Because he’s a backup and probably doesn’t impact your fantasy team, Titans running back Javon Ringer’s listing on the injury report probably didn’t catch your eye.
But Ringer told John Glennon of the Tennesseean he could have lost his arm because of an infection that has him out this week.
Could. Have. Lost. His. Arm.
“At first, even though it was swollen, . . . I knew it was serious, but I didn’t know the extent of it until after the first surgery,” Ringer said. “[Doctors] said they wanted to hurry up and get to it because if it got in my bloodstream, I probably could have lost my arm.
“I’m looking as it as a blessing, . . . It could have kept getting worse and worse, and it could have got in my bloodstream and I could have lost an arm.”
Ringer went through two surgeries and spent four nights in the hospital with cellulitis in his elbow. He’s still wearing a device (linked photo not for squeamish) that sucks fluid from the infected area and helps heal scar tissue (which sounds one step from that tank they put Luke Skywalker in in The Empire Strikes Back).
“It’s just to clean stuff out, get a lot of the mess out,” he said, understating it magnificently.
Ringer practiced a week ago, but his arm began to swell last Saturday, sending him to the hospital.
He hopes to return to practice next week, and the fact that’s a possibility makes him fortunate.
I’m going to wash my hands now.