Season Ending Surgery on the Horizon
For the past three and half years I have been plagued by a less than perfect right shoulder. You see it all started back in 2000 when I had the first surgery to repair a torn labrum and had a Thermal Capsulorrhaphy, (arthroscopic technique that uses heat to "shrink" and tighten the tissues to treat several types of shoulder instabilities). As it turns out this surgery was a complete waist of time since it did not work at all. I still had the same pain and discomfort from before the surgery.
So time went on and more and more money was paid out to rehab and strengthen my shoulder. This also did not help out, my shoulder got stronger but the underlying issue was still there nagging at me. That resulted in numerous cortizone shots and not much else.
Then as fait would have it I decided that enough was enough, I wwent back to the original surgeon and all but demanded that my shoulder be fixed. That is when he referred me to another specialist and I was given a date for my next surgery. As it would turn out, Karma had different plans for me. I informed my command of the situation and was told thaty I would have to put my surgery on hold due to the fact that we had warfare training within a month. So against my better judgement I cancelled my surgery and stayed….Now this is where Karma comes in. Karma somehow took me off the list for training and I sat my ass at home for nothing. No surgery, no training, just a sore bum shoulder.
Three years later, I along with the assistance of my wife , put my shoulder back in the hands of the proffessionals. Yesterday, I was in Indianapolis and saw "THE" shoulder guy for our region. Without even talking to me he looked at my x-rays and MRI and stated "your into weightlifting arem’t you". With amazement and curiosity I replied "yes, how did you know." With a amused look he just said"I can tell". So throught he course of my appointment we deceded to give the surgery a go and I now have I set for next Thursday. Aint nobody gonna taslk me out of this one, let me tell ya.
So we drove home and I got ready for my last game of the year. I told my team the news and they all were very supportive in their own ways. Last night marked a new begging for me and an outlook of whats to come. I had the game of my life, went 6-7, including thre doubles and a monster home run over the centerfield fence. Fielding was just as good and my partner to my left assisted me in throws. All in all it was a great night.
So this is it, the weightbelt is put away, my lucky hat is now in the wash ( I dont wash it until the end of the year), and my ball gear is stored away until next spring. Its almost sad, but its neccesary. The field of dreams is now on hold and that all good with me. I can’t wait to see what its like to play or even relax with no pain. Hell I can’t even remember the last time I was "pain free". What I do know is that this journey I am embarking on willl be long and tiresome, even painful at times I’m sure, but in the end it will be worth it.
So for now I am gonna close and get back to work. Thanks for the support while I was gone and I guarentee I will be back bigger and better han before. Stay TUFF and keep pushing….Steve aka Sgt TUFF
