A lot has happened since July. I’ll get to that later.
So, about this time last year, I blew out my knee. Four weeks off, some mild limping, and by December I was back in action on the field…not scoring goals.
I did actually eventually score, a few weeks ago, in a game against the Rangers. One of my teammates sent me the perfect pass, and I chipped it in off my left foot and placed the shot in the upper right corner. Perfect.
Outdoor isn’t really my thing, though, and I was excited to start the indoor season, which starts next week. Tuesday night I was closing out my six-day fall break/staycation with a postseason scrimmage indoors. 20 minutes into the game, I extended my leg to block a pass, my foot slid a few inches, my knee buckled, and then there was a loud crack. I hit the ground pretty hard and needed to be carried off the field.
I figured that this was the same thing I did to my other leg last year, but after barely sleeping that night because of the throbbing and the pain, and not being able to put even the tiniest bit of weight on it the next day, I went in to urgent care to have it looked at.
Turns out that instead of just hyperextending the knee and irritating a few tendons, my humorous (the bone in your thigh) smashed into the top of my tibia (the shin bone) and hit it so hard it actually cracked the top of the bone. X-rays turned up the fracture, and my 26-year run of not breaking any bones (the only one of four brothers to do so) had come to an end.
I was concerned that the fracture was going to require that they put me in a cast, or reconstructive surgery, which I really didn’t want. The leg brace they’ve got me in is pretty comfortable, all things being equal, if a little bit inflexible:
The biggest hassle is that I’m on crutches, and can’t drive, for eight weeks. At some point I’ll be able to transition to a flexible that will at least allow me to bend my leg, but in the meantime I will have to get used to the idea of surrendering a huge amount of the independence that I am used to.
This could be a challenging eight weeks. If all goes well though, I’ll be out of my brace and back on both feet by Christmas. Soccer, on the other hand, will have to wait a little while longer after that.
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