The Sporting Arena

Am I starting to miss kicking a football already!
As I write, my right knee is thickly bandaged – I underwent surgery last week to reconstruct my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), which I’d torn during a match more than three months ago.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about  the operation. The staff at the operating theatre did their best to distract me by talking about none other than – FOOTBALL.
Ah, that universal topic that makes conversation flow even among strangers. When they found out I support Manchester United, the “you-got-hammered-4-1-by-Liverpool” look was everywhere.
But I didn’t even try to defend United. I couldn’t, actually. The general anesthetic made sure the abiding memory was that Liverpool thrashed United in their own backyard.

Even if I could, maybe it was a good idea not to argue: Liverpool-supporting anesthesist (placing the inhaling mask over my nose and mouth): “Ok, just breathe…”
First breath, second breath… mmm… my gown is a little out of place… fifth breath…”
Doctor K C Ang of OrthoSports at Glenagles: “Hi how are you feeling? The surgery is done.”
Me: “Huh?! It’s done?! I didn’t even realise it started!”
Wait, wait. Let me check if I’m really awake: What was the result between United and Liverpool… 4-1… argh why didn’t the anesthetic wipe that away from my memory?!
Hobbling on my crutches to watch my ESPZEN Sunday League team Red Star Semangat win over the weekend helped restore some sense of normalcy, but I guess normalcy will only be restored when I can finally return to kick a football with them.
I slept through the surgery, but unfortunately, there is no way I can sleep through the nine months of physiotherapy - saw my physiotherapist Leslie Ng today at 1physiotherapy and never did I feel my hamstring so much (26cm of the tendon was harvested as a graft for the new ACL) - that will now follow before I can even entertain the idea of returning to the Beautiful Game again.