One damned thing after another
Injuries, that’s what I’m about and I’m starting to think that’s all in my destiny.
Let’s go back a couple years … October of 2003 in fact. At my last company, I was sent to Vancouver to do some work but instead of givine me a laptop, they make me take a desktop. Yes, keyboard, powerbar, monitor, tower, etc. Don’t get me started. Anyway, the morning I get back to head to work, I’m carrying the monitor down the steps outside my house being as careful as humanly possible. It wasn’t my day. I missed the last step. My right hit ground first, rolling it outwards spraining it with a nice *crack* for good measure. Then? The weight of the 17" monitor I was carrying accelerated me to the ground - me and my firm grasp. Not so bad huh? A high pitched wail filled with angonizing pain escaped. My left knee hit cement dead on (body + monitor weight). Picture this, an asian guy resting his entire body weight on top of a stupid monitor with the right ankle twisted outwards and the other knee glued to cement. It was pretty and the only way out was a summersault over the screen.
Walking around hurt like you wouldn’t believe. Walking upstairs, the left knee would hurt; walking down, the right ankle would hurt. Worst of all? I was dealing with all the pain the fact that I could have filed for worker’s comp didn’t even come to mind … and no one suggested it either.
So, ever since, I’ve been dealing with a badly bruised intrapatellar tendon (the tendon that attaches just above the knee cap to the muscles on your lower leg). Badminton and v-ball got cut for the most part; couldn’t do anything that involved high stress. Off and on for a year, I gave physio a go to no avail. Finally, I gave acupuncture a go and that appeared to yield results.
Anyway, it’s now April 2005, a good year and a half from my initial injury. For the first time, I actually felt good. The rotator cuff injury I had in my left shoulder got taken out by my physiotherapist the week before, the tendon over my knee finally stopped hurting for a little while, and I was feeling ready to go. And I was. That night at badminton I played the hardest I can remember. I was running the court like a Tazmanian Devil. Opponents pushed me, and I pushed back harder. Smashes were going down (and hard), drops were relatively tight and movement was awesome. I was even consistent with the smashes with my opposite arm. I was gleeming; happy that I was back.
Enjoy it while it lasts they say. I can’t catch a break! After badminton I got called out to vball. 30 minutes in, my buddy goes up for a hit and me to block. He comes down with his leg on my side of the court. My left comes down on it and I end up rolling my ankle. Now I’ve got a small grapefruit for an ankle and I’m walking around slower than my 90 year old grandfather. My physio says I’m out for three weeks. Piss me off - it had better get well soon.
