FREE WILLIE !!!
Will Burger, #34 on the Vikings roster
was introduced to the basketball supporters at a dinner about 9:30 pm on Friday, November 2, 2001.
Less than twelve hours later, he was in the ER at Euclid Hospital with an avulsion of the left tibial tuberosity and a fractured left wrist.
An open reduction of the tibial tuberosity and a closed reduction of the wrist were performed by Dr.
James Williams at Euclid Hospital on November 6, 2001. As Will progresses through his recovery and rehab, he will
update this page.
When the team was introduced, we had thirteen members on the varsity team. When I got hurt, it seemed like "The Thirteenth Viking" would be a good name for the web page. Since then, two other members have gone by the wayside. However, the links have already been made, and most of the pages set up, so I won't be changing the pages to "The Eleventh Viking".
November 3rd - in the ER: Nick Matic's mother was my nurse in the ER.
She took good care of me and made sure I got lots of pain meds. ER doc told me it was bad, that my season was over.
The ER contacted Dr. Williams, who was on his way to Columbus for the cross country finals. He said he'd check the x-rays after the football game later that night.
He called about 10:00 pm and said he'd see me on Monday at the office.
November 5 - Dr. Williams went over the injury and the surgical repair. He said an avulsion of the tibial tuberosity was rare
but tends to occur in 15 - 16 year old males involved in jumping sports. The quadricep muscle was so strong that it
pulled the tibial tuberosity right off of the tibia. There is a growth plate located there
that is not fully calcified yet and is prone to Osgood-Schlatter's Disease, which usually precedes this type of injury.
I had some soreness there, but nothing to keep me from playing ball and dunking as much as possible.
November 6, 2001 - Two screws inserted into the tibia to re-attach the patellar tendon
and the tibial tuberosity. The leg was bandaged and placed into a brace for three weeks with no weight bearing.
The wrist was pulled back into place and put in a full arm cast for three weeks. An overnight stay in the hospital and home the next day.
I was surprised by the number of Viking parents that were involved in my care or stopped by to see me in the hospital.
Coach Wojo, Reggie, Johnny and Mike stopped by to visit, too! Thanks, guys!
November 7 - 11 - Flat in bed! No weight bearing for three weeks. What a drag! Thanks for all the phone calls and visits and cards!!
November 12 - One week follow-up visit to Dr. Williams. Progress is OK, swelling is down a little.
I saw the physical therapist, a sports rehab guy. He told me I could start isometrically contracting my quad
to help the tendon and start to get some more swelling down. I also got crutches with a brace for my arm. I can move around the
house a little as long as I don't put weight on the leg. I stopped serious pain meds and started serious calcium supplements and foods to help
heal the broken bones.
November 13 - 26 - Not much but homework, TV and reading. I can only move from the bed to the couch.
I did get outside in a wheelchair on Friday afternoon, Nov. 23rd, and went to the park with a ball and shot a few
from the chair. Could only manage about a twelve foot range from there, but it was great to shoot again.
November 26 - Three week follow-up appointment - Long cast removed from my left arm, got a short cast.
My elbow is all stiff and I have to work on it to get it right again. Doc says still no weight bearing on my
left leg for the next three weeks. Big disappointment! I start Physical therapy next week, tho. The Doc says the wrist is
healing very well and the knee is fantastic. He couldn't see any trace of the injury on x-ray
(besides the two huge SCREWS in my leg!!!). All the calcium supplements must be working! The incision is almost all healed, just a little scabbing left.
Probably still off from school for a while.
December 5 - Physical Therapy - I stopped by the school before my first therapy session.
It was great to see everyone, but it sucked to watch practice from the sidelines. Practice was
high energy and the team looked good, ready for Shaker on Saturday. Therapy was mostly some calf and hamstring stretches,
also some calf work against resistance bands. That's to help keep some muscle tone in the calf.
My left quad is totally wasted. No work on that yet! The best part was riding one legged on an exercise bike.
That's to keep some aerobic conditioning. Jim, my therapist, sent me home with a list of
work to do daily. At least now I feel like I'm starting to work my way back.
Home Opener vs. Shaker - I got to the gym and saw the triple header. All good efforts, but all
three losses. Being in the gym and seeing the starters introduced got me more revved up to
work hard at rehab.
December 23 - I've had two more therapy sessions and my six week check-up. Dr. Williams says
the surgical site looks fantastic and the x-rays on both wrist and knee are excellent.
Next check-up is in six weeks, at the end of January.
Therapy is going well. On the second visit, more of the same as the first time, just work on the calf. The brace was opened up to 50 degrees of movement.
I could sit on the bench for the Benedictine game. Euclid was an excellent game, we won our first,
and I got to see a lot of friends. I also started back to school, but only for Calc and Comp classes in the afternoon.
The third therapy session was after my cast was removed. I started some hand and wrist excercises
to loosen up the muscles and tendons. I also got to start more work on my quads, and went from two crutches to one.
I can work my way off of the one crutch to none as I feel comfortable. I got to ride the bike with both feet on the pedals and rocked back and forth
until I got all the way around. I can now pedal w/o resistance just to work the joint loose. The brace was opened up to 90 degrees.
I have to miss the SC trip, but I will work hard on therapy during the break.