Hoping to get back into the "swing" of things in 2018

[CT207]

I didn't want to plug up the 2018 goals thread because this really isn't a goal.. so, here's my story....

I had to give up playing golf around the second week of November ‘17. All season I normally play every morning Monday through Friday as long as weather permits and the course is open.

Well, I woke up one Saturday morning with extreme pain from my left hip down my left leg. So much pain that I couldn’t walk normally and it would bring tears to my eyes just to move a short distance.

I went to a couple of doctors and It turns out it was a pinched sciatic nerve. I got pain killers and muscle relaxers but, that didn’t help much. .

So, I just stayed home watching TV with my left leg up on the back of the couch and doing leg stretches and stretching out on my inversion table in an attempt to “work it out”. Sleep was near impossible.

The first week of December I go to my doctor for my annual full physical, still in sciatic pain of course.

At this visit I find out I have high blood pressure.. great.. so, I end up with a prescription for BP lowering meds. Boy, does that make one feel sort of lethargic but, it brought the BP WAY down.

Moving on to the end of December the sciatic nerve issue has just about gone away.. just an electric shock feeling from the left hip to my left foot every now and then but, I could walk around normally.

It snowed here around that time and I plowed the driveway with my garden tractor. After backing the tractor into the garage I was stepping over the plow blade and my foot or coveralls caught on something and I went crashing down onto, guess what.. my left side. I laid there for a while and did a “bone check”.

Nothing broken, just knocked the wind out of me and luckily it didn’t aggravate the sciatica issue.

The first week of January and feeling better, I go the dermatology doctor for my annual cancer check of the body. Well, all checked out OK except he notices a spot by the corner of my left eye and along my lower lip that has sun / sunburn damage. So, he hits the areas with a liquid nitrogen spray.

Yeah, painful at first but, about 10 hours later.. holy cow.. the lip blistered up, split open, bleeding like crazy and skin coming off. Here it is at the end of the month and the lip is about back to normal. I went through (and still applying) several sticks of Blistex though.

So, here it is a little over a month away from the opening of the 2018 golf season, I haven’t swung a club since early November 2017, I still have a slight “tightness” in my left thigh and put on about 10 lbs due to the lack of / unable to exercise.

I’m hoping to at least get onto an indoor simulator to see if I can hit a golf ball again. It’s still to cold (teens to 30’s) for the outside practice range plus, i can't swing a club dressed up like the Michelin man.

 

Anyway, That’s my long winded story for being MIA..

[RandallT]

Good luck with the start of the season. Don’t overdo it too much as you get rolling!

I’m in a similar boat as my body has been fighting my desire to golf regularly. Slow and steady will be my mantra for the first couple months of the season. Some golf at a bit less than full speed is better than no golf due to injury! 

[MarvChamp]

5 hours ago, RandallT said:

I’m in a similar boat as my body has been fighting my desire to golf regularly. Slow and steady will be my mantra for the first couple months of the season. Some golf at a bit less than full speed is better than no golf due to injury! 

Yes to this! @CT207 and @RandallT, I have not been able to swing a golf club since 9/28/2017. Various injuries. BUT patience, patience! I tell myself the checkpoint is March 1 and we'll see. We definitely do NOT want a re-injury of an unhealed problem. So, TST is my "golf" for now. I pray for both of you and for all in the boat with us. Best regards, -Marv

[Patch]

Sometimes you have to just play through the discomfort.....if you can. My left wrist aches for a while after a round of golf.

I have some industrial strength  pain pills I rarely use.  I just keep refilling the scripts. My wife jokingly says I should set up shop on a street corner. I just tell her they are a long term investment. I also am no stranger to that sciatic nerve thing which comes and goes for me. Usually in the mornings getting out of bed. Also, I just started taking some maintenance pills for my kidneys. Supposed to keep me off dialysis for another 5-10 years. 

Old age kind of sucks sometimes. 

 

[CT207]

1 hour ago, Patch said:

Sometimes you have to just play through the discomfort.....if you can. My left wrist aches for a while after a round of golf.

I have some industrial strength  pain pills I rarely use.  I just keep refilling the scripts. My wife jokingly says I should set up shop on a street corner. I just tell her they are a long term investment. I also am no stranger to that sciatic nerve thing which comes and goes for me. Usually in the mornings getting out of bed. Also, I just started taking some maintenance pills for my kidneys. Supposed to keep me off dialysis for another 5-10 years. 

Old age kind of sucks sometimes. 

 

Oh, I'm not really a fan of pain meds.. I try not to take them so I don't "mask" the pain, then do something and really screw the problem up worse. If I feel the onset of pain, that means stop.

Do what you can to stay off dialysis.. A friend of mine, a type 1 diabetic, who lost half his foot to that,  then his kidneys began to "shut down" slowly and he also found out he has to be gluten free.

. He fought hard for several years to stay off dialysis but, it got him. He's now "plumbed" permanently a goes through 4+ hour sessions 3 times a week. It was rough for him the first few months but, he's doing pretty good now, just generally weak all the time and he can't drink much fluids. Usually he gets a small cup of ice to chew on when we have lunch and that's all the fluid intake he can have.

Anyway, I hope you don't have to go through dialysis anytime soon.. keep fighting it off.