Weuji

It's Day Three since I got injured and I visited the Polyclinic at Bukit Merah to get a referral for X-ray. The walk to the Polyclinic was arduous. My foot had ballooned from a size 7 to a size 9. It was a chore to get my toes to grip on to the slippers I wore. I could only drag my right foot along as I limped my way to the Polyclinic.

It took me two hours to see the doctor for a referral for an X-ray which had to be done at SATA at Jurong East if I wanted an immediate result. If not, the results of the scan would only be available in two to four weeks time. Crazy. I couldn't wait and I was off, alone and limping my way to Jurong East.

If the walk to the Polyclinic was bad then the trip to SATA must be hell. It was like a full 300m or so under the sweltering heat from Jurong East MRT to the SATA clinic. On that day in 2002, it felt like 3km.

As ridiculous as it may sound, I did the X-ray and headed back to the Polyclinic. Back to the doctor I visited in the morning for his diagnosis. I guess you get what you pay for.

"The gap between the tibia and fibula is wider than normal. That suggests a ligament tear which causes the ankle to dislocate since the two bones locking the ankle into place can't do that anymore without the ligament to hold it together," the doctor explained.

"We'll need an operation."

It sounded bad. I have never had an operation before and I didn't intend to break my duck. 

"Can we avoid the operation and let it heal by itself?" I queried. Apparently as the doctor explained, I could but that would mean I would probably walk with a permanent limp since the two bones may not align correctly when the ligament does regenerate by itself. Again crazy. I had to go under the knife.

I got another referral to Alexandra Hospital which was on the following Monday. That makes it eight days after my injury and nothing had been done on my damaged leg. 

Monday finally came and the doctor took a look at my X-rays and offered his opinion.

"It's rare to get an injury that bad from football."

"What we'll do is to put your ankle back in place and align the tibia and fibula together with a screw through the two bones. As the injury was almost a week ago, we'll have to scrap off the clot that would have formed on the torn ligament. With the screw in place, the ligament will then regenerate and hold the two bones together." 

Okay, the doctor explained in less crude terms. But that was the gist of the entire procedure. Disheartening.

"Your leg will be in cast and in three months time, we will have another operation to remove the screw. When you have fully recovered, you will only regain back up to 80% of your leg strength though." Thanks doctor. That's comforting.

I was crying inside as I signed the forms for the operation. 

All my life since Primary Three, I had been enjoying the game of my life - football. At that point in time, I felt something in my life died inside me. I thought it was all over. I could never kick a ball again.