After switching shoes a little over a week ago, our gal's foot started to bother her. She thought it was just tightness for it loosened up once she warmed up. Mid match of her singles in Vancouver, she broke a bone. Upon late arrival on Sunday, I made plans to drive Natalie to Seattle for an X-ray. Why Seattle you ask....well our insurance would not cover anything in Canada. On Tuesday, we headed to see orthopedist Dr. Mark Reed. An Auburn man but we didn't hold that against him. After hearing our story, Dr Reed, his staff and especially Tracey Ayers, took great care of us. Not only did we get squeezed into the schedule but they made sure Nat got an X-ray, MRI and all the results. Here is Natalie with Dr. Reed looking at the results:
Unfortunately, Natalie has broken one of the two sesamoid bones. These bones is only the size of a lima bean, but it is a very important bone for a tennis player. It is use in the "pushing off" and/or "explosiveness" of a player. Unfortunately, this tiny rascal isn't in an area of the foot that gets a good blood flow therefore it either never heals, takes forever to heal or has to be removed. Because Nat's break is severe, she will need surgery to fuse the bone it hopes of repairing it.
The recovery will entail, four weeks without weight bearing. Followed by four weeks in a boot. Followed by rehab. All during major PRAYING for this lil bitty bone to heal so that it does not become a pro tennis career ender.
By now you totally understand why there has been a delay in blogging on the topic. We have shed many tears starting in the parking garage at Dr. Reed's office and since. For Natalie had to rush to call people before we went back over the Canadian boarder and lost phone signal. First, her brothers and coach, well that proved to be to hard of a task for her, so I spoke to them and broke the bad news. Then her dubs partner in Vancouver, who was very sweet enough to continue to stick by Nat's side and not get a new partner when Natalie got hurt. Unfortunately, it wasn't a simple injury that she could play with as thought by the tourney trainers. Then our gal had to contact Ricky her mixed dubs partner, was planning to go to New Haven with us in a week so that he and Nat could win a wild card into the US Open. Then a call to Sanaz who she was going to team up with for regular doubles for the US Open.
Unfortunately, Natalie felt horrible about disappointing these doubles partners and was an emotional mess through all of the phone calls. All this going on while I'm trying to drive us back to Vancouver. Yea, sometimes this life of a tennis pro and manager isn't that glamorous after all eh?
Since, Tuesday we have been networking to find the number one doctor in American to perform the fusing on Natalie's foot. Hopefully, we will have that figured out today and get the ball rolling on this 4-6 months of injury recovery. Please continue for strength and healing for Natalie for it has been a rough week. THANK YOU!
Today, we are in Portland with our dear friend Jan. Going to have lunch with an old tennis buddy, Kaitlyn Burn (spelling?), visit with Bryan (a dad of one of Nat's friends) and a BBQ with Stephanie, Chris and family. So a very busy and and exciting day ahead.
Well, my friends.....the lil yellow ball will remain in the can until another day....until then we will continue to blog our updates and progress......Love and Blessings....Sherry!
