YoungGuy
junior member
CanadaThinking....Thinking....Thinking....Been doing alot of it as of late.
Taking things for granted...This is something that i hold very true to myself. First, i will explain how my life was before it was turned around, then i will go over the after effects and how i dealt with them. (Warning: I leave nothing to imagination, some things can sound rough)
When i was 14, going on 15..Very young, very active, very gifted. I was 6'1, 175 pounds and i loved sports. I excelled unbelievably in sports that my friends could not do well, especially volleyball and basketball. I played for Team saskatchewan during the summer of grade 9 (I was still 14 at the time). I was the first guy from my city, Prince Albert to ever play in both, especially basketball...Since our city is not a basketball city. I was playing alongside kids who were 17-18...And i kept up, if not did better than most. During the start of grade 10 (I was now 15) i began to get talked to by Coach's of many universities for both sports, Vball and Bball. Now my grades were also quite good, i did not hold a average lower than 90%. It was a shoe in, my life was set...I would play a sport in which was my choosing on a scholorship that would begin my life. I was as arrogant as could be, cocky as can be...I was the best there was, and this is what i thought of myself..And this was my downfall yet still 2 weeks after all of this good news, came the "Bad".
Now i don't say bad is in...BAD...I say it in a way where it altered my life as i knew it, forever. I will skip the information about what went on in the hospital, i have explained it before in previous posts...The jist of the problem was a Staph infection that near killed me...And i was diagnosed with a bad case of Septic Hip Arthritis, i had no more than a strang of cartalidge left in my leg, the motion was non existant....45 Degree's at most, and no outward movement. I was told i would need a cane, or wheelchair for the rest of my life (This was before the hip replacement came into consideration). I took in what the doctors told me, with many tears shed...And i was not one to cry. 31 days, 3 surgeries later...I was released from the hospital to go home. for 3 months at home i had a Nurse visit me everyday to administer the antibiotic changing on my CADD pack, which was a tube that went to my heart to keep the infection from returning. These 3 months, were followed by another 3 months in which i was grossly sick, due to the fact i had also experienced major withdrawls from the overuse of Morphine given to me during my hospital stay. I puked every morning, and i did not eat to well for half a year. I walked with crutch's for 3 months, determined to be strong again i did not listen to what the doctor said and i tossed the crutch's away, walked painfully on my left leg with no support. With what happened to me, there was no worry of it getting worse or injured more...Since it was already as bad as it could be. I lost the ability to Sit normally, i always had to have my leg out, i could not even sit in a car for extended periods of time because the circulation of my blood did not allow it, cramped up and got very painfull. I could not tie my own shoe, i could not put my own sock on, i could not do things quickly...It was as if my left leg was a stump, and my right leg is all i had left.
Ill skip quickly to 1 and a half years past...Since imagination can fill in the rest i assume ;P. 1 and a half years...I was back to a slight limpy jog...I picked up a basketball for the first time, and i started to teach myself the game over again since there was so much i did before, i could not physically do again. It was a passion, it was my life...I live for sports. I did not give up, and by 2 years past i was able to play basketball in game with much pain, but i was able to play a real game. 3 years after the surgery i even joined a Men's leauge team, and we won the City finals.
Now the school part, which was the toughest. My 90% average, swooped down to me dropping classes...and struggling to get by. I missed so much school, i would be great one day, and not able to move the next...This was so various i could not tell when i was going to hurt and when i was not going to hurt. I lost a year when i first went into surgery at age 15..So i was now 1 year older than everyone...It was luck that i graduated even 1 year late.
Now, not only the school work was harder, the Student body was the hardest to deal with. They did not know what i went through, they heard things, they heard rumours...But that is all they were. People would talk behind my back about how i was limping, how i could not play sports anymore, how i was pretty much useless, they even thought i was just skipping school for the 3 years i had left because it was "cool" to do. Little did they realize i was at home in excrutiating pain..Puking and wishing what happened to me did not happen. 2 years post of my first surgeries i gave the go ahead for the hip replacement, so i was put on the list.
Now, even the hip replacement was not a forsure thing...But i put it this way, when you have a oppertunity, even if the percentage is low...When there is no hope of recovery, physically...You take it, so i took it.
Due to what i went through, one psychologist put it this way, "Losing a limb is just like losing your best friend"...He tried to explain to me how my love for sports could be my downfall in recovery with the thing that prevents me from doing them as well as i did. Psychologist and councelor..One after another did not understand why i was not Depressed, since i never was. I even had one of the psychologists ask me if i had contemplated Suicide...I replied with a smirk and said..."Jeez, now that you mention it"...I thought it was funny, since it never crossed my mind, the psychologist did not laugh :P.
Now...the Hard part. 1 year after the first 3 surgeries, I started smoking marijuana and smoking cigars/cigarettes. This was something i wouldn't ever have thought of doing during my healthy years...I would've laughed at the idea. Yet i did, and yes...I do regret doing it, i was never a big drinker, i have not drank for a long time...But i do still smoke cigarettes/cigars...Which i am trying to quit, and i will quit. I have not smoked marijuana for 2 years.
To quicken things up, i hope i outlined my experiences well enough, Pre-hip replacement. Post hip replacement i do not need to explain, but i will explain what was tooken from me, that i got back...Only 7 weeks in.
The hip replacement was the greatest thing that i have ever decided on doing, i was told to not get it by many people. I can now sit normally, i can bend 3X as much as i could before. My physiotheropist said i will be playing basketball again, like i did in grade 10.
In Conclusion: So much is tooken for granted, people as young as i am do not realize these things. Hell, people twice my age hardly realize it. I hope this does not get tooken the wrong way, but i pity people who have not experienced what We have experienced....There are so many people who think a flu or a cold is the end of the world, these are the people who make me feel sorry for ones who are in hospitals around the world dieing.
As i said before, explaining when i was 15 thinking that those 31 days in the hospital were the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Guess what, i lied...Now i realize not only was what happened to me at such a young age the best thing that had ever happened to me, it is a experience i would not give up for anything in the world, even my old life back. What is in the past, is in the past...the future is a rocky road that i need to now pave for myself.
Hopefully, someone can take something away from this...And as i assume most people have children here, let them know what life really is...it is not what is...it is what it Can be. I became a adult in my teens..yet i still see guys who are older than me...who i am decades above in maturity.
Taking things for granted...This is something that i hold very true to myself. First, i will explain how my life was before it was turned around, then i will go over the after effects and how i dealt with them. (Warning: I leave nothing to imagination, some things can sound rough)
When i was 14, going on 15..Very young, very active, very gifted. I was 6'1, 175 pounds and i loved sports. I excelled unbelievably in sports that my friends could not do well, especially volleyball and basketball. I played for Team saskatchewan during the summer of grade 9 (I was still 14 at the time). I was the first guy from my city, Prince Albert to ever play in both, especially basketball...Since our city is not a basketball city. I was playing alongside kids who were 17-18...And i kept up, if not did better than most. During the start of grade 10 (I was now 15) i began to get talked to by Coach's of many universities for both sports, Vball and Bball. Now my grades were also quite good, i did not hold a average lower than 90%. It was a shoe in, my life was set...I would play a sport in which was my choosing on a scholorship that would begin my life. I was as arrogant as could be, cocky as can be...I was the best there was, and this is what i thought of myself..And this was my downfall yet still 2 weeks after all of this good news, came the "Bad".
Now i don't say bad is in...BAD...I say it in a way where it altered my life as i knew it, forever. I will skip the information about what went on in the hospital, i have explained it before in previous posts...The jist of the problem was a Staph infection that near killed me...And i was diagnosed with a bad case of Septic Hip Arthritis, i had no more than a strang of cartalidge left in my leg, the motion was non existant....45 Degree's at most, and no outward movement. I was told i would need a cane, or wheelchair for the rest of my life (This was before the hip replacement came into consideration). I took in what the doctors told me, with many tears shed...And i was not one to cry. 31 days, 3 surgeries later...I was released from the hospital to go home. for 3 months at home i had a Nurse visit me everyday to administer the antibiotic changing on my CADD pack, which was a tube that went to my heart to keep the infection from returning. These 3 months, were followed by another 3 months in which i was grossly sick, due to the fact i had also experienced major withdrawls from the overuse of Morphine given to me during my hospital stay. I puked every morning, and i did not eat to well for half a year. I walked with crutch's for 3 months, determined to be strong again i did not listen to what the doctor said and i tossed the crutch's away, walked painfully on my left leg with no support. With what happened to me, there was no worry of it getting worse or injured more...Since it was already as bad as it could be. I lost the ability to Sit normally, i always had to have my leg out, i could not even sit in a car for extended periods of time because the circulation of my blood did not allow it, cramped up and got very painfull. I could not tie my own shoe, i could not put my own sock on, i could not do things quickly...It was as if my left leg was a stump, and my right leg is all i had left.
Ill skip quickly to 1 and a half years past...Since imagination can fill in the rest i assume ;P. 1 and a half years...I was back to a slight limpy jog...I picked up a basketball for the first time, and i started to teach myself the game over again since there was so much i did before, i could not physically do again. It was a passion, it was my life...I live for sports. I did not give up, and by 2 years past i was able to play basketball in game with much pain, but i was able to play a real game. 3 years after the surgery i even joined a Men's leauge team, and we won the City finals.
Now the school part, which was the toughest. My 90% average, swooped down to me dropping classes...and struggling to get by. I missed so much school, i would be great one day, and not able to move the next...This was so various i could not tell when i was going to hurt and when i was not going to hurt. I lost a year when i first went into surgery at age 15..So i was now 1 year older than everyone...It was luck that i graduated even 1 year late.
Now, not only the school work was harder, the Student body was the hardest to deal with. They did not know what i went through, they heard things, they heard rumours...But that is all they were. People would talk behind my back about how i was limping, how i could not play sports anymore, how i was pretty much useless, they even thought i was just skipping school for the 3 years i had left because it was "cool" to do. Little did they realize i was at home in excrutiating pain..Puking and wishing what happened to me did not happen. 2 years post of my first surgeries i gave the go ahead for the hip replacement, so i was put on the list.
Now, even the hip replacement was not a forsure thing...But i put it this way, when you have a oppertunity, even if the percentage is low...When there is no hope of recovery, physically...You take it, so i took it.
Due to what i went through, one psychologist put it this way, "Losing a limb is just like losing your best friend"...He tried to explain to me how my love for sports could be my downfall in recovery with the thing that prevents me from doing them as well as i did. Psychologist and councelor..One after another did not understand why i was not Depressed, since i never was. I even had one of the psychologists ask me if i had contemplated Suicide...I replied with a smirk and said..."Jeez, now that you mention it"...I thought it was funny, since it never crossed my mind, the psychologist did not laugh :P.
Now...the Hard part. 1 year after the first 3 surgeries, I started smoking marijuana and smoking cigars/cigarettes. This was something i wouldn't ever have thought of doing during my healthy years...I would've laughed at the idea. Yet i did, and yes...I do regret doing it, i was never a big drinker, i have not drank for a long time...But i do still smoke cigarettes/cigars...Which i am trying to quit, and i will quit. I have not smoked marijuana for 2 years.
To quicken things up, i hope i outlined my experiences well enough, Pre-hip replacement. Post hip replacement i do not need to explain, but i will explain what was tooken from me, that i got back...Only 7 weeks in.
The hip replacement was the greatest thing that i have ever decided on doing, i was told to not get it by many people. I can now sit normally, i can bend 3X as much as i could before. My physiotheropist said i will be playing basketball again, like i did in grade 10.
In Conclusion: So much is tooken for granted, people as young as i am do not realize these things. Hell, people twice my age hardly realize it. I hope this does not get tooken the wrong way, but i pity people who have not experienced what We have experienced....There are so many people who think a flu or a cold is the end of the world, these are the people who make me feel sorry for ones who are in hospitals around the world dieing.
As i said before, explaining when i was 15 thinking that those 31 days in the hospital were the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Guess what, i lied...Now i realize not only was what happened to me at such a young age the best thing that had ever happened to me, it is a experience i would not give up for anything in the world, even my old life back. What is in the past, is in the past...the future is a rocky road that i need to now pave for myself.
Hopefully, someone can take something away from this...And as i assume most people have children here, let them know what life really is...it is not what is...it is what it Can be. I became a adult in my teens..yet i still see guys who are older than me...who i am decades above in maturity.
