Once upon a time, I could take a punch and move on. Nowadays, I can still take a punch all right; it's the moving on that's tough.
Pain isn't just pain anymore. My nerves fire differently. It's like they get stuck in a loop, don't know when to stop. But far worse, I simply can't recover the way I used to. It's not about toughness or willpower or even taking the right drugs. My body's susceptible to injury, no matter what I do. And when I do get hurt, it takes a long time to heal. One careless mistake, one wrong step, one little fall, can change everything-which is a problem in this line of work, where a limp or a twisted ankle could mean the difference between getting home for dinner and getting zipped up in a body bag.
I barely broke a sweat in that shootout outside the bar, yet my knee
