Paul O’Connell has been out of action for some time now but today he brings us up to date with the treatment he has been receiving and how he is coping with the frustrtation of missing out on big games.
I’ve spent more time than is healthy staring out of the window of the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork over the past eight days, watching the world go by.
It’s not quite that melodramatic as I’m hardly a prisoner, having been able to slip out to meet friends, family and team-mates for a coffee or a bite to eat in between treatment.
My enforced sabbatical from the game has been hugely frustrating, a sequence initially of MRI scans (on my groin injury), rehabilitative processes and now an intravenous course of antibiotics. Once I stopped training and the inflammation was still getting worse, the emphasis on what needed to be done changed.
An infection was identified as the primary cause of my discomfort. I was originally given a heavy dose of oral antibiotics but after another scan last Wednesday week the antibiotics were administered by intravenous drip – three times a day for 20 minutes.
You always associate hospitals with being sick and I don’t feel that way, which is unsettling. I have been extraordinarily well looked after in the Bon Secours and had plenty of visitors but I miss home. I’ll be going there on Thursday or Friday.
The doctors are pretty confident that if I maintain the current course – I’ll continue the IV process at home – that progress will be appreciable. There is very little blood supply to the tendons and muscles in question, so it’s a tricky process.
Felix Jones called in with some movies and also DVDs of a couple of fights involving the latest wins for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, which I really enjoyed.
O2 dropped in a broadband dongle so I was able to surf the net, while I have also taken to reading the newspapers, which are delivered on a daily basis. I am getting used to filling in my days.
No sportsperson likes to be injured and I’d love to be at the RDS this weekend, but my responsibility now is to ensure that I get my body completely right before returning to the game.
Related Links –
Follow Paul on twitter – www.twitter.com/paul_oconnell
Paul’s blogs are on www.bethedifference.ie.
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