Steve Gandy could be out a month or more

[DKW 86 7,419]

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/mobilereg....xml&coll=3

Linebacker rehabbing rare injury

Steve Gandy could be out a month or more after undergoing emergency surgery on his thigh

Saturday, August 26, 2006

By EVAN WOODBERY

Sports Reporter

AUBURN -- It started as a minor injury, barely noticed in the bumps and bruises of two-a-days.

A day later, Steve Gandy was in the hospital, undergoing emergency surgery and wondering about the future of his football career.

"The whole while (in the hospital), I was just laying there thinking about the field," Gandy said. "I wanted to come back and play."

As preseason camp comes to a close, Gandy is 20 pounds lighter and sports a large scar on his thigh that doctors say will be there forever. His hopes of playing this season are still there, but the road back will be a long one.

"To watch my teammates out playing, that's more painful than anything," Gandy said.

Gandy's injury was first reported as a thigh bruise during an early-August practice on the university's intramural fields.

But by that evening, the pain was unbearable, and Gandy knew it had to be something more serious.

"I'm one of those people, I can play with any kind of pain," Gandy said. "I've had three knee surgeries, a couple broken hands. I've been through a lot with pain, and hands down, I'd never felt that kind of pain in my life. I knew something was wrong bad."

When Gandy showed his swollen thigh to a doctor, he was immediately sent to the hospital.

Gandy had a rare and unusual case of compartment syndrome in his thigh. According to medical information available on the Internet, compartment syndrome occurs when muscles swell and pressure builds to dangerous levels. It's sometimes associated with external traumas like car accidents.

Acute compartment syndrome is an emergency and can cause permanent damage if not immediately treated.

Gandy said he was on the operating table within moments of being admitted to the hospital.

Doctors sliced open his thigh to relieve the pressure and suctioned out the blood that had been accumulating. Next, doctors had to determine how to permanently close the incision. Gandy said doctors told him there was a 50 percent chance that a skin graft would be required.

"Everybody just prayed and kept their fingers crossed," Gandy said.

Ultimately, doctors decided they could use a more conventional technique.

"They were just able to stitch it back up," Gandy said. "That was a blessing."

Now Gandy has embarked on a painful rehab. Bending his thigh is an ordeal, but it's something that he must do in order to regain the needed flexibility.

"As long as you let it stay straight, the more it wants to stay straight," he said. "It hurts a lot to bend it. Doing rehab, that's the main focus -- just bending it and getting the flexion back."

The other problem is Gandy's weight. He was a small linebacker to begin with. After eating very little during his stay in the hospital, he dropped down to 186 pounds.

Nobody's sure how quickly Gandy can return to the field. He started five games at safety last year, but moved to linebacker in the spring. The sophomore was in the running for a starting job until the injury.

It's one of those things where there's really not much documentation on (the injury) because it hasn't happened very often," said Auburn linebackers coach James Willis.

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville guessed that Gandy could miss a month, two months or more.

"It's really hard to tell," he said.

That's one of the most frustrating things for Gandy.

"With an ACL (tear), they can say six months, because a lot of people have it," Gandy said. "But this, they don't know. Nobody's ever had an injury like this."

-- ROSE OFFICIALLY IN: Receiver Alex Rose arrived on campus Friday. Tuberville confirmed that he was approved as only a partial academic qualifier.

Rose will be able to practice this year, but is not eligible to play. The partial status won't be a huge setback for the Jacksonville, Fla., recruit, because he was destined for a redshirt season anyway.

After this year, Rose will have three years of eligibility remaining. He can earn back another year if he makes sufficient progress toward a degree.

"That's not easy, but it's not unattainable," Tuberville said of the 80-percent mark that partial qualifiers must reach in four years.

-- OFF DAY: Auburn players and coaches are completely off today. Tuberville has told his assistants to enjoy the final free Saturday of the season and not report to work.

[tarheeltiger 0]

I would think a month is overly optimistic. Does anone know how deep the incision? If it was an incision into just the fascia then maybe. If there was any dissection of muscle then this is going to be much longer.

I think a redshirt year (medical redshirt?) may be in store.

[tarheeltiger 0]

My wife just reminded me.

If you watch House then you can see the consequence of this type injury. Though House had an infarction ("blood clot") the end result is the same. You starve muscle tissue which then slowly (and painfully) begins to die.

To say he could have lost his leg is not an overexaggeration but a probable fact.

[Ranger12 46]

Wow. Football aside, lets just hope that Steve's recovery goes well and it does not develop into anything that serious.

[blue93 0]

He has lost 20lbs. A month? No way.

[MDM4AU 332]

He has lost 20lbs. A month? No way.

Titan can back me up on this...I lost 15lbs in a week back in '89. I had Scarlet Fever. I had ulcers all on the inside of my mouth and throat and ran a fever of about 102 for several days. When your laid up for days, it's amzing what your body does.

[tidesnightmare 0]

I hope to see him on the field this year but his health comes first. Lets pray infection doesn't set

in. Infection is the reason Prothro is out. And speaking of Prothro why didn't they send him to Dr. Andrews? He's the best around.

[MDM4AU 332]

I hope to see him on the field this year but his health comes first. Lets pray infection doesn't set

in. Infection is the reason Prothro is out. And speaking of Prothro why didn't they send him to Dr. Andrews? He's the best around.

They are contracted to use whom ever it is that they use.

[blue93 0]

He has lost 20lbs. A month? No way.

Titan can back me up on this...I lost 15lbs in a week back in '89. I had Scarlet Fever. I had ulcers all on the inside of my mouth and throat and ran a fever of about 102 for several days. When your laid up for days, it's amzing what your body does.

I agree. I think it will be a long time before he is back on the field. It will take forever to gain back that weight.

[tarheeltiger 0]

Infection should not be a proplem. Prothro suffered a compound fracture. This means bone protruded through the skin and in his case the exposed bone was plunged into the turf. This makes for a very dirty wound. Before antibiotics coumpound fractures were usually fatal if the limb was not removed. (Many more deaths in the American civil was were due to infectious disease than direct battlefield deaths).

Gandy's surgery was classified as clean. The surgical site had time to be properly prepped and I imagine he had a preop antibiotic. The worst I would expect would be a stitch abcess.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

I read somewhere that the doctor who operated on Gandy said his injury was very rare and he only knew of 12 cases in the whole country. When asked how long full recovery, the doctor said he didn't know, that there wasn't enough history with this injury to form a data base.

[CCTAU 3,312]

He has lost 20lbs. A month? No way.

The body starts using fat when it slows from trauma. Fat as we all know burns slow. But when there is an absence of fat, muscle will get used. And muscle gets used much quicker. Steve probably did not have a whole lot of extra fat to burn.