I have wrestled with myself whether or not to post this due to the appearance of self pity, and I hope no one takes it this way.
Many of you don't know me personally as I have not been a very active person on the national scene due to family and work constraints. I have participated in a few national championships and have been our state LMSC chairman for the past 2 years. I have been somewhat vocal on this board when issues discussed have been brought up where I thought I could post an opinion that made sense. With that being said, let me tell you my story, thanks in advance for taking the time to read this.
I have been swimming Masters now for about 5 years after taking a 10 year hiatus from collegiate swimming. I love working out and feeling better in the water more importantly, out of the water. I think all of us can relate to how great it feels to swim and the friendships we have in the pool. I love the sport and I truly feel my swimming background has contributed so much to my success out of the pool with my family and career. Swimming teaches us you get out of it what you put into it, and that there are no shortcuts to success.
I have been bedridden now for the past 5 weeks because of a chronic back problem in which I can't walk due to a pinched nerve in my lower back. I have had 3 prioir operations for the same issues and since I have been swimming have had very few problems. This is the main reason I got back into swimming and am so anal about working out.
After trying all other methods to avoid a 4th operation, it is obvious that surgery is inevitable. At only 36 years old it scares me a lot as to what the next 50 years of my life will be. Will I be dealing with operations or will this be it? Needless to say, being out of the pool has been one of the hardest aspects of this. (Not being able to play with my kids and do things with my wife has been the worst.)
We are probably travelling to Houston next week (we will know more after I speak to the physiatrist here) for the operation and I hope to be in the pool relatively soon after. Every doctor/health professional we have seen have been dumbfounded as to why I have these problems, however all of them agree that swimming is the best therpy for my condition. I am sad in the fact that I might not be able to compete again, but do hope for the best.
Please understand that this message is not one of self pity, but one af asking for your encouragement, thoughts and prayers. Even though I don't know most of you personally, I consider you friends because we all share the same passion for this sport.
This message is so hard for me to post, and asking for help is not easy, especially from people I don't know. However, it is somewhat therapeutic (sp?) to tell my story with these words and on this board.
Again thank you for your time and I will let you know how everything goes in the next weeks/months. I hope to see y'all in the pool very soon!
Thanks for noticing I had a good meet. What Joy doesn't mention is that while we were in the cool down lane and she was congratulating me on my 200 backstroke (my best one of the meet), Karen Andrus-Hughes was swimming her heat, beating me in my age group by 22 seconds and setting a zone record! The important thing for this post is that there was a time when I didn't know if I would walk again without pain, there was that dark time, but the surgery helped me and I did recover enough to get back to this point. I won't do the yard work I used to, or dig ditches, which I have done in my younger days, and I don't flex my back on starts like the pros, however there is life after back surgery. I have had people say to me that they would never consider having back surgery and I reply that they have never been where I was, a person has to do what is right for them and that is a personal decision.
You are a sweet person Joy, thanks again . . .
Thanks for noticing I had a good meet. What Joy doesn't mention is that while we were in the cool down lane and she was congratulating me on my 200 backstroke (my best one of the meet), Karen Andrus-Hughes was swimming her heat, beating me in my age group by 22 seconds and setting a zone record! The important thing for this post is that there was a time when I didn't know if I would walk again without pain, there was that dark time, but the surgery helped me and I did recover enough to get back to this point. I won't do the yard work I used to, or dig ditches, which I have done in my younger days, and I don't flex my back on starts like the pros, however there is life after back surgery. I have had people say to me that they would never consider having back surgery and I reply that they have never been where I was, a person has to do what is right for them and that is a personal decision.
You are a sweet person Joy, thanks again . . .
