It looks like Ryan Clark and I have something in common.
Steelers safety Ryan Clark is recovering in a local hospital after having his spleen removed.
Clark’s 2007 season ended when the Steelers placed him on injured reserve this week, but doctors gave him some good news: He likely can play football again.
I’ll bet my scar is more badass than his though. When I ruptured my spleen, it was turned out to need emergency surgery. I was told afterward that they would have been able to go in through a much smaller incision if they had time, and didn’t need to explore my insides to make sure nothing else was busted.
I don’t really understand why there would be any question about him “playing football again” though. Once your spleen is gone, it’s gone. It’s not like you can break it again. There might be little things you need to watch out for as far as resistance to certain infections goes, but other than that it’s not like you miss the damn thing. He’s probably better off without it.
Now I’ll bet that this part might confuse some people:
Clark was taking pain medication because he said his shoulder and side hurt from the inflammation of his spleen.
When I broke my spleen, my shoulder hurt really bad too. Because I landed on my left side, I thought I might have sprained it or cracked a bone in it or something. Nope. It turns out that your spleen is connected to some nerves that run through your shoulder, or something like that. In any case, when something is wrong your spleen, your left shoulder hurts. I think that’s pretty cool.
