Getting Healthy - C'mon Winter!

[Clambake]

I'm probably the only one here who can say they're really looking forward to the next few months. But it looks like I'll be able to start swinging a club for the first time in a year! A short explanation is in order.

Last year at this time my golf was looking great. I got my index from 12 to a very solid and consistent 6.0 with my last 15 rounds all between 76-79, played Pebble and Spyglass (very well) last summer, and mid and long game was getting really solid. To attack the next few index points I was getting ready for a lot of short game work over the winter. Then wham, a spinal cord problem totally took me out. Excruciating pain was common, I started losing right leg sensation, more numbness, etc. MRIs revealed an unknown lesion right in the center of my thoracic spine damaging the cord. Surgery last December to biopsy didn't reveal a known malady, and gave only sporadic relief. Since then it has been a life of Percocets, lot's of laying down, tough to keep up with my job, and of course zero golf....pretty miserable.

The lesion grew significantly over the summer so I submitted to another surgery last week, with a pair of world class neurosurgeons who decided that this time they had to be more aggressive since at the rate we were going I'd be not able to walk in another six months. And success! They were able to fully remove it, and even better we discovered it was of all things a type of parasite. Basically, I was the guy in the movie "Alien", except it came out the back instead of the front (sorry for that graphic). Extremely rare in the US (only about a 1000 cases reported each year), I likely picked it up on one of my many travels through China or other parts of Asia a couple years ago. According to the doctors and literature, it is unknown to ever have gone into the spine - I'm sort of a celebrity in the neurosurgery department now ("Oh, you're the one! I've heard so much about it!").

So one week later, I'm recovering quickly, have most feeling back in my leg again and no limp, and a clean bill of health, walking a few miles a day. A couple more weeks to let the significant swelling reduce and have incisions heal, and then I'll start core strength exercises. And THEN I'll focus on that short game work I was planning on doing last winter, probably back to full swings by Thanksgiving.

It feels sooooo good to be back, and I promise to never again get too stressed out on the golf course by slow play, unfixed pitch marks, a missed 3 footer, or anything that leaves me still still able to walk off a golf course!

[don28]

Wow! What a story! You seem to have acquired a new attitude and appreciation for things after your experience. I wish you the best of luck in your recovery, and many rounds of golf to be played in the future.

[Judah Ben-Hur]

I'm glad to hear that you are on your way back. That sounded like hell. Take your time and I'm sure you will meet your goal.

I'm sortof in the same boat as you although I'm not as good of a golfer. I just started this game in July and was loving it. Then, I had a head on crash with my motorcycle into a truck that was in my lane coming around a curve. My left side took the major hit to the pavement and I hurt from my knee to my head. My shoulder is messed up with some kind of tear. Well, there goes the golf that I threw a ton of money into. Two weeks after that ordeal, I get rear ended and my car is totaled. Hello major neck pain. So now I go to therapy to try and get that back. I could barely hold a putter but now that isn't in the cards with a sore neck. I look at the clubs everyday and keep thinking next year, next year unless some idiot on the road decides to get the rest of me. I'll be starting from scratch.

[Lemay427]

Glad to hear!!! Now get on the course and have fun!!

[bwdial]

Glad to hear that you're doing better.

[Frito]

what kind of parasite was it exactly?

[Clambake]

what kind of parasite was it exactly?

It was a form of neurocysticercosis which settled into a very unusual spot, literally entwined into the middle of my spinal cord and impinging strongly on the nerve bundles.

Thanks all for the kind thoughts, and sorry to hear about other's health problems as well. Judah, it sounds like you're having a rough patch - best wishes on recovery!

[Judah Ben-Hur]

I just looked that up and it wasn't good reading. I'm glad your on your way back. Something like that would take years to find in the sticks where I live.

Rough patch is about right. I'm afraid to drive because the third one will be the last. I just got a rope pulley today to help get my arm to move a bit. This aught to be fun.