Yecch!

Well, my softball career may be over. Sunday, I pulled something in my right calf scoring from third on a pop up to the shortstop. Then when I was lying on the bench, some Asian guy came up with some oriental ointment that smelled much like Icy Hot. He said it would loosen up the muscle. Well, it did a whole heck of a lot more than that.

Well he slathered it on and it was tingly like Icy Hot. I took a shower when I got home and thought it washed off. I then applied an Icy Hot Patch which fell off after a couple of hours.

Monday, I went to work wrapped an ice pack around my calf all day. When I got home, I popped some Advil.

Tuesday, I got up early for an arbitration hearing in Joliet, Illinois and saw that a blister had formed on the back of my calf. Big but not full. Just kind of half empty. By the time my arbitration was done, I got home and changed for my doctor's appointment. I noticed that the blister had filled with pus or juice of some sort. And it had grown some smaller friends.

At the doctor's office, my doctor didn't really do much. He never does. He's a general practitioner and probably is too afraid to actually do anything that might get him sued. Damn personal injury lawyers. So he looked at my calf, poked at it a couple of times and diagnosed me with a partial muscle tear. He suggested that I not mess with the blisters and just let them run their course and reabsorb into my leg. He thought they may have been caused by an allegic reaction of the ointment and the Icy Hot combination. And may have been aggravated by the ice and wrap. He also recommended that I get a follow up with an orthopedic specialist.

Wednesday, I went to work as usual and went to court. Unfortunately, my briefcase banged against one of my blisters and popped it. Icky. I could feel the juice run down the back of my leg. Fortunately, it didn't stain through my pants.

So, today I went to the specialist and he pretty much said the same thing. Did more intricate orthopedic tests confirming (to a reasonable degree of orthopedic certainty), that there was no ligament or tendon involvement. He game me some heel lifts to take pressure off the muscles and which make me seem taller I think. He said we'll wait to see how it heals in the next week. If it goes well, great. If not, then I may need a course of therapy.

So, we'll see.