As I ventured into the world of college sports, I was introduced to two of the more interesting characters in Aberdeen sports. Clark Swisher and Bob Wachs were legends at Northern State University. I had known them before I moved onto the college sports beat, but now I got to know them even better.

Swisher coached everything at NSU when he first came to Aberdeen but eventually headed just the football program and then was the school's athletic director. The school's track and football stadium was named for him.

When I met him, he was retired from the college but still active in a lot of things. That included the high school all-star games and most of the college activities. The Gypsy Days' homecoming activities were also in his honor.

As a football coach, he amassed a record of 146-42-4 and three perfect seasons and was elected to the South Dakota Hall of Fame. However, it was something he did off the field that stuck out for me.

I was doing a story on him sometime in 1995, I believe, and I can't remember the occasion, but I learned so much about him at the time. I learned he was in the Army in World War II and was in Poland when the war ended. He and his Army troops helped liberate Auschwitz. He said it was the most moving experience in his life.

Later, he took a team back to Auschwitz to share that experience of the horror of the Holocaust. He told me anytime someone would come around and try to dispute the Holocaust; it would make him angry, because he had seen it: the stick-thin people standing there, waiting to be free again, hoping those who were coming would not be there to kill them but to set them free. He saw the realities of the death camps. He knew it was real.

Swisher died in 2005, having built a legacy with a strong NSU athletic program. It was passed down to Wachs and Jim Kretchman and Bob Olson.

Wachs was the winningest coach in NSU men's basketball with a 532-286 record in 30 years at Northern State (1955-85). The arena at Barnett Center was named in his honor, too.

When I met him early in my days in Aberdeen, it was because of the Bob Wachs Open, a golf tournament named in his honor. He also had been a golf coach and loved to golf in his retirement.

But he was all about basketball most of the time, I was told. He was a tall man with a white shock of hair and craggy face, an interesting face that always seemed to have a scowl. Not that he was unhappy or unfriendly. It was just the way the face was.

The weathered visage was due to years in the sun, and it took its toll over the years. When I talked to him finally in about 1995, he was in a fight for his life with melanoma.

I appreciated the chance to visit with Bob and his wife, Salona. Bob wasn't giving in to this cancer, no doubt, but you could tell it had beaten him down. He was thinner than in the past, and that's hard because he was thin to start. But his spirits were high, as were Salona's.

I came back from that interview with a knot in my stomach. I had seen cancer far too often, stared down that monster a lot and knew where there was a chance of striking a blow and where the monster was going to win.

In this case, I knew the monster was going to win.

Wachs died later that year. It was no big surprise.

There was a young track star, Allison Peters, a very fair, blond, freckled young woman from a town north of Aberdeen called Britton, S.D. She was a talented sprinter and jumper, and I would see her at track meets, working on her tan, and get on her about using sunscreen.

"But I want to get a tan," she'd say.

"You need to worry about skin cancer," I'd warn her. "You're like me. You're too fair."

After Wachs' death from skin cancer, I kept after Allison. I made sure she got sunscreen. I got that message to her that skin cancer was a real thing about which she needed to be concerned.

I hope the message went through.

The weekend is upon us. DH is going to leave me here while he goes and works on the little house and my granddaughter is going to stay with me.  I am walking around much better and can get into and out of bed by myself with the help of the gait belt. I can lift my operative leg now and can bend it 90 degrees so I think when I meet with the PT people Monday, they will be pleased. By Sunday, I hope to ditch the walker and use only the cane. 

My eating is so messed up.  The anesthesia has constipated me and so I am staying nauseated as hell.  If I don't poop by Sunday, I have to go to the ER...I'm taking dulcolax and percolace and some liquid crap...so far nothing. Because of the nausea, I am not eating much at all because I don't want to hurl. I am eating apples and peaches and am hoping tonight I can hold down some shrimp or fish. 

Ladies, what's going on with you guys? 

Wow!  So, I ended up back in the hospital for a couple of days over the weekend. I got out on Sunday afternoon and then Monday morning, was admitted for surgery.  My surgeon and anesthesiologists were very nice and considerate. After my knee replacement, the doctor talked to my family and explained that in all his years of practice, he had never seen a knee in as bad a shape as mine. He said it was partly because of the rheumatoid arthritis, definitely in part because of the polio, and that a huge part was due to the vitamin D deficiency.  Before surgery and before I left the hospital, the anesthesologists did a nerve block so that the knee cap area wouldn't hurt as much so I could do therapy.  While it has hurt both top of the knee and the back of the knee, I have to admit that this pain is nothing compared to the knee that I had before surgery. I am starting outpatient therapy Monday but have been doing the therapy that they began with me while I was in the hospital. I am still using the walker but have actually used my cane a little bit here and there.  I am bound and determined to make this knee surgery a complete success. 

The weekend fixer upper.  Oh my! We have all the floors and walls out and have started rewiring the old portion of the house. The cement guy has poured the foundation for the bedrooms, kitchen, and car port...we are excited. DH and my daughter are making me a gorgeous walnut breakfast nook to be placed in the kitchen...I cannot wait to sit there and drink my morning coffee. 

What else?  Well, my son is coming home for Thanksgiving; I cannot wait to see the grandkids.  

Well, that's about it for me. The pain medication is kicking my ass so I'll close for now.  How the hell have you guys been doing?

Hi Ladies, 

Im back from my brother's house. I was there for 4 days. I didnt make the wisest choices and had alcoholic drinks every night.  I found the Halloween candy and couldnt stay out of it after that.

I was up early every day but today Im feeling it. I just noticed it, its 69 in my apartment. Time to turn on the heat. It was in the 30's this morning. No wonder Im cold even with a fleece on.

Jeannie hope you have a good surgery and a speedy recovery.

I couldn't donate plasma today, my protein level's were too low. They said they can check it Tuesday. Im trying to eat alot of protein, more than usual.

Everyone have a good day.

hugs. Good t see yu posting. Sorry to hear about issues. Hospital stays are not fun...

Good luck on Monday. I will be thinking of you -sending best wishes. 

post when you have a chance, so we know you are OK. 

Hugs