Bosh’s return
Forward, Heat clashed on health.
Chris Bosh revealed Wednesday that the Miami Heat medical staff told him in February that his career was “probably over” due to an episode of blood clotting that surfaced for the second time in as many years at the All-Star break.
In a self-directed video chapter on LeBron James’ Uninterrupted digital media network that details his attempts to return to the court, the All-Star forward spoke of the cold reality that was presented to him by the Heat.
“Seeing the team doctors,” Bosh said of the meetings after last February’s second clotting episode, “they told me that my season’s over, my career is probably over and, yeah, this just happens, this is just howit is.
“I felt right away that Iwas written off. Itwas just so just . . . put it to the side, and matter-of-factly. If a doctor tells me, ‘Hey, that’s it, and this is how it is,’ and I don’t buy that, I think that I have the right to disagree with you. I know inside
me I have a lot of talent and a lot of ability. And I have it, I know I have it. It wasn’t a matter of if I want to play again, it’s when. So, we took the bull by the horns.”
The initial episode of his ongoing series ‘Rebuilt” is titled, “Chapter 1 — Lost” and opens with Bosh narrating, “The thought of being in purgatory, you’re not on earth, you’re not in heaven, you’re just somewhere in-between. You’re in nothingness.”
But it is closer to the end of the 6-minute, 26-second video that makes clear the ongoing differences between Bosh and the Heat’s medical staff.
After spending the offseason at his Los Angelesarea home, Bosh has returned to South Florida and is in the midst of his mandatory Heat physicals. The team has yet to announce whether Bosh has been cleared to return for training camp, which opens Tuesday in the Bahamas. Bosh has yet to address the media since the end of last season, with the Heat’s annual preseason media day on Monday at American-Airlines Arena.
The ongoing concern in such situations is the potential need to utilize blood thinners. The reduction or
elimination of such medication could, according to prevailing medical opinion, compromise’s Bosh ability to avoid a potential third clotting episode. Bosh did
not address the potential use of anticoagulants during either Wednesday’s video release or the podcast he released through Uninterrupted lastweek.
Bosh later held a Facebook Live session that was interrupted by several glitches.
“It’s been a very, very difficult time,” he said on the webcast. “It’s been long, it’s been tedious, and I think that’s kind of the part of the process that makes it special and frustrating. It’s just this huge emotional rollercoaster.”
There also was a telling comment about the ongoing uncertainty.
“Really,” he said, “we’re just in the process of making sure that I can get back on the court.”
Bosh’s Facebook session was co-hosted by Mavericks Carter, James’ business manager.
Bosh concluded his Facebook session by saying, “We’re going to have a great season. I can’t wait to get back out there on the court and do what I’m supposed to do, and do what I do best.”
Earlier, in the first installment of his digital-video series, Bosh confirmed being diagnosed with a blood clot just before last season’s NBA All-Star Game.
“Eventually I did a CT scan, and clots were found again,” he says in the video. “My initial thoughts from it were just like, ‘First of all, you have to be kidding. Secondly, this isn’t real. And it’s no question about it, I know it’s really happening. She just said what I thought she said and this doctor’s telling me what I think he’s telling me.’ ”
Bosh’s video includes NBA footage, including his return to the NBA last season after his first clotting episode at the 2015 All-Star break.
“When I had that first game [back],” Bosh says, “it was just solidification inmy mind that, ‘OK, yeah I can play.’ I instantly got plugged right back in, thinking about howwe could compete for a championship.”
Then came the second episode and the uncertainty of Bosh’s status going into the coming season.
“Everybody has seen it when you’re holding the trophy or when everything’s all good,” Bosh says in the video. “You never see the low parts. You’re your true self in your lowest moments. What would you do if you couldn’t do what you love?”
Of Wednesday’s video post from Bosh, James posted on Twitter, “An amazing story and even more amazing piece of directing. So proud of my brother CB.”