my own. This is very exciting for me because every visit costs twenty-five dollars. Im walking out the door for what I think is going to be the last time. I look at the ugly pattern of the carpet and wonder who in the world would pick pink, green, and blue to go together as their carpet. I see the posters of the bodies without skin showing the muscle groups below them. Im nearly to the door and Stephanie the clinic director says, Zach if you dont mind I would like to see you in my office before you leave. I say, Okay Oh goodness what have I done now? I go to her office and she tells me to take a seat. She immediately begins to bombard me with a question, So Zach, these past seven months have been great and we really hate to see you leave as a patient but would love to keep you around some how. So I and the other therapists were wondering if you could work for us starting next week. I sighed with relief and instantly said, Yes I would love to join your staff. I had really been looking for a good job.
We were running down field as fast as the ball was traveling in the air and then it happened .
I planted my foot, the opposing team member dove and I saw all eleven years of my football career flash before my eyes. My left foot was planted with all of my body weight on it and his helmet collided with the outside of my knee and it was all over. My bones crunched together causing a white hot pain to ignite in all of my nerves flying up and down my leg. The bones bruised and part of the cartilage in my knee got a hole in it. This cartilage prevents your bones from grinding together while your walking. When you get a hole in this cartilage your bones crunch together and your knee catches when you walk. The massive blow to my knee made me fall to the ground and I began to scream MOTHER FUCKER this and that. Jamie the trainer sprinted over to me and he and another coach had to help me up off of the ground because I was in too much pain to get up on my own. He took me to the sideline and began to examine my knee. Jaime looked at it closely and called doctor McKinley to look at it also. They both looked close and said in unison, Its probably just a nerve bruise. I hope there right I nodded. I sat on the sidelines watching the game with and intense want to just jump up and go in. Finally halftime. I got up from the bench and began walking to the locker room slowly. I needed to talk to Dr. McKinley, Hey Doc. Can I ask you a question?
Dr. Epley looked closely at my knee and said, Now go ahead and stand up and walk to the other side of the room for me. I stood up with almost no pain and began to walk across the long exam room, trying my hardest not to show any sign of a limp. He suddenly said, Good, now come sit down and we need to check the inflection and the extension. I went and sat down and he grabbed my foot and began to bend my knee. Every second it got closer to my butt and finally, right before I couldnt bear the pain anymore, he let go. I had only had the procedure three months ago. He said, Youre doing amazingly well for just having the procedure. You can go back to your regular activities just dont start running again yet. I sighed I wish I was able to run again its been four months He must have known what the sigh meant. He said, You can start running in about one month.
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Halftime is over now and Im still talking to Dr. McKinley and my knee has started to feel a little better. So naturally being the stubborn Oklahoma football player that I am, I try to convince the doctor to let me go back in.
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Dr. Roger looks at my knee and says, Well I think the emergency room doctor might have been right with his diagnosis but you can never be too careful so Im going to have you get an M.R.I.
Great I respond, Just what I wanted, a magnetic resonance imaging done on my knee, they stick you in a dark metal tube that makes really loud noise for forty five minutes. Okay Ill call the company tomorrow and schedule it.
Dr. McKinley looks at my knee suspiciously. Oh god PLEASE dont push on it. And of course he does. He twists and pushes Im not sure I can do these things with my good knee. I begin to grit my teeth quietly to suppress the pain thats trying to overtake me. He says, Good, now I just need to see you run a little bit and some cutting and turning also. Shit how am I supposed to fake this. I stick my mouthpiece into my mouth and begin to run full speed, biting down on the piece of rubber hoping that will suppress my pain long enough to convince him.
Its five Oclock in the morning and my alarm goes off. I slowly get out of bed, carful not to put any weight on my knee. I get my crutches and begin to hobble into the kitchen for breakfast. After I have a bowl of cereal, my mom and dad help me get into the car. Its quite the trick considering I had to lay into the back seat, I was too big to sit with my brace on. I walk into the M.R.I. room and the woman says, Make sure theres no metal on you because the machine could harm you.
Im running down the sideline cutting back and forth. My knee doesnt hurt too bad, Im still really unstable on it, I just cant let Dr. McKinley see it. H yells to me loudly, RIGHT. LEFT. RIGHT. TURN AROUND.
I do as he says as quickly as I can turning in mid stride, trying with all of my might to convince him that Im good to go back into the game. He looks at me and finally after spending a long time thinking he says, Okay if your coach says its okay then its fine with me. YES, I cant believe I tricked him hes going to let me play.
Its going to be very loud in the machine, Ill give you this set of earplugs and also these headphones. I put both things on and crawl onto the machine. I lay down on the hard table and she puts several blankets on top of me. She walks to the other side of the room and begins to push a couple of buttons I slowly start coasting into the deep, dark, cave-like machine.
Hey coach P., Doc McKinley said if you okayed it I cold go back in. He looked at me unimpressed. Please, I feel great. He replied, Well if your sure you okay then give it a shot. The play in progress came to an end and I began to jog onto the field to call the huddle. Well here goes nothing.
The machine starts making a loud clicking sound and begins buzzing. Even with my headphones and earplugs on I still hear the obnoxious droning of the machine. The noise is so loud that I cant even hear the music anymore. I just now realize that its FREEZING inside of the machine. My teeth begin to chatter and I have to use a lot of concentration to keep my knee from shaking so they can get a clear picture.
I get the huddle together and everybody welcomes me back. This is comforting to my especially since Im nervous that I shouldnt even be standing much less out on a football field about to play. The quarter back calls a play that we all know well and we break huddle. I go to the line and the quarter back calls cadence and I snap the ball. It makes it to his hands and I pull up to make my block. The guy going against me must have seen my knee get hurt because he went to that side. My knee pops a little when we make contact. FUCK THAT HURTS I go down to the ground. I get some help up from a teammate and go back to the huddle. The quarterback says, Just go back to the sideline so you dont get hurt. Hmm great idea No Im okay man just call your play. The game goes on a little longer without incident. Then as the sixth play Im playing in starts it happens. The ball is snapped and the guy just bears all of his weight on top of my left side. My knee gives in and pops five times. Everything is in slow motion for a minute and the play ends I cant stand up. I dont feel my knee, my teammates are staring down at me. . . they all heard the pops also. I jump up on one leg and begin to move to the sideline the referee yells, Hey just lay back down so you dont hurt yourself. NO Im already up Im not going down now. The game is over
Hilary (my physical therapist) asks me, So Dr. Epley says you had an A.C.L. reconstruction, is that right? Yea it hurts pretty bad, but Ill be able to play again right? You should be able to, or at least Im going to try my hardest to make it where you can. I nodded.
One year later. I look back and wonder what would have happened if I wouldnt have gone back in after halftime. But thats just not me I gotta do what I gotta do. I dont regret anything I did no matter how stupid it may have been and hey I got a job out of it right. Ive been working at the physical therapy office for six months now I started the week after I got out of rehabilitation. I can run again and all things as they are I was happy with the results. Plus, I made it on T.V. that night.