Royals pitcher Nathan Karns kept a piece of his own rib after surgery
That’s how you make a first rib resection less depressing.
In mid-July, Royals pitcher Nathan Karns was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome — “a neurogenic condition caused by the compression of nerves near the neck and shoulder” — ending his season and necessitating surgery.
Thoracic outlet syndrome is treatable and can be fixed with surgery for the most part, but that surgery is also a rough one to think through considering it involves removing a part of someone’s first rib in order to get them back to full health.
So, that’s pretty gross and intensive and it’s understandable why someone wouldn’t be able to jump back into pitching right away after getting out of the hospital.
Karns had his surgery in mid-July and joined Kansas City back in the clubhouse on Friday after a few weeks of recuperating.
After all the serious hospitalization and pain he’s been through, Karns did get one awesome souvenir from the ordeal though: his own rib.
Nathan Karns was back in the clubhouse. And yes, the surgeon gave him the partial rib that was removed. It wil be a necklace someday.
— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) August 4, 2017
As far as “body parts you get back after a surgery” rankings go a rib has to be decently high up there. It’s just a bone so you don’t have to store it in a jar or a bag or anything, and once it’s cleaned up you could even display it around the house as a conversation starter.
Hopefully Karns will fully recover and be back on the mound better than ever post-surgery, but regardless it’s nice that he got a take home prize from the hospital that is one of a kind.