We were in the off season so I was doing lots of biking and not playing soccer. My first ride back after thumb surgery was actually pretty difficult. I had not yet fully healed at the time and the rattling of mountain biking did cause some soreness and I did not have full breaking power. But I continued to ride anyway. The doctor had cleared me to ride and play soccer although I am not sure he knew what I meant by mountain biking. When I ride, I ride some pretty rugged trails with lots of roots, rocks, and log jumps. The trails are really the opposite of smooth. But that is what makes it so fun. It is challenging and a great workout. Maybe just a little dangerous. I have had a few wrecks with one minor injury that I described already.
So after a good season of riding, I started playing soccer again. Galaxy had entered a tournament in Charleston, South Carolina. It was a weekend tournament where we were guaranteed at least 3 games depending on how we did. Charleston is a long way to drive for a soccer tournament but the guys said it would be a blast and I had never gone to a tournament like this as an adult so I decided to go for it.
I arrived to the field early and started my long warm-up routine. I always liked to go through a thorough warm up back then. I would jog for about a mile or 2 and then stretch before taking the field to warm up with the ball. After warming up, the game started. It was during the first half of the first game when an opposing player struck the ball the same time as me. We both swung hard at the ball while facing each other, both on the run towards each other. I heard and felt a loud pop and I immediately went down to the ground. I was in serious pain. When doctors and nurses ask you to describe your level of pain, they tell you to rate it from 1 to 10. At this time in my life, I would have called the pain I felt when my knee popped as a 9 or 10.
I was carried off the field and the game continued. This is how soccer is played. If someone gets injured, they must leave the pitch immediately so the game can continue. Luckily there was a trainer at the field. He started icing me right away and gave me a bunch of pills to take. Technically what he did was probably illegal as the meds were probably prescription strength. But I was grateful to the guy for helping me out. He also put me in a pretty hefty knee brace that kept my whole leg straight and kept it from moving at all.
Also lucky for me, my wife Melissa was there to help me deal with my new injury. She helped me shuffle to the car and drove me back to the hotel. I mostly spent the rest of the weekend in the hotel. It was not very fun. I was in pain although it had greatly subsided. I was down to a 3 or 4. Our team bombed out of the tournament and I was more than ready to go home come Sunday.
When I got back to Richmond, I went to Patients First. When the doctor came in to see me, I sort of did a double take. I was getting older so it was only natural that my doctors would eventually be younger than me. However, this kid was so young. Was he older than Doogie Houser? A little bit. He gave me a quick, less than thorough exam and thought I would be fine if I just stayed off of it. I guess I can't really complain. I was an adult with no real primary care physician. I simply went to Patients First when I got sick or hurt. When I went for my thumb, an Xray showed my broken thumb and they sent me to the experts. This time around, it did not work out as well.
Back then, my insurance would not allow me to go to a specialist without a referral. Since the "doctor" at Patients First did not give me a referral, there was not much else I could do. I limped around in discomfort for quite some time. Then, I got what I consider lucky. My insurance changed and I no longer needed a referral to go see a specialist. So I went to Advanced Orthopedics and saw Dr. Higgs. He examined me and told me that my knee joint was loose and ordered an MRI.
The results of the MRI showed that I had torn my Medial Collateral Ligament in my right knee. Well no wonder it hurt so much. But the good news was that I did not need surgery. The treatment for this injury used to be surgery but recent research showed that not doing surgery was actually better. Dr Higgs gave me a knee brace and said I could play soccer. Some of my friends commented that he was basically saying, "Come back when it is expensive." So as always, I did what the doctor ordered. I wore the brace and started working out again. It was summer so there was plenty of sunshine and opportunity to ride, run, and workout with the soccer ball.
As the fall season approached, I was feeling pretty good and looked forward to the fist game of the season. Despite the knee injury, I was still in good condition. I have so much fun playing soccer. Soccer is competitive, difficult, and great exercise. Soccer players have to have speed, agility, quick thinking, and a strong heart and lungs. I had all of these things plus the skill necessary to play well and I really defined myself as a soccer player in these days. So despite the injuries, I was not going to stop playing.
Thanks for reading. Next time I will tell you about something that happened during my first game back after recovering from my knee injury.
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