Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr spoke publicly about his leave of absence from the team for the first time Sunday, reporting that he suffered a rare spinal fluid leak following his first offseason back surgery.
Kerr is optimistic that he’ll be back on the sidelines, but still won’t guess at a timetable for his return.
The 50-year-old says he is in otherwise good health.
Per the San Jose Mercury News:
“The leak is fixed, but still getting some symptoms,” Kerr said of his follow-up surgery early last month. “And that’s why I’m out. And because I’m still having symptoms, it makes it difficult for me to be on the floor. And so the prospects are good. I’m going to heal. The doctor says everybody’s body is different. It’s a matter of your body sort of recalibrating. And unfortunately, it’s not like a sprained ankle, one to two weeks. There’s no telling. It’s a little bit open-ended, but everybody’s very confident everything will be fine.”
Kerr said surgery to repair a ruptured disk in July led to an accidental nick of the dura, which surrounds the brain and spinal cord. It took about a month to learn why he was experiencing symptoms — headaches being the main one. After the second surgery, he lasted two days of training camp before deciding to go on a leave. […] Kerr said he has been balancing his schedule with rehab, exercise, rest and keeping up with what’s going on with the Warriors. He has attended some practices for part of the time, completely missed others and reviewed game tape of the Warriors’ preseason action. He said he was perhaps “over-reading” on his health situation.
“It’s no fun,” Kerr said. “I want to be here. This is my dream job. These are my guys coming off a title, the season starts in two weeks, it’s unbelievably frustrating. I want to be here, but I also know I’ve got to be careful. But when I’m at home, I’m bored. So, it’s tricky.” […] “I’m 50 years old,” he said. “I’m in good shape. I’m in good overall health. This is a unique circumstance, and once it’s resolved, I’ll be fine.”
