Submitted story from Clifton on 5/10/2019
Four months ago on January 8, 2019, I was enjoying a nice run with my running buddy. At about 3 miles I tripped on a high place in the road. It was an unstoppable object hitting an immovable object. Something had to give. It was my left quad. I fell. Several minutes later I attempted to get up and that is when all hell broke loose. I just fell backwards realizing that I would hit my head and hoping I would black out. It was terrible. I saw my friendly orthopod that afternoon and 2 days later he repaired my completely torn quad. Being an aggressive long distance runner, I got a tough talk telling me that I must do exactly what he told me or I would be in really bad shape. I believed.
After 2 months of keeping the leg straight, I was allowed to begin to move it and start Physical therapy. The current problem is that it won’t bend. After 6 weeks of intensive PT I can bend it 90 degrees and I can walk slowly with minimal limp. PT is tough and stretching the leg is really painful. I attack each session just like a work out. I am still weak and slow.
Five months ago I finished a marathon. I hope to walk 2.5 miles very slowly over an hour this weekend. It is as if a great part of my life was taken from me. I have worked every day as a family physician, but therapy takes up much of my time. Progress is slow but I am improving. I feel like the old joke about the one legged man in the butt kicking contest. I am that worthless man. I was at the front of our local Wal-mart and a man thought I was a greeter. I try to keep my sense of humor but it has been tough.
My questions remain unanswered. Will I ever be able to run a marathon again? No one seems to be able to tell me. Surely someone else has done this and gotten back to running, but I have not found that person or persons yet.
So I keep working on the therapy and walking slowly. It is all I know to do. I am occasionally depressed. This is not where I wanted to be. I should have run several marathons so far this year, not barely walking a couple of miles ever so slow. But I have no choice. I shall keep going to therapy, walking as best I can, and just maybe one of these days I will enter another marathon. I want it bad!
