The words are barely believable as they leave Jack Walker's mouth. It is to the 22-year-old's immense credit that he is not only willing to share the personal hell of the last two years, but the fact he is managing to raise a smile about it.
To have undergone one operation by the age of 22 would be mentally tough. Two would be exhausting. Walker, one of the most mercurially talented players to have emerged from the Leeds Rhinos academy in recent years, has had seven. Not only that, he was warned last year his career was over had operation number seven not worked.
It all began in seemingly innocuous fashion. Walker snapped the Linsfranc part of his foot, a joint complex that includes bones and ligaments which connect the midfoot and forefoot. Further scans showed that had included three breaks in the foot. "That operation was fairly routine - or it was supposed to be," Walker tells Rugby League Live.
What happened next is staggering. "During the rehabilitation of that injury, I developed arthritis in my foot at the age of 21. It's not really something you expect to be told at that age, or even at any point in your career as a professional."
Surgeons were forced to operate on Walker's foot again, this time to a much more serious degree - with far more serious ramifications had this one not worked.
"I had to get the bone shaved off to make it right again," Walker explains. "They shaved that off my mid-foot, took some bone out of my heel and put it into the mid-foot region and then put a plate in on top of that.
"Then they fused my foot together so I had a chance of playing professionally again. It was really that serious, there was that talk that I might never play again if I didn't get it fused and sorted out. The last option was to do that, we'd tried so many other things and if this wouldn't have worked, I'd have been done, finished."
It is certainly a test of your mental resilience, and not one Walker could have ever envisaged when he burst onto the scene as a teenage sensation with Leeds at the age of just 17. Within months, he was playing in a Grand Final.
"To be told that at such a young age is strange. I spoke to the surgeon, and he's done five of them on golfers, so it's a rare injury to have. But thankfully he nailed it and it's absolutely spot on now. It's time to put that chapter to bed and look forwards."
There is so much to ponder about how the last two years of Walker's life have been. One such question is the extent of the mental scars that have been left on Walker, as well as the physical ones from so many operations.
"Mentally, it's much harder than the physical side of it," he says. "I have really struggled, I won't lie. Especially those long, lonely days in the physio's room when it's just you and nobody else. You're alone, you're doing laborious stuff and it's a dark place to be.
"There have been some really dark times, really dark. But it's a process and I'll never take anything for granted again. It was the best feeling in the world, running out last season and warming up with the lads when I was getting near. To taste it as a player again is something you wonder if you'll ever get to do again when people are saying words to you like arthritis and the fact you could be in real trouble if this operation doesn't go to plan."
The roar from the Headingley crowd on Sunday when Walker made his return home was a moment the 22-year-old admits to savouring. Seven days earlier, he made his comeback against Bradford at Odsal. Leeds will ease Walker back in, conscious of the fact any more setbacks are potentially serious.
"It was a weird feeling, playing again. It felt like my debut, maybe worse. I've never been that nervous, not since my debut in 2017. I felt more nerves and more tension, last week against Bradford in a pre-season friendly than I did before playing in a Grand Final. It was surreal, but once I got out there I managed to get on with doing my job, which is something I've been wanting to do for nearly two years.
"Leeds and Rich have really looked after me. I've been eased back in, which is why the minutes have been limited. They're really taking care of me and it's important I don't come back too early again because if I get a setback, it could be career done and I could be in big trouble."
There have been changes to Walker in that time away, not least the fact he has bulked up in size - again, a conscious effort on behalf of both player and club to ensure those injury issues are very much a thing of the past.
"We've changed a lot about me, almost rebuilt me," Walker admits. "I wanted to focus on things I could control and one of those was to put some size on and strengthen myself up in the gym. I've had seven operations and I'm only 22 so it's realistic to suggest I've got to strengthen things up and get more durable."
Walker returns to a Leeds side with a fresh rival at fullback in Richie Myler, who has deputised in Walker's absence to impressive effect. He is arguably Leeds' second-choice at fullback now, but having endured so much mental and physical pain over the last two years, you get the feeling that does not trouble the player himself too much.
"It's been a long time coming, this," he says. "I just want to repay the club, the staff and Richard Agar for the faith they've shown in me. Playing in front of crowds again.. I will never take that feeling for granted. It's time to make up for lost time now."
