To have doctors operate on the wrong foot

It was 2002, my senior year of high school, and I already knew I was going to play basketball at Colorado. So I decided that I was going in on October 31 to have a damaged bone removed that was giving me pain in my left heel. It was supposed to be a minor surgery, with only a four- to six-week recovery. I should have been playing by the time Christmas break hit my senior season and been completely fine by my first college season.

It was my first surgery, and I'd never had any anesthesia before; I was halfway gone but still conscious enough to sense what was going on. I woke up and felt my wrong leg was hurting. The doctors didn't know anything was wrong yet. I told the nurse, and she finally went and got the papers and saw that a huge mistake had been made.

The surgeon was apologizing and saying he just messed up. My parents were really upset. I guess I was, too, but it didn't really sink in right away.

I didn't reschedule the surgery on the other foot right away because I wouldn't have been able to walk. So I had it February 14. This time, we made sure they got the right foot--the left one.

While sitting and watching my high school team, Putnam City, lose in the Oklahoma state championship game, it sunk in what having the wrong foot operated on meant. I was on the sideline and couldn't do anything, and that was killing me. We had won the state championship the year before.

When I got to Colorado in the fall of 2003, my right foot was still causing me pain. I was working with my coaches that fall and felt out of step, and they said, "It wouldn't hurt you to redshirt and just take a year to get acclimated." My coach, Ricardo Patton, explained it would be the best thing for me; Redshirting in Boulder was a lot better than just sitting on the sideline in Oklahoma City.

When you can't do anything--and the only thing you want to do is play basketball--it just kills you. I'm really looking forward to playing this year. It's going to be my opportunity to finally get out there.

Keith Smith, G/F, Colorado

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