Dodgers pitcher Dustin Could stated he was “pretty close” to becoming a member of his group’s 2024 World Collection run till a “complete freak accident” required emergency surgical procedure for a critical tear in his esophagus final July.
Could, who throughout the 2023 season had flexor tendon and Tommy John surgical procedure, was rehabbing on the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch facility in Arizona when he went out to dinner on July 10 and bought a chunk of lettuce caught in his throat, which brought about a critical tear in his esophagus, he informed the Los Angeles Occasions.
It required emergency surgical procedure that evening and derailed his hopes of returning to the Dodgers’ bullpen.
“It was definitely a life-altering event,” Could stated whereas recalling the incident for first time publicly. “It was positively very critical. It’s not a quite common surgical procedure. It was positively an emergency.
“I probably wouldn’t have made it through the night if I didn’t have it.”
Could added that after taking one chunk of his salad, he felt lettuce caught in his throat and tried to scrub it down with water.
The precise-hander recounted feeling a “mega-painful” sensation in his throat and abdomen for quarter-hour — and when it went away, he returned residence pondering he could be OK.
“I’m not a big panicker,” he stated. “It kind of chilled out. So I was like, ‘I’m fine. I don’t need to do anything.’”
Could’s spouse, Millie, inspired him to go to the ER and to get checked out.
Could stated he underwent “basically a full abdominal surgery” to restore the tear in his esophagus and defined that medical doctors stated he had lettuce lodged in his throat that led to a extremely unusual meals impaction, which perforated his esophagus tube.
Now, he has a protracted vertical scar from his decrease chest to his abdomen from the emergency surgical procedure.
The surgical procedure required six months of restoration, throughout which Could wasn’t allowed to carry weights heavier than 10 kilos.
“It was extremely frustrating,” Could stated. “You can’t plan for it. You can’t try to prevent it. It just happened. It wasn’t on my bingo card for 2024.”
Could, who started minimal throwing actions in November, stated he wasn’t again to his full energy till New Yr’s.
“It just kind of gives me a different viewpoint on a lot of things in life,” he stated. “Just seeing how something so non-baseball-related can just be like — it can be gone in a second. And the stuff it put my wife through, it definitely gave me [a feeling] of, ‘Wow, stuff can change like that.’ It was definitely very scary.”
The pitcher is now targeted on making ready for the Dodgers’ opening sequence towards the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo on March 18 and 19.
Could threw throughout a spring coaching exercise at Camelback Ranch on Sunday.
