Mettle v Metal

met·tle  
/ˈmetl/
Noun
A person's ability to cope well with difficulties or to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way.

I like that word ... it sums up situations in a tough basketball game or say pre-season training, obstacles in a basketball career or even day to day life and in my current case ... serious injury.

I like the meaning even more ... facing a demanding situation with spirit and resilience ... that I hope is me to a T.

This is a big week for me as my metal friend (enemy) pictured to the right is finally removed tomorrow. After getting through the initial pain of surgery and adjusting to lack of mobility / crutches etc the no1 problem imho of my RPT is the Wire.

It may be a necessary evil helping to protect the tendon and in my case hold the avulsed piece of kneecap in place but especially over the last month it has driven me fucking insane.

So after tomorrow my wiry little friend I hope to see you on the outside, no more stabbing pains through my tibia, no more nagging tightness everywhere, you tested my mettle but you were no match for me.

I had a request for a picture of my pre-op xray so here it is ... in pink I have attempted to draw where the kneecap should have been sitting (with no patella tendon it is free to drift up into the thigh) and in the white square if you look really close you can see the fragment of kneecap floating around (attached to the end of the ruptured tendon)

This is the reason for the wire, it circles the kneecap whilst healing and holds the bone fragment in place. After tomorrow the bone should be fully healed and the tendon strong enough to go it alone...


                        ... Mettle 1, Metal 0