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As you might have guessed by reading all these, I was never athletic. I was the fat kid who was put behind home plate to stop the runners. I couldn't run or throw. My sister used to throw a rock-hard 16-inch softball at me so hard, it jammed my fingers. She said I wasn't catching it properly (she was right, but it still hurt like hell). To this day, I have crooked fingers. I can trip over my own two feet just walking through the house. I hurt my knee once tripping over Christmas wrapping paper (oh, and I'm also a slob).
So a lot of my adventures covering sports involved getting hurt. While I was in college, I got plowed into on the sidelines by a bunch of rugby players. Served me right, I was standing too close to the sidelines. Still hurt a lot.
In Montana, I was shooting a high school football game and saw the play coming toward me. I started backing up and still couldn't get out of the way enough because the Anaconda players would back up enough. After that, the official told the coaches to get their players behind the lines. Where I was standing was OK but the players had to move back. I wound up with a big deep bruise on my leg.
But the biggest injury I had came covering auto racing. Did I get hit by a car? No. But it still was a funny story.
I had never covered the local auto racing at the Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, South Dakota. But the guys who usually took care of this task -- Dave Vilhauer and Matt Schmidt -- were otherwise occupied. (I think Matt was on vacation and Dave was covering something Matt would have covered, or vice versa.) So off I went to the speedway on a Friday night.
It was the first night of racing, so my task was to get names and numbers of all the entrants. I got out there early enough to get my bearings, get the drivers' names and car numbers, and get into the crow's nest to cover the race.
The drivers were running practice laps, so I looked over to the track marshal for the OK to cross the track. He waved me across, but I saw a car on the other side so I figured I should hurry. I don't run fast, so I scurried across at my quickest speed (which isn't very fast).
The problem was, I didn't know the inside of the track was wet down. So as I got to my goal, the track infield, I slipped in the mud, going down on my hands and knees.
Everything was covered in mud; my notebook, pen, hands, jeans, shoes, even the tip of my nose. I got up gingerly and scooted slowly into the infield and looked over to the grandstand. I'm sure everyone was laughing at me. I would have been laughing at me.
The people in the infield were nice enough, though. Someone gave me some napkins so I could clean off some of the dirt from my notebook, pen and body. Then I had to get to work, so I had no time to think about how much I hurt.
Days later, the orthopedic surgeon who examined me said I had the "big three" of knee injuries: torn meniscus, torn anterior cruciate ligament and sprained medial collateral ligament. He said, "When football players do this, they cart them off the field on a golf cart and they have reconstructive knee surgery."
I replied, "But I'm a sports writer, nearly 40, so I got up and climbed into the crow's nest, did my job, went back to the office, wrote my story and then found out what was wrong." And then he added, "And we're going to just scope your knee because you can live without an ACL."
As I said, I rose from the mud, got the names and numbers of all the drivers, climbed into the crow's nest, and covered the race (which ran long, with lots of yellow flags). I had to stand most of the time, and my knee was aching. By the time I got done, I had missed deadline (which often happened; if it did, we just held the story for Sunday).
I went back and told the story to my sports editor, Ron Feickert, who had a good chuckle; the adventure would make a good column and I'd get a first-place award for it later.
I went home, took off my jeans and my knee inflated like a balloon. A big bruise showed up in the shape of an arrow pointing down. Don't know if that was prophetic or not, but by Saturday morning I was really sore.
That morning, I had to get up early and drive to Sioux Falls for a South Dakota Press Association awards luncheon. I had won first place and if you got first, you could go to the awards luncheon. So I had to dress up for the drive, and my pantyhose barely got up over my swollen leg. I was in pain for most of the drive.
When I got to Sioux Falls, I told American News Editor Cindy Eikamp what had happened the night before, keeping it humorous, of course, but asking if this was a workers' comp case. She said yes, and told me to see the doctor as soon as I could.
I stayed overnight in Sioux Falls, soaking my leg in the hot tub. An ice bath might have been better. But the hot tub felt good. Just not on the knee.
Eventually, I had surgery on my right knee, arthroscopic surgery. I had done so many stories on athletes having their knees scoped, I thought I knew it all. But I learned a whole lot more by having my knee done.
A few years later, I fell in the tub at my brother Ed and sister-in-law Margaret's house. I had to get the left knee scoped. Another couple years and I fell again, tripping over a couple rolls of Christmas wrapping paper.
Pretty soon, my knees were a real hot mess. But first, I had to lose my weight. I was 355 pounds at my heaviest. More on that later.
Okay, remember a while back, I told you about a project that I was doing for one of the surgeons in our area? Well, I took what I written for him and put it in a document for us. It has three parts so I am going to post Part I today and in a day or so, I will Post Part II and then finally Part III. The surgeon wanted me to provide him with a document so that he could understand better what we go through so that's why I begin with Part I. Part II and III actually contain his and other doctor's research compiled in an easy to read paper. He knows I'm posting a modification of the paper here and he may even comment.
So, here's Part I:
Part I: WLS--From Inquiry to Recovery
When I was going through the process to gain approval for my WLS, I read everything I could about WLS, including the stories, both positive and negative, about the rich and famous who had or were alleged to have had WLS. I tried to balance the success stories with the stories of those whose WLS ended in failure, but more importantly, I tried to understand what those who maintained their healthy weight losses were doing differently from those who gained weight. I believe that most of us are in denial about weight gain. Over the last couple of years, I have come to realize that not only is weight gain a real possibility, but weight gain is also inevitable if we have changed the way we view food. More recently, I have read articles, talked to folks who have WLS, and have reflected on my own process before and after surgery and as a result have come to identify some important phases involved with WLS and the steps involved during those phases:
Phase One: Hope
In Phase One, those of us who were hoping to have WLS seek out support groups both online and face-to-face. Our desire to discuss WKS results out of our sheer determination to lose weight so that we can have a longer and better quality of life. Most of us have already tried every type of weight loss program from diets to diet pills and nothing has worked. We still hold out hope for a magic cure of our obesity and that hope lies in our last hope--WLS. I defined the stages of Phase One based on my own experiences and those of members of various groups and these steps manifest themselves based on what motivates us prior to and during the stages and what happens to us--our reality. WLS folks will recognize these because we all go through the same thing.
- Courting WLS: In our desperate attempt to lose the weight, we all start at stage 1. We've tried every diet, taken every diet pill, and have realized that we are too obese to live through another Atkins-eat-all-you-want-meat-diet. By this time, most of us are super, morbidly, obese and many of us can barely walk. We are unable to walk stairs and most of us cannot get into the floor to play with our children, pets, grandchildren. We cannot sit in booths in restaurants; we are unable to use regular stalls in public restrooms; we are unable to wear clothes in regular department stores; we are often so obese that people stop and stare. We are drawn to WLS by the speed of weight loss and the seemingly ease of weight loss, but do realize that in this stage, we are desperate. Most of us read the success stories, but we weren't paying a lot of attention when the medical community told us they were giving us a tool but we still had to change our behaviors. Carnie Wilson and Roseanne Barr did it so damnit, so could we!
- Commitment and Marriage: When we finally commit and a surgeon commits to us, we begin the heavy training in preparation for our journey: 1) at least a year or six month long diet (depending upon the surgeon); 2) visit a psychiatrist/psychologists and take some kind of psych test; 3) get our heart tested to make sure we can withstand the stress of the surgery; 4) get tested for sleep apnea; go to a seminar for WLS; and join a support group. There may be struggles with financing the surgery because insurance companies are not always eager to spend the money for an elective surgery. After all the trials and tests, most of us are able to form a most perfect union with our WLS surgeon. We finally meet our surgeon at the hospital of his choosing, he comes in and says some nice things, we get connected to our IV line, and they roll us down the aisle and into the surgery suit, and after some really good drugs, we are forever changed.
- Buyer's Remorse: Our hospital stays are short and as soon as we can sit up, walk around the nurses station, and hold liquids, we are sent home with some pretty vague instructions that tell us how much to drink and how often to see and when to call the doctor, but there is little or no information about how we will feel or how weak we will become as we both recover from the surgery and learn to survive with our body in total starvation mode. Remember how just putting one foot in front of the other was such an effort. We all panicked and wondered what the hell we had done to our bodies and if we were going to forever feel so weak.
Phase Two: Weight Loss
In Phase Two, we get our strength back and begin to enjoy the abilities that we are gaining every day: the pounds seemingly with little effort fall off of us. We learn to adjust to how people respond to our rapid weight loss, and we learn to respond to those comments about how unhealthy we look. Those who may have had certain prejudices against us when we were very obese suddenly feel more comfortable around us, but our perceived body images have not caught up with our newer images so we all struggle with other's perception of us. Weight loss is imminent, and it seems effortlessly. The stages of this phase are a combination of what we want to happen or our dreams and the reality of the adjustment.
- Honey Moon: Over the first few weeks and for a couple of months after surgery, we begin to recover from being so tired all the time. We also learn to avoid dumping; we avoid the rapid descent to dehydration; and we become experts in how to add previously familiar foods to our diet for the first time. We move from the buyer's remorse stage to the honey moon stage because no matter how damn tired we are, nothing felt so good as watching the scales drop and tossing those clothes we all bought at the tent maker specialty stores. For the first time in our obese lives, our weight loss sometimes happens so fast that we skip entire sizes. The medical community and our support groups remind us that the first year is when we lose the most weight so we should work on changing our eating habits, learn new strategies for handling boredom and emotional eating, and begin exercising so that we maximize our weight loss. These new strategies are designed to not only take the pounds off but to maintain our weight loss, but for many of us, the honey moon seems infinite, so we work on learning how to wear clothes that we could never wear in our obese sizes.
- Infidelity: For some, cheating begins early but, in spite of the cheating, weight loss continues; however, for those who begin cheating, weight loss slows down and stalls happen more frequently and last longer than those who commit to following the plan. Many of us learn there are ways to get around the pesky little pouch such as trying a little sugar here and there until we finally lose that sugar intolerance; we also learn to feed our boredom or emotions with glider foods such as chips or crackers; we also learn that we can drink a little water when we eat. Whether the focus was on pushing the boundaries and trying to make food our friend and comforter again during the honeymoon stage or during the years after surgery, the results are pretty much the same: we are sabotaging ourselves and soon we quit losing and some even start gaining. It's also during this stage of Phase Two where addictive behaviors are traded: for instance, over eating may be replaced by heavy drinking.
- Adjustment to the inevitable: Eventually the infidelity hits us like a ton of bricks, we are gaining weight and people are noticing and saying things like, you are filling out again...we all have been so worried about all that weight loss.... here, have another piece of pie. Sadly we realize that we are upset that we aren't losing weight, so we slip into some of our behaviors of justifying and rationalizing. We even say, okay we aren't losing and we didn't get to goal but we haven't gained a ton of weight. The more we rationalize, the harder it is to accept the fact that our pants are getting tight. We start dreading getting on the scales, and, eventually, we actually reenlist some of our old behaviors of dangerous diets, diet pills, injections, and even trying another WLS.
Phase Three: Killing the Monster
Some people never make it to Phase Three because they are convinced that their pouch is broken and they cannot lose weight or even stop gaining unless they get the pouch fixed. Others know their pouch still works but they are in denial about their relationship with food. For those who do make it to this phase, they realize that the honeymoon is over, but they want to lose the weight they may have gained and they want to attempt to lose more weight to achieve reaching their goal weight.
- Facing the facts: For those of us who want to regain control of our pouches, this stage is crucial because it forces us back to the reality of our failures. We admit that maybe, just maybe, we focused more on the honeymoon stage and all the weight loss without learning those new strategies that our doctor wanted us to work on. Now that our pouch and small intestine has evolved a little and we have picked up some bad habits, working on change is going to take more than waking up on Monday saying, today I am going to get back to basics.
- Counseling: Many of u**** this stage with much resistance. We find we are at a crossroads where we can settle and talk about how we wish we had lost more weight, or we can go back and look at what went wrong. Reflection for us is more about blaming...it was my bad knees; my doctor didn't make my pouch small enough; my pouch never worked right. We think our pouch is broken, and some of us become as hopeless as we were before WLS. We get angry and jealous of those in our support groups who are making positive strides toward maintaining their weight and often our guilt causes us to isolate ourselves from anyone whose goals are contrary to ours and our support groups are the first to go. We struggle with reaching out but if we are to succeed, we do reach out.
- Recovery: Very few of us make it to the recovery stage, and those who do, do so after everything else has failed. In this stage, we must admit that our weight gain isn't due to a broken pouch but is due to our behaviors. For me, it was about reading and learning and applying that knowledge inward so that I could benefit. It's in this stage that we realize that we still have the tool but we have to actually work toward either more weight loss or better maintenance.
Part I has set the stage for what we go through. In Part II of this mini collection, I will provide some valuable information from the medical community that explains why weight gain occurs, the "broken pouch" myth, and how to achieve success and go on the second honeymoon.
You guys are more than welcome to criticize or add to this conversation. I have tried to parse out the information that I have gleaned from my own experience and from conversations we have had on this board and in my face-to-face support group.
Good morning Jeannie!
So glad the swelling has gone down. Hopefully that means less pain.
I have also been looking forward to the article on WLS...
I have been busy this morning. Worked from 8am -10am where I am in motion the entire time. May be why I haven't gained despite eating so poorly.
Then I had a job interview for a one day a week elder care case. I am quite satisfied with the one I have thru the agency I work for, but there haven't been any new long term assignments available. So I responded to this ad. Will see how it goes...
After the interview ran several errands. Just got home. I have to take Jazz to the orthodontist at 230 so im going to eat & relax until then.
I am still not doing well with adhering to a good meal plan. It's been a battle every nite. But I do have a plan....I just stray from it.
B - 2 bacon bite muffins (Eggface recipe)
S - 1/2 cup fresh raspberries w/fat free cool whip
L - chicken drumsticks & applesauce
D - more chicken
Kathy
Ladies,
I hope your weekend was as restful as you needed. I am very happy to report that the new medication the surgeon gave me has brought the swelling in my right knee down considerably.
Today I will be polishing up the article that I wrote for one the WLS surgeons in my area. Once it is polished and makes sense with all the other information (the medical aspect) removed, I will start posting the information so that you guys can read and hopefully learn from.
B: 1/2 cup scrambled egg
L: Beans and Potatoes
D: Vegetable soup
Ladies, make every minute count...
One of the fun parts of my job for many years was going to cover tournaments. I loved being on the road was I was younger. Two of the best ones I got to cover were the national NAIA tourneys in which the Northern State University men and women got to play. Unfortunately, both the ones I covered they didn't win. But they still were exciting.
I***** I hit the road (or the skies, actually) along with photographer John Davis to travel to Nampa, Idaho, to report on the Northern State University men's basketball team while they played in the NAIA Division II men's national championship tournament. I had covered many a state tournament, but this was as big as it got for me.
Davis and I flew out of the Aberdeen airport to Boise, Idaho, picked up a rental car and head to Nampa, Idaho, about a half-hour drive. Davis was a nice guy, but very devoted to his family. The entire time we were in Nampa, he lamented that while we were dining out on the company dime, his kids were eating mac and cheese and hot dogs (hey, they probably enjoyed that).
We stayed at a Super 8 in Nampa, right across the street from the NSU team, which was sheer luck. It made it so easy for me to corral the head coach, Bob Olson, and any players. There was also a Denny's, so many nights after games, while Davis was getting film developed at the local one-hour shop (it was easier than processing his own film; and again, this was before digital cameras), I was stuck with no way to get to a place to eat. So after writing my stories, I'd walk across the street to Denny's for food. It was when I got sick of Denny's for a long, long time.
These were the days of Eric Kline, the Boekelheide twins, big Kevin Burckhard, young Lance Luitjens. A fun, exciting team to watch. Lots of shooting, scoring. I can't remember the scores of all the games, but I think most of them were close. And I do know the championship game went to overtime, as Eureka College of Eureka, Illinois, won 98-95.
Chad Boeklheide's buzzer-beating shot to force another overtime period bounced off the front of the rim. The Eureka coach, Dave Darnell, retired after that game, leaving at the top of his game. The next day at the airport, he carried the trophy through the metal detector rather than pack it in his luggage. No way was he going to chance losing that piece of hardware.
The people running the tourney at Nampa did a first-class job. Again, let's talk about the food. Lots of tourneys provide coffee, water, pop and maybe some cookies for the press. That's great; you usually don't expect much more. But Nampa went all out.
There was food for lunch; sometimes it was pizza, sometimes it was build your own tacos. Of course, cookies and beverages were provided. More food was put out in the evening for dinner: pizza, fried chicken, nachos, and egg rolls - lots of other edibles. Sweets such as brownies, pie, cake, ice cream. Munchies such as popcorn, potato chips, tortilla chips and salsa. You could eat there all day and not even use your expense account.
But hey, there was an expense account for meals, so why not use it? So of course, Davis and I went out for our share of repasts, at which he worried about what his children were eating (or not eating).
In 1995, I was sent to cover the NSU women in Willamette, Oregon. The Wolves had won the NAIA Division II championships in 1992 and 1994, taking second in 1993. These were the heydays of Julie Jensen and her Langford running mate Paula Stolsmark, joined by Northwestern's Chris Swanhorst. What a fun team they were to watch.
I believe we didn't send anyone to cover them in 1992, doing the coverage by radio that year. The paper caught flack for that, so in 1993 and 1994, we sent a reporter and photographer. In 1995, the paper did it again, and that year, I got the assignment, with Dick Carlson taking the photos.
NSU's sports information director was Deb Smith, and she was going out, so we shared a room, thus cutting costs for the paper. Deb and I always got along well, so there was no problem sharing a room. She later took a job at the paper when one opened up.
The Northern women were marching toward another NAIA title when they ran into a buzz saw, the Western Oregon women, the host school. It was in the semifinals, and the game came down to a final shot or a late play. I remember a lot from that game but I don't remember the score. I remember nearly get stepped on by fans climbing over the press benches on the sideline. I had to duck and cover my head.
My lead for that story emphasized the rain outside, comparing it to the tears of the Northern players and their fans. I do believe it was one of my better leads (I wish I could find the story, but in so many moves around the country, I had to lighten my load and get rid of some of my clips).
Because of the loss, Carlson and I decided to leave a day earlier. I do believe this is the year I had flown out of Rapid City so I could get back to cover the state Class AA boys' basketball tournament. The extra day gave me a chance to wrap up the women's season, write a state preview and do a column, too. And just relax before seeing more basketball.
I would see bouncing balls in my dreams for a while. I did enjoy basketball, but by the end of March? I was ready for baseball. But other than the college team, we didn't have much baseball to cover.
After the 1995 season, the Wolves and their conference, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, moved over to NCAA Division II. I got one more road trip, this one to a regional tournament to cover the men's team in Evansville, Indiana.
It would turn out to be prophetic as I would end my journey in this Southwestern Indiana city.
Hi Trish
Glad you got away for few days.
I went to church this morning and now just relaxing watching tv and reading the newspaper. I have a busy day tomorrow. I have to go get blood draw take my friend for a colonoscopy, go to lunch, and if I have time Ill go donate plasma since I can do it again.
B egg white and one whole egg ham and cheese omelet.
L chicken salad and vegetable chili
D pork loin and sliced carrots
S greek yogurt, turkey sausage snack sticks and apple
Have a good day
Trish,
I would love to drive up to Lake Huron. Instead, I am running down to the River Valley and will only cross the AR river. LOL
B: Loaded Oatmeal 1/2 cup
L: Beans and potatoes
D: Shrimp with stir fry veggies
Snack: cucumbers and bell peppers
Ladies, what's up with you guys today?
Good Morning OFF,
I was away for a few days. Took Mom to Alpena, up on Lake Huron, to see a diner that her brother owned in PA, when he was alive.
Today, I picked up Utley from the kennel. Then, I'm taking Mom to Lincoln's football game.
B: French toast sticks.
L: Leftover Chinese
S: Vegetable lasagne
Snacks: Apples and cheese
Hugs,
Trish
Albert Schweitzer
Good luck. It would be tough for you for a while after...as busy as you are - and like staying busy... But it needs to be done. Hugs and good luck
Hala. RNY 5/14/2008; Happy At Goal =HAG
"I can eat or do anything I want to - as long as I am willing to deal with the consequences"
"Failure is not falling down, It is not getting up once you fell... So pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again...."
