Well, here is a blog post that I wish I never had to write!
One of the reasons I’ve been so quiet on my blog recently is because things have been…stressful…in our lives since the beginning of August.
The first weekend of August, we had the annual Hines family reunion Up North in Michigan. This is a time of good fun and family time and ADVENTURE. When the Hines brothers get together, there is no lack of adventure.
And as they say, “Its all fun and games until somebody shreds their hamstring”. Is that how it goes? Well, that is how it goes for us.
We were out on the boat on a BEAUTIFUL August day. Grandpa, a
On this second try, Theo held on for just a few seconds too long, and his hamstring muscle paid for it. He was thrown off the tube and as soon as I saw him in the water, I knew that something was wrong. So did he. We managed to get him into the boat and headed straight back to the house.
Now, one thing that you have to know about Theo is that he does not EVER play the drama card. And he has an incredibly high pain tolerance. He is very good at making it seem like everything is 100% ok. His brother and his Dad are both doctors and they looked at his leg and guessed that he had hyperextended his hamstring and would need to rest and ice it. He was in a lot of pain and could hardly walk.
Our immediate concern was that Theo (and his leg) are our only source of income. He doesn’t work a desk job where he can “take it easy” or have crutches for a few weeks. No, he is up and down, in and out of his cruiser, potentially chasing and wrestling people without much advance notice. He needs his leg to work in order for him to be able to work.
Thankfully, we were on vacation and knew that he had a few days of recovery time. He rested and iced it but the pain was not going away. Once we got back home, he was telling me how swollen it felt and asked me to just look at the back of his leg to see if it was swollen. And the moment I saw his leg, I knew…this was BAD.
(Warning: slightly gross pictures ahead)
He took himself off to urgent care and the doctor there said it was most likely hyperextended but he could pursue an MRI if he would like. We went back and forth on pursuing an MRI. On one hand, if he wasn’t healing up before heading back to work, an MRI would help him be able to apply for light duty. But on the other hand, MRIs ain’t cheap. And our insurance didn’t cover it.
The bruising on his thigh comes from when the hamstring muscle snapped and it contains the blood that oozes down from the pull of gravity. You can see the progression of the bruise deepening in purple and moving down towards the knee. Gross, I know. I cannot imagine how badly this hurt.
At this point, he called in sick to work for an entire workweek to buy himself some more recovery time. The pain was still immense and it was just not getting better, so he finally set up an MRI. The MRI tech informed him that the hamstring muscle was indeed torn and surgery would be likely.
That began a crazy two weeks in our lives where we had to go back to the doctor with the MRI results, wait for the doctor to refer Theo to an orthopedic surgeon and then wait for an available appointment with the surgeon. Then, schedule surgery and find how long the recovery period would be.
Remember, at this point, Theo is burning through all his sick time from work. He can’t go back to work, but he also can’t apply for desk duty until he knows how bad the injury really is until he gets the final result from the surgeon. That whole process took about two weeks, and it was very stressful not knowing when/if he would be able to go back to work, if he would run out of vacation/sick days, and if we would be able to have an income as a result. STRESSFUL. Plus, Theo was still in pain, not sleeping well and just struggling to keep up with daily activities like lifting his
Finally, he gets an appointment with a surgeon. The surgeon sits him down and tells him that all three muscles of his hamstring are torn 1 cm. He says he normally recommends surgery on this type of injury, but he felt it could also heal on its own if the person was diligent enough to WORK towards healing. When he first walked into the room and saw Theo, he didn’t believe that the person he was seeing and the scans were the same person, because Theo had actually walked himself in there and was able to have some mobility. He said that while he would normally recommend surgery, he thinks that Theo could make a great recovery with three months of physical therapy.
Finally, we were starting to get answers! This was about three weeks post-injury. After much prayer and discussion, we decided to not pursue the surgery. Mainly because the recovery time is six months and Theo doesn’t have the ability to be off work for six months. Again, if he worked a job that didn’t require constant movement and engagement of his leg, he would be able to work while recovering, but since his job is so heavy on the physical ability of his body, six months just isn’t feasable. After that appointment, he was also able to apply for light desk duty and be approved at work. So after four weeks off, he finally was able to head back to work!
We are nearly two months post-injury and Theo is in almost no pain. He still has a slight limp and if he is sitting or standing for too long, his leg starts to hurt. The bruising and swelling are all gone. He has been doing physical therapy and faithfully doing his own stretching at home, as well as swimming every other day to help keep his leg in motion. He highly dislikes desk duty, but we are just thankful that he has a job that pays him.
So that has been the story of the torn hamstring muscle. It isn’t how we would have liked to spend the month of August, and it has been a very challenging and humbling time for us. It is such a reminder of how incapable we really are on our own. We are not guaranteed health or even life, but we are given one day at a time.
I’m so thankful for Theo and what a hard and diligent worker he has been through all of this. He has been in pain, it’s been emotionally difficult to face such a hard injury and it’s been very humbling to have to do desk duty and rest his leg so much. He’s normally incredibly active. And yet, I’ve rarely heard him complain. I don’t think most of the world outside our household really knows how bad the injury is because he doesn’t draw any attention to himself through it. He is such a good example to me and the kids of diligence and perseverance in the face of trials.
Now, we continue to let Theo recover and try not to complain even though sometimes it just plain sucks to be derailed with such a bad injury. We are working to be thankful for all that we do have and that we were able to avoid surgery (if the tear had been any bigger, the surgeon wouldn’t have let it be an option).