Hard & Deep: A Football Romance

Elsie shook her head and pushed on. “Now tell me, what was your level of activity before the accident? How many workouts a week were you doing and for how long? Cardio or weights?”

Ollie chuckled. “In the off-season, I worked out every single day for two to three hours. Mostly weights, but always at least thirty minutes of cardio as well. During the season, I cut all of that back since we have practices. I can't afford to be sore during games.”

Elsie continued scribbling on her paper as she listened. This was going to be a unique patient, no doubt. This wasn't just someone who wanted to get back to a “normal” life of walking around the park or the mall. This was a man who was a professional athlete and who was asking her to bring him back to that level of activity.

She'd worked on similar athletes, but she knew this was going to be the biggest challenge she had faced in her career. It made her nervous, but also excited, to be presented with such a unique opportunity. The fact that Ollie happened to be easy on the eyes was just a little added bonus to the situation.

“Let me take a look at your knee,” she said, standing up and approaching Ollie.

“Sure thing, Doc,” he said, with a smirk.

“I'm not that kind of doctor, Ollie.”

His smile faded. “Are you going to be able to fix me?” he asked, as Elsie removed the brace around his knee.

“Like I said, I'm going to do everything I can,” she replied, setting the brace behind him on the examining table. “I'm confident, though. ACL repairs are not the end of the world and many athletes go back to returning to their normal level of activity.”

As Elsie examined Ollie's knee, she could feel his eyes on her. It was like he was absorbing every one of her movements. It made her feel on-the-spot and admittedly a little self-conscious, but she did her best to ignore it and continued investigating his injury.

After unwrapping the bandages, she checked the incisions first. They seemed to be healing very well, considering the short amount of time since the surgery. He'd definitely had a good surgeon, which was going to make her life easier.

“I'm going to move your leg around a bit,” she said, placing her hand on the underside of his ankle. “Let me know what hurts and what doesn't.”

She lifted up his leg and watched his face, stopping her movement as soon as he winced in pain. His range of motion was about seventy-five degrees, which she was expecting after an injury like his.

“Your surgeon seemed to have done an excellent job,” Elsie said, slowly bringing Ollie's leg back down to a resting position. “It looks like you're healing up nicely.”

“I was told he was the best.” Ollie looked relieved, now that Elsie wasn't pushing on his leg any more.

“It certainly looks that way,” she said, wrapping some gauze loosely over his incisions. “I'm going to massage your knee a little bit. It's just to keep the blood flowing so that you heal better. Let me know if it hurts and I'll stop.”

“Massage away, Doc,” Ollie said.

Elsie gave him the side eye for the “Doc” comment, which Ollie responded to with a grin. Without saying anything, she began working on his knee. With her hands busy, she let her brain start coming up with a plan. She'd worked with another pro-football player with a similar injury before taking up her uncle's clinic, so she had a good idea of where to go next.

“So here's the game plan,” Elsie said, watching Ollie's face to gauge his enthusiasm. “This week and next week will be pretty simple. We're going to work on getting your full range of motion back and begin the process of getting strength back in your leg. Once I feel like you're steady enough for it, we can get you out of the brace. You're probably still going to want your pain meds, but if you're able to, it would be a good time to begin weaning yourself off of them.”

“I'm ready to take this thing head on,” he said, with beaming confidence. “Whatever it takes to get back in the game.”

He's not as ready as he thinks he is. Nobody is, she thought. She smiled at him. But at least he's got the right attitude.

She heard a rumbling coming from Oliver's belly and she looked up at him.

“You hungry?” Elsie asked, nodding toward the noise.

“A little, yes,” he said, patting his stomach and looking a little bashful.

“How are you getting your meals out here?” Elsie continued to massage his knee as she spoke. “Nobody that I know delivers this far out.”

“What, are you worried about me, Doc?” he asked, grinning wide.

She chuckled and shook her head. He wasn't giving up with the “Doc” reference. Oddly enough, she was beginning to find it to be kind of endearing, but she didn't want to fuel the fire, so she just ignored it this time.

“It's my job to worry about you, Mr. Lance,” she replied, gently patting his knee.

“Ollie,” he said with a soft smile. “Please, call me Ollie. And you don't need to worry too much about me. Nikki dropped off a bunch of pre-made meals that are easy to heat up.”

“Nikki?” she asked. “The same one that interviewed me yesterday?”