"I thought I'd broken my leg to be honest," Wellingham said on Monday.
"I gave (West Coast player services manager, Ian) Miller a call and informed him that I'd hurt myself.
"He just said there's not a lot we can do at the moment so just come in in the morning."
Wellingham tips Freo to chase Buddy
The scans revealed a right ankle syndesmosis injury that required a moon boot to be worn for a month, and saw West Coast's high profile off-season recruit miss the first five rounds.
"I was on the crutches for two weeks. They are a more annoying thing – crutches are hellish.
"I’ll try not to get injured again."
Wellingham said his new coach John Worsfold reaction was better than expected.
"He was really supportive. Obviously, told me that I was a bit of an idiot, which I was.
"He just said to get myself right and do the work in rehab and make sure that I'm ready to go when I get it right."
Wellingham made an impressive return gathering 26 possessions against the Western Bulldogs in the Eagles' 70-point win on Sunday.
Observers were impressed by his fitness levels given the Collingwood premiership player had played just one match in the WAFL.
Wellingham said he worked hard to recover from the injury.
"I think from day one I started training, swimming, kayaking, and biking."
Wellingham also utilised West Coast's anti-gravity treadmill that can offset up to 80 per cent of a player's body weight whilst they run or walk when recovering from injury.
"As soon as I was out of the boot I was able to start walking that day and two days later I was running.
"So it was really lucky that I could get a huge volume of running in before being back on the ground."
The 24-year-old also had the confidence of knowing he had done one of the biggest pre-seasons of his six-year career.
"I had a chat to 'Kofe' (strength and conditioning head Warren Kofoed) this morning and said thanks for putting me through the hard yards through the pre-season."
The versatile midfielder felt he didn't owe the club due to the nature of his injury, but rather for the opportunity to come home to Perth to play for the club he supported as a kid after five seasons with Collingwood.
"I think I owe the club anyway. I was really lucky to be able to come home and find myself at the club I wanted to go to," he said.
"I was really grateful from the time I walked in the doors, so I'll be doing everything right even though I was a bit unlucky to have injured myself."
