“I did have two operations on my neck. I had my first one after Round 3 and then two weeks later I had to have a nerve graft to repair a couple of nerves in my neck. It was tough but I did have some fantastic people around me and the doctors and physios at the club are sensational and my girlfriend and family have been very supportive,” Ramanauskas said.
“I definitely thought it was going to be a simple operation and I would be back playing football in a couple of weeks. I think one of my main problems was that I didn’t separate the two – football and having a tumour. That was the hardest thing – if you get a hamstring injury you miss two, three or four weeks. I thought I’ll get this whipped out and I’ll be back in a week or two – I didn’t quite understand the seriousness of it. It was only when I sat down with the specialists and the doctors here that I realised it could have a bearing on my life. Once I realised that and thought about it, it probably was a little bit scary. At the end of the day everything has worked out okay and I can get on with the rest of my life and football career.”
But there were times over the past couple of months when things didn’t go as perfectly as Ramanauskas would have liked. The three-week injury became eight and at times there were questions raised over whether we would see him again this season.
“After the first operation they sent me to see another specialist and I thought I was going in to get some new strength exercises. When I got in there he told me I was going to require another operation - a nerve graft. My jaw nearly hit the ground when he told me and that really did take a day or two to sink in. I had to speak to a couple of people about why I had to do this when I thought I was getting better but realistically I wasn’t. I had the second operation and that was tough but as I said I have had some fantastic people around me,” Ramanauskas said.
“There was some thought to me not getting back this year because they weren’t sure what nerve damage had been done in removing the tumour. Once the operation was finished and they said it had been an absolute success, I guess that is when I started to turn the corner a bit. Once I started to get control of the pain I went from strength to strength. Every session in the gym I could feel I was getting stronger and stronger. Glenn Turner (weights coach) kept encouraging me and then the boys got behind me when I was back on the track. I reckon the support got me back a couple of weeks early.
“There were times when I didn’t think things were healing and I really had to sit down and take stock. I was looking at the big picture and missing the little things and the little improvements I was making week by week and when I started to realise that I guess my spirits started to lift and I improved a lot faster than I expected,” Ramanauskas said.
It was earlier this year that the lump in Ramanauskas’ neck was first noticed. It was closely monitored by club medical staff, and once it was clear it was not subsiding, specialists were consulted.
“I was getting a massage one night in February and one of our trainers said there is something not quite right here. I saw the doctors and they said to have a couple of anti-inflammatory tablets and see if it went away – they thought the muscle might have been a bit inflamed and that I might have taken a knock that I couldn’t remember,” Ramanauskas said.
“A little while later it still hadn’t got any better so we went and saw a specialist and I had an ultrasound, MRI CAT Scans and biopsies. Everything was coming back pretty positive but there was still that possibility it could be something serious. I initially wanted to hold out until the bye but the after speaking with the specialist he decided he would prefer it was taken out straight away.
“I guess the way people started to treat me showed they understood the seriousness of it. When you do a hamstring or something like that, it is a football injury but this wasn’t a football injury. And with something like this you start to appreciate the little things like training, having lunch with the boys or joking around in the changerooms. It makes you realise how the small things are a great part of football.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ramanauskas didn’t want a big deal made of the fact he would require a second operation.
“The first operation was three and a half hours and the second operation was three hours. They were long operations because there was a lot of stuff that could go wrong if they hit the wrong nerve or chopped the wrong nerve. But the club sent me to the best possible specialists,” he said.
“I didn’t want people feeling sorry for me – there are a lot of worse things that can happen to people. I didn’t want people to know about the second operation because I didn’t want people making a fuss over it. After my first operation I had a lot of visitors come into the hospital and I did start to feel like I was sick whereas I was fine. I asked Bruce Reid (club doctor) if he could keep it under wraps – tell the people who need to know – but keep it away from the players. Over the past couple of weeks I have told a few of the guys but a lot of people still don’t know. I missed four weeks for each operation as far as I am concerned.
“I still haven’t got my full strength back but I am about 85 or 90% which is great. I have been doing acupuncture and having nerve physio once a week and I have also seen our physio Bruce Connor twice a day if possible to work on trying to get stronger. The stronger I can get it the better football I will play.
“I went from 83kg to 76kg so I lost seven kilograms. I have put a lot of that back on now and am only another kilo or kilo and half away from getting back to where I was. I just wasn’t eating – I was pretty sore after the operation and I just didn’t feel like anything. But once I started to eat and do the physio work I felt a lot better in myself and my spirits started to lift.”
“I have always been a person that doesn’t talk about my emotions too much and after having this, initially I did find it quite hard to talk about. As I said I didn’t want people feeling sorry for me or that I was different. Once I came to the realisation that a lot of people do have things like this it became easier. It will definitely make me stronger because there were a lot of hurdles I had to get over just play on the weekend. There were little things like learning to swim again and learning to sleep on my right side again – things that you take for granted. I have now got a greater appreciation of a lot of minor things.”
But Ramanauskas is back now and he showed glimpses of the brilliance Essendon supporters know and love against the Kangaroos last weekend.
“I pulled up fine after the game. I was a bit nervous to start with but once I got into it things were fine. I fumbled a couple early but all in all I was just happy to get back out there playing football. It is a long time eight weeks – they say it is like jumping back on a bike but I think it was a bit harder than that,” he said.
“I thought I would have come back through the VFL. I was walking out of the team meeting last Thursday – just leaving the senior team behind – when Sheeds asked me to stay. I was leaving because I thought I was playing in the VFL but he read the team out and I was in it.”
Ramanuskas said he heard the roar from Essendon fans when he came onto the ground. He wanted to thank each and every person who has supported him over the past nine weeks. “It (the roar) was a bit embarrassing actually. We have got some great supporters and I have had a lot of cards and messages and support from a lot of people and I sincerely thank them all. We are a pretty good club at Essendon and the support is always there from everyone,” he said.
