NIGHTMARE

I was racing from first to third on a single. The third basemen was already bracing to catch the throw and I was still a good 20 feet away. My heart sank. I was a dead duck. With no other alternative to save me I twisted my body and attempted to slide far to the right of the base, so far away, I hoped, that the fielder would miss the tag and then I'd pivot to my left while lieing on the ground and dive into third. It didn't work :-((. Not only did I get tagged out but my right knee hit the ground hard, bruised it, ripped my pants and opened up a cut.

And this was just the first inning of our doubleheader 2 weeks ago. From there it only got worse!

But not right away. We won the first game and I played well. And then, in the second game, I found myself again racing, this time towards first base. I was attempting to beat out an opening inning bunt and the play was going to be close. As my left foot was about to come down on the bag the first basemen turned to the inside to catch the throw that was too close to my body. In so doing his knee went directly into the lower part of my left quad, just above the knee. I came down on the base and went flying. The pain in my thigh was awful. I landed on my right side and ended on my back. I heard the umpire call me safe and I felt happy. And then I just lay there in pain. And when I was finally helped to my feet I could barely walk. I certainly couldn't run. But there was no replacement for me so I hung in for the rest of the game. Though I could barely move, I managed to reach base 2 more times...each time being replaced by a "courtesy runner" who ran the bases for me. In the end, we lost. And by the end, I could still barely move.

Charlie Horse. Charlie Horse? It sounds so sweet. Like Lamb Chop, who was a puppett on a kids show long ago. How could something called Charlie Horse hurt anyone? Who could have an injury named Charlie Horse and actually suffer? In fact, though I'd heard the name many times, I didn't even know what a Charlie Horse was. Now I do. It's a contusion (a bruise) of the quad muscle. And it DOES hurt!! And I did suffer!!

Tuesday I couldn't do my interval workout and I could hardly walk. Going down steps was torture. I called my doctor and he prescribed a pain reliever and anti inflammatory medication called Celebrex. I think that's the one where there hasn't been a lot of evidence yet that it can contribute to a heart attack. And I'm sure my insurance company was just looking out for me when they delayed approving the prescription so I could buy the drug at a reasonable price...but that, of course, is another topic.

Wednesday and Thursday was just as bad and Thursday night was agony. Agony not because of the Charlie Horse but because my right ribs, apparently, were bruised. I found that out for sure when I made the mistake of sneezing that evening. A knife- like pain cut through my side. And it remained super sensitive. Even the slightest movement in bed was painful so I slept not a wink. In addition, it hurt whenever my right knee rubbed up against my bed sheets. Not a good night!!

So let's recap: For the doubleheader I had 2 hits, 3 walks, 2 runs scored, a run batted in, a win, a loss, a reputation as a tough guy who'll play through anything, a bruised quad (Charlie Horse), a bruised tendon above the knee (also, probably, a Charlie Horse, a cut and bruised and overly sensitive right knee and bruised ribs.

Oh, yes, and there's more. But I didn't find that out till Friday.

On Friday I went to see my sports chiropractor. He's very hands on. He put his hands on my quad and said I had a Charlie Horse. No news there. He worked it and made me scream. A few times. Then he examined my side and looked at the way I could barely rotate my body. In addition to the bruised ribs (which could be fractured but maybe not and besides an X-Ray probably wouldn't show anything for awhile)he said that I'd pulled the inter costal muscle. Or maybe a few of them, I don't remember. I didn't know there were even muscles over there. But, apparently, there are and I had at least one that was pulled.

Great!!

Basically my chiropractor said I was a mess. Still he said that I could run if I could stand the pain. He didn't think I could cause further injury to the quad. Perhaps a Charlie Horse IS the ultimate quad injury and there's nothing beyond that?

Well, even though I hurt and could still barely walk, I decided to give running a try on Saturday. Not bright. And also not long as I quit after about a minute. Perhaps I didn't cause further injury but I hurt like anything for the rest of the weekend. And I sadly couldn't play in our game Sunday and our Monday doubleheader. Yet we won all 3 games. Guys, how can you win like that without me? Don't you recognize my importance to the team? Couldn't you lose at least once?

No, they couldn't. And it's not like I was feeling that much better. Well, a little. I could stretch the quad a bit and it was not quite so disasterous when I tried walking down steps. On Monday my chiropractor said that those were good things since it meant that something that would be REALLY, REALLY bad wasn't happening to my quad as he'd feared (yet neglected to tell me about) when he'd seen me the first time. I don't recall what this Fearful Something is but I was very happy to hear that it wasn't actually happening to my poor quad. Nevertheless, it remained extremely sore and painful to the touch. This last point is very important because touch it and bend it and move it and massage it the chiropractor did. And that REALLY, REALLY hurt. And, like in the previous treatment, I screamed a lot.

My chiro thought I could try running by Thursday, but I didn't feel anywhere near enough improvement. It still hurt a lot, even most times, when I was just walking. My ribs were better, perhaps my inter costal was, too (how would one know??) and my knee wasn't so painful whenever it rubbed against my sheets. In other words, I was able to sleep a bit. But I didn't think I could run so, when Thursday arrived, I drank coffee, ate a bagel and did some stuff that needed doing in my house.

But I didn't run. And I didn't have a sense about when I could.

On Friday, something strange was happening. My quad wasn't hurting all the time. Perhaps that was because I'd stopped touching it, rubbing it, bending it, poking it, to, you know, test for improvement. But it was also not so painful when I walked. And I was negotiating stairs better. I was healing!!

Then, in my office, I absent mindedly raised and stretched my right arm and felt a moderately searing pain in my ribs. Or was it the inter costal??

That afternoon my chiro guy said not to worry about my side...I'd surely not reinjured it, just irritated the super sensitive muscle there. And, more importantly, he felt that the quad was much improved. Still, unfortunatley, it killed me when he worked it, but today that was just a sign that he was working it harder. He said that if I could stand the pain I could run Saturday.

I put running off for a few hours Saturday morning and that gave me time to actually clean my apartment. I could, in fact, accomplish a whole lot for myself if I was regularly prohibited from doing the things that I actually want to do. But by 11 AM I'd had enought and, with great nervousness, I went out for a little run.

It hurt on each step...but not a great deal...and it never got worse. So I ran...1 mile, then 2 then on to 3, 4 and 5. I wasn't fast but I wasn't that slow, running 9:50 miles. My heart rate was up a bit but not a lot and...hey, none of this matters, I RAN!!!!

The pain afterwards wasn't bad at all nor is it today, but the leg is pretty stiff. I cut my Celebrex intake in half yesterday (400 down to 200 mg) and I've taken none today. I think things are coming along. I played softball today (just as a hitter) and had 2 singles...but we lost. Wow, now I'm REALLY feeling like I don't matter!

No, that's not what I actually feel. What I feel, in fact is that perhaps the nightmare is just about over!!