A text while sitting in traffic, followed by his first anxiety attack. That was the 15-year MLB veteran two months ago when team trainer Thomas Albert broke the news to him. It was a Grade 3 full tear, and the worst possible thoughts started sprouting in the 34-year-old’s head. He called his wife and could barely utter a word because he didn’t know what was going on with his body. What followed were 60 days of strict discipline and health horrors, but Enrique Hernández, who once thought he was “too old,” came through against all odds.

“Never done an oblique before, and I was expecting it to be a Grade 1 or Grade 2 at worst,” Enrique Hernández said, per Dodgers Nation on X. “When I heard the Grade 3, I thought it was surgical. Obviously, people talk about obliques taking forever and being the worst injury possible…

“The worst part was probably sneezing; coughing was still uncomfortable, but sneezing was tough, and lucky for me, my body protected me. I didn’t poop for like six days after I got hurt, so people said it was excruciating, but I didn’t experience that.”

The 34-year-old has had quite an interesting start to the season, if we can call it that.

He missed the first 53 games owing to the left elbow injury he sustained during the offseason. When he finally made his return on May 25 against the Colorado Rockies, the fans greeted him with a standing ovation. Then again, on the following day, when he took to Dodger Stadium, he homered on his very first at-bat and then doubled in his second.

The fans burst into loud cheers again. After all, he had just gone 4-for-4 with two doubles and a homer in his two games. However, in the second matchup, he exited early, and even in the dugout, he appeared clearly shaken. Then came the next day, and things went from bad to worse.

The Dodgers placed him and Teoscar Hernandez on the injury list before the series finale against the Rockies. While the duration of his return was not known, he was expected to be out for weeks. Per the reports, he had apparently injured his oblique during practice. At the time, though, he chose to play through the discomfort because he thought that he was only experiencing pain while swinging.

“That’s kind of why I thought I could play,” Hernández recalled.

“When I hit the double, it didn’t just hurt to swing; it also hurt to run, so I knew that it was time to stop.”

And he had no choice but to stop after his Grade 3 diagnosis, which generally involves a long rehab time and surgical intervention. That’s something the 34-year-old, too, feared initially.

Thankfully, though, he didn’t have to undergo any surgery and instead resorted to utmost discipline, but daily activities like sneezing and coughing remained full of pain.

His recovery procedures involved stem cell treatment with daily hyperbaric chamber sessions, saunas, cold plunges, and targeted core rotation, per Courtney Hollmon of MLB.com.

That, paired with a heavy dosage of “effing around and being me,” certainly came through for Hernández.

“People were pretty impressed because I was kind of like joking around and being me and running around, pretending to rotate and swing and say, ‘I don’t have a Grade 3, that was a fake MRI’ and all that stuff,” Hernández said.

Somewhere juggling the two, he speed-tracked his recovery and played 7 rehab games. To top that, he played an additional 20 at-bats between Arizona and Los Angeles.

The tests have now revealed that his injury has healed and he can return. Good news for the Dodgers, who are sitting atop the National League with a 67-40 record.

And as the Dodgers have activated Hernández, Dave Roberts has expressed his desire to take a cautious approach.

Maybe that’s the way to go forward for Hernández, who signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract in February. Because before his elbow troubles last year, Kiké had hamstring, ankle, hip, and hand troubles.

Dave Roberts shares his take on Enrique Hernández

Kiké has been a key part of the Dodgers’ repeat World Series success. So if history is anything to go by, he might be tasked with key roles this coming October as well.

“We’ve got three right-handers this series, so I’m not sure if he’s going to get a start — use him off the bench. But then after that, as projected, we’ve got five left-handed starters in a row. So there should be a lot of opportunities right there for him,” Roberts added.

Another thing that changes with Hernández’s activation is the trade deadline outlook.

Outfielder Alex Call might be left as a redundant roster piece and eventually be shipped off to another club. In fact, just a day ago, Alex Freeland was optioned back to Triple-A.

Roberts has already said they are most likely sellers this season, and though their two-way star Shohei Ohtani is dealing with a knee injury, he added that it is not a factor in their trade plans.

Currently in the middle of a series against the Seattle Mariners, the Dodgers have lost the series opener, but now, with Hernández ready, maybe the series will see a different outcome.