Submitted story from Brian on 9/6/2018
I was surfing on August 20th 2018 when I tore my quadriceps tendon. I was riding a wave in getting ready to do a turn when i felt a pop and fell off my board. In that short amount of time I knew i was screwed. Up to this point in my life (age 55) I had been lucky enough to have never suffered any kind of serious injury. I was able to grab my surfboard and let the waves take me to the beach. On the beach I was able to pull myself up to where the waves were no longer hitting me. Now what to do people where all around and my family was 75 yards away along with a lifeguard close by. Thing was nobody was looking at me and I didn’t really have anyway to get anybody’s attention.
I always went surfing and nothing went wrong so no real need to worry if I was alright. It was not but a couple minutes and I saw a couple walking the beach toward me when they were close enough I asked them if the y could get the lifeguard to help me. It was then when everybody came running and the first time I could bring myself to look at my left leg. The beach patrol was great at helping me to get my leg stabilized and on a board so they could get me off the beach.
Lucky for me the hospital was only a mile away and I was there in no time. They took good care of me giving me pain meds and xrays, but really couldn’t tell me for sure what was wrong. I would have to see an orthopedic Dr. They gave me a leg brace and prescriptions and sent me home. We now had to decide what to do go home early from our family vacation or see if I could get treatment locally. The next day my wife called a orthopedic Doctor in our hometown the soonest appointment we could get would be three days after we got home from vacation. Guessing what the injury was it seemed like the best course of action was to wait and be treated at home. This also made it so the rest of the family could finish out their vacation.
So fast forward to where I’m at now September 19th. I had my 2 week post op appointment after my quadriceps tendon surgery. They took the staples out and said it looks great now just keep the leg immobilizer on till the next appointment on October 10th. It seems like it took so long to get to where I’m at now and I know I have a long way to go still.
Your website and book have helped me so much, thanks for sharing your story.
