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How else can one explain the rapid return of Teddy Dupay and Brent Wright?
By JOANNE KORTH
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 3, 2001
GAINESVILLE -- Everyone cringed.
It was difficult enough watching Florida guard Teddy Dupay run and jump three weeks after back surgery. But when he dived to the O'Connell Center floor for a loose ball, everyone in Tuesday's capacity crowd sucked in a deep, worrisome breath.
Except one man.
Dr. Art Day exhaled.
"I was watching for signs Teddy would be hesitant, because that would indicate he was having some discomfort or apprehension," said Day, the Gainesville neurosurgeon who repaired a ruptured disc in Dupay's lower back on Jan. 10. "Everyone sort of gasped when he got down on the floor, but to me that was a good sign.
"I was relieved."
Everyone else is amazed.
Less than a month after declaring No. 13 Florida's season a medical hardship, college basketball is in disbelief about its astounding recovery rate. Hey, who needs the NIT with the miracle of modern medicine?
"Yeah, but I don't think it's a miracle," Dupay said. "It's not like it happens just once. Every single one of our players gets back ahead of schedule. The staff here is amazing. A lot of people take it personally to get us back on the court. It's not a coincidence."
Florida's magic number is 20.
That's how many days after Jan. 3 surgery to repair a stress fracture in his right foot Brent Wright returned to play 13 minutes against Auburn. It's also the number of days after back surgery Dupay returned to play 15 critical minutes against Tennessee.
Two recoveries, two victories.
Hmmm. At that rate, guard Justin Hamilton's torn anterior cruciate ligament -- a season-ending injury by any diagnosis -- should be healed in time to play at Kentucky on Tuesday, right? And what's this about coach Billy Donovan not being able to shake the flu? Surely, someone can fix that.
"God works in mysterious ways," Wright said.
Wright was supposed to be out 3-6 weeks, but began to bewilder just two days after Gainesville orthopedic surgeon Peter Indelicato placed a screw in his foot.
"I went back to get X-rays and the doctors told me it had already started healing," Wright said. "I worked out in the pool and put more wait on my foot every day. The first time I ran on the treadmill I had no pain and the doctors said, "Wow.' "
The screw will remain in Wright's foot until at least the end of the season, maybe forever. His freshman season, a screw was inserted to repair a stress fracture in his left foot. Now, he has a matched set.
"They're pretty long; you can see them on the X-rays," said Wright, holding his fingers about 5 inches apart. "There's a little bump on my foot, but that will go away. I don't feel it at all. It's a miracle, or something. My foot feels fine."
If Wright's return was improbable, Dupay's was flat-out impossible. C'mon, a scrappy guard has surgery to repair a ruptured disc, and three weeks later he attempts to draw a charge against 6-10, 265-pound Tennessee center Charles Hathaway?
It can't happen.
"What, you think he was faking?" Donovan said, smiling. "Really, when they told me on Sunday I could put Teddy through some shooting and running drills, I expected to see this guy very gingerly moving and cutting, like he was walking on eggshells. I was amazed."
With a ruptured disc, a tear develops in the outer shell of a capsule-like structure that serves as a shock absorber between two vertebrae. According to Day, material the consistency of crab meat protrudes through the tear, pressing on nerves in the spinal canal. The loose material is removed using a surgical microscope, a needle-like instrument with a light at the end that minimizes damage to muscle and tissue through which the surgeon must tunnel.
Results are immediate.
"The pain will go away as soon as we remove the disc fragment," Day said. "It's not like a knee ligament that has to grow together again. And with less tissue disruption, recovery and rehabilitation can begin much sooner."
Dupay was immobile for five days, then attacked the rehabilitation process. Working with UF trainer Chris Koenig, Dupay started with flexibility stretches. Then, in waist-deep water, he walked, kicked his legs and shuffled his feet as if in a defensive stance. Supported by a vest, he ran and swam in the deep end of the pool.
"I knew Teddy was going to get back quicker than most people anticipated because he's so athletic and so persistent," Koenig said. "He was constantly asking me about doing more and more stuff."
Just before the second half of Tuesday's game, Dupay donned a rubber glove and applied a clear ointment to his shins. After three weeks away from basketball, he was hurting.
"It was the first time I'd been in a game for a couple of weeks, and my muscles were sore," Dupay said. "It wasn't anything from the surgery, but when you take a couple weeks off it's like going through preseason conditioning again."
The miracle salve? Heat rub, available at any drug store.
Can you believe it?