Post by TheGreenHornet on Aug 13, 2006 9:10:38 GMT -5
Pape Sow is a man of indomitable will.
He's strong enough of body and mind to have made himself into an NBA player in the most unlikely of circumstances. As a teen, he spent five years in California with no family to lean on. He transformed himself into a professional basketball player with his work ethic, his spirit, his drive to accept nothing less than the best from himself.
But three days and three nights lying immobile in a Las Vegas hospital with a broken vertebra will fill a man's mind with everything from anxiety to fear to questions of whether he'll be able to walk again, let alone dunk a basketball.
"At that time I was kind of nervous because I didn't know what was going on," the Raptor forward said last night in his first interview since fracturing a vertebra in a horrific fall. "It's kind of hard, three days just laying there while they tried to figure out what they were going to do, it kind of scared me a little.
"But, you know, a couple of doctors came to me and told me it wasn't a big deal, they just were going to try to make sure they do the right thing.
"That's why I was confident."
He's strong enough of body and mind to have made himself into an NBA player in the most unlikely of circumstances. As a teen, he spent five years in California with no family to lean on. He transformed himself into a professional basketball player with his work ethic, his spirit, his drive to accept nothing less than the best from himself.
But three days and three nights lying immobile in a Las Vegas hospital with a broken vertebra will fill a man's mind with everything from anxiety to fear to questions of whether he'll be able to walk again, let alone dunk a basketball.
"At that time I was kind of nervous because I didn't know what was going on," the Raptor forward said last night in his first interview since fracturing a vertebra in a horrific fall. "It's kind of hard, three days just laying there while they tried to figure out what they were going to do, it kind of scared me a little.
"But, you know, a couple of doctors came to me and told me it wasn't a big deal, they just were going to try to make sure they do the right thing.
"That's why I was confident."
Not only is Sow talking, he's looking forward to playing as soon as he can. He's ahead of schedule in his rehab, already doing some bicycle work to keep in some semblance of shape, working out once each day with an eye to returning to the court.
Doctors haven't given him any indication of when that might be, though, and that's the part he's finding most difficult of all. He's pain free, but not able to do enough work to satisfy his indomitable work ethic.
"I just take my time, do what the doctor says," he said. "If it was just me, I know myself, I don't like to sit down, I don't like to just lay there, but now I can't make the decision. I have to leave everything in the doctor's hands."
Doctors haven't given him any indication of when that might be, though, and that's the part he's finding most difficult of all. He's pain free, but not able to do enough work to satisfy his indomitable work ethic.
"I just take my time, do what the doctor says," he said. "If it was just me, I know myself, I don't like to sit down, I don't like to just lay there, but now I can't make the decision. I have to leave everything in the doctor's hands."
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