I pray you never go through this . . .

            Playing sports has brought me a ton of great opportunities throughout my life.  I have met a ton of cool people, had a blast in high school competing, and I was blessed enough to be able to zero in on wrestling in college for the University of Northern Iowa.  I have wrestled since 7^th grade straight, baseball and football also worked their way into my schedule when time allowed.  My favorite sport has always been wrestling though.

            This post is about a recent experience in college wrestling that seemed very negative and disheartening when it happened, however everything happens in life for a reason, this is just one little stop on life’s long journey.  I know some of these dates by heart because of all the forms I needed to fill out, on February 20^th, 2013 thirty minutes into wrestling practice, I hurt my elbow.  It hyper-extended the wrong direction; my hand was to the left of my elbow, if that makes sense.  Long story short, I later found out I had torn my ulnar collateral ligament, or UCL for short.

            When the UCL is torn, the recommendation is either a long rehab period or Tommy John surgery based on the severity of the tear.  My tear was bad, and after talking with my family and doctors whom we knew, I elected to get surgery.  Tommy John surgery is common in baseball pitchers who continually stress their arms.  In a split second I had the same injury as two million pitches would cause.

This is what was revealed to me after my MRI, this is the ligament on the inside of your elbow.

            On March 15^th, I was to be put on the operating table.  The man who would perform the surgery on me was Dr. Tom Greenwald.  I knew of Tom from an early age and into high school, I was in the same grade as his middle son and two years younger than his oldest, and two years older than his youngest.  I always knew he was smart and a hard worker.  My trainer at UNI recommended him, and in the back of my mind I thought, he’s like the top of the line, does he even have time for me?  I knew he was the Iowa State University sports team doctor, I thought he might be too busy for me.  I was wrong, and really glad I was.

            He told me to try and watch the surgery online the day before, I got a short way into the video before I got sick and turned it off.  That told me, it takes a different kind of strength to be an orthopedic surgeon.  Dr. Greenwald was great, he came into my prep room and talked with me and my Dad.  He explained everything, made me feel really relaxed, and confident about what was about to happen.

            So, this is the part you’re probably waiting for.  The beginning is like you’re going in for a physical.  I had to change clothes and wear a medical gown.  Take my height and weight, blood pressure, pulse, etc.  When the doctor’s assistants got the green light I was wheeled from the prep room to the operating room.  Long white hallways led me to the operating room.  I didn’t know what to really expect, but the operating room was a little smaller than I was expecting.  I don’t know why I thought it’d be bigger because it was my first time ever being in one.

            When I got there, the team attending to me was getting tools ready for the doctor and giving me the anesthetic medicine to knock me out.  I am really scared of needles, I thought I would faint from the little prick, but I didn’t feel a thing.  Which meant she did her job great as far as I’m concerned.  She made a difference to me.  When I got the first dose of medicine she told me to count from ten to one, I it made one with no problem.  In the mean time I continued to have a conversation with her.

            This was something that I don’t think she had seen before.  I processed an entire dose of anesthetic like it was nothing.  A few minutes later Dr. Greenwald walked in, and I talked with him for a bit.  I remember him marking my arm with his little sharpie and then receiving a nerve blocker followed by more anesthetic.  I looked up at the light and slowly fell asleep.  The operation began shortly thereafter.

             My palmaris longus tendon was taken out of my left arm.  It is a “spare tire” tendon that doesn’t have a major function.  You body just has it, it is meaningful to doctors to use as grafts.  When mine was successfully “harvested,” the next step was to go attack my UCL.  Yes, my arm was opened up, what Dr. Greenwald saw, confirmed what the MRI had said, a complete and total rupture (medical terms for really badly hurt).  A few drilled holes in my bone, and guiding in the graft to through the holes and that was it.

My palmaris longus was used to create a stabilize the tendon.

            I came to later find out my metabolism was the reason I needed so much anesthetic, it was still there even though I had not wrestled in about three weeks.  I just didn’t lose it.  When I woke up, it felt like 5 minutes had gone by, the kind of sleep where you think you fell asleep in class.  My first thought was I woke up during the surgery.  I was a little scared, I tried to sit up, I looked at my arm and then it all came back to me.  It was over; I made it so to speak.  My left arm was in a brace at ninety degrees.  I did feel a lot of pain in my arm, but that wasn’t my main concern.

            I felt like I had a huge headache, I wanted to be awake, but I couldn’t.  My vision was blurry, really blurry.  When I was taken back to the prep room where my Dad was waiting for me it was slowly getting better.  I just wanted to keep my eyes shut, but I didn’t want to sleep.  When my dad said hi to me I looked over at him, I couldn’t see him.  I knew he was there, but honest to god I could not definitively make him out.  It was an all-bright red (his shirt) torso, and a black chair he was sitting on.

            At this time I was telling myself to stop feeling sorry for myself and get up and get out of there to feel better.  The medicine still in me had other plans, I did walk, but then sat right away.  Got up, but sat back down.  I have a great Dad for putting up with most of this, I was a specticale.  The nurses helped me put my clothes on.  Obscure shapes slowly came into focus.  The lights where not so big and I was slowly taking control back.  The way medicines made me feel was abnormal, my body wanted to do one thing, and I didn’t want to do that.  I didn’t have a choice in the matter.

            The team that Dr. Greenwald had did great.  I followed his rehab plan for me all summer, on September 15^th, 6 months after surgery, I stepped back on the mat and had a great workout.  Dr. Greenwald made a difference to me that day, he has given me the chance to do what I love for one more year.  I am not the only one he has made a meaningful difference too since he has started practicing, there are many others who I know will probably say the same thing that I have too.  To me, he’s got a good team of people around him to make him successful.  I can’t give him enough thanks.

            The last part of my day when I got home was cool.  My dog, Charlie, helped me through until bed.  He was so excited to see me, even though I had been gone for a long time.  Whenever I come home, he goes crazy because he has missed me.  He sat on my lap and kinda looked at me, expecting me to say something.  I think he knew I was really tired, but it was so early in the night.  When I said “bed,” he jumped off my lap and led me upstairs and stayed by my side all night.  When I woke up, I felt normal again.

My dog, Charlie.

Recap and tips from my surgery:

• ·      I was given an extra anesthetic to knock me out, this is just my case, everyone is different.  I am a student athlete, and I wasn’t out of shape.  I had worked out every day up to my surgery, some days twice.  One tip, don’t work out a few days before surgery, my thinking is the less anesthetic you’re given the better you’ll feel after surgery.  I know I won’t if there is a next time.
• ·      After doing a little research, the feelings I had after surgery are the same as 0.35 blood alcohol level, I learned I never want to drink to excess.  I was not in control of my body, I didn’t like that, I am assuming others don’t either.
• ·      I don’t know everything there is to know about the next few weeks after surgery, but the patient will most likely be prescribed some pain-killers.  One stronger than the other.  Dr. Greenwald told my Dad how to give me the medicine, but when my Dad told me to take medicine the next morning, I didn’t know what to take.  I had two pills, I took one of each.  Morale of this story, ask questions.  I had holes drilled into my bone, don’t add a stomach ache to that pain.
• ·      Never assume anything about a doctor or how busy they might be.  Everything I thought I knew about Dr. Greenwald was wrong, he was motivated to make a difference, and believe me, he did.  Later I came to find out, he had performed other procedures on a few of my friends and former teammates from high school.

·      Until next time, laugh hard, laugh with everyone, but never at someone.

Riley