Saw the news about Von Miller getting injured again. Rough stuff, especially thinking about what the Bills were hoping for this season with him fully back. It just immediately took me back, you know?
Years ago, I wasn’t doing anything heroic, just playing some pickup basketball at the park. Thought I was still 20, tried some fancy move I had no business trying. Heard a loud pop in my knee. Didn’t even hurt that much right away, more like a weird, dull thud. Then I tried to stand up. Nope. Couldn’t put any weight on it at all.
Ended up being my meniscus, tore it pretty good. Not exactly the same as what Von went through initially, looked like his ACL at first, then turned out different, but the whole process? Man, it just sucks.
The Whole Recovery Thing
It wasn’t just the surgery, that part’s quick. It’s the stuff after. The waiting around, feeling useless. Then the physical therapy. Oh god, the physical therapy. It’s slow, it’s frustrating, some days you feel like you’re making progress, other days it feels like you’re going backward.
I remember my therapist, nice guy, but relentless. He’d push me right to the edge. Things I remember about that time:
- Just wanting to walk normally again without thinking about it.
- The frustration of simple tasks being hard.
- Feeling disconnected from my own body for a bit.
- Trying to stay positive when it felt like forever.
It wasn’t a pro athlete level recovery, obviously. I didn’t have millions riding on it or a whole team waiting. My job was just sitting at a desk, luckily. But the mental grind? That part felt real familiar when I heard about Miller. You see these guys go down, and the news reports talk about timelines, “out for the season,” “6-8 weeks.” But you know, having gone through just a fraction of something similar, it’s way more than just time.
It’s waking up stiff. It’s trusting that knee again on a simple step, let alone exploding off the line like he has to. It’s pushing through pain that tells your brain to stop. You watch players differently after you’ve been through something like that, even minor league version like mine. You see the grimace, the frustration when they test it on the sideline. It hits different.
So yeah, seeing Von Miller dealing with another significant injury, especially at his age in the league… it just brings back those feelings. The uncertainty he must have felt waiting for the real diagnosis after the initial fear. The road ahead, even if it’s not the worst-case scenario. It’s a tough path. Really hope his recovery goes smoothly, better than mine did anyway. It’s a tough business they’re in.
