066 HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA

It’s here, after a slightly delayed start.  After all of the physio and surgeries and pain, finally tonight I get to hit the ice for the first time since last April.  It’s not the first time I will have travelled from Maple Ridge to UBC as I did that for the last 7 games of last season, so that isn’t new.

READY TO PLAY

I started off by watching Canada against the United States in the World Cup of Hockey.  The only game of the tournament I have watched so far.  I can’t watch tonight as I will be too busy playing in my own game.  It was great to see Canada come storming back after giving up the first goal and then go on to a 4-2 win over the States, eliminating them from the tournament.  That has been psyched for today.

Let’s recap though, off what happened post last season.  I re-fractured my right wrist in two places just after the season ended and went through total agony and no sleep for almost a week.  I went in and had physio three times a week for several weeks.  While there I learned about, studied and finally committed to spinal Decompression therapy.

When I went in, I was hurting all the time and the only range of motion I had was to be able to touch my knees.  After an entire summer of decompression, my back is essentially pain free for the first time in years and when I bend now, I can touch the floor.  I then spent the last several weeks allowing everything to heal.  It cost me time at the cabin, but it was worth it.

Just when everything was looking good, I started having a shadow, some floaters and a blurry spot in my left eye.  The whole story is chronicled in the previous article.  I got full medical clearance to resume playing last Wednesday, which was the first game of the season, but the bubble in my eye obstructed my downward vision, so I opted to not play.

Suddenly Sunday morning, I woke up and the bubble is gone, so here we go.  First game of the season.  My conditioning is nowhere near where I want it to be, but I have been walking between 4 and 9K every single day, so that will help.  I had planned on going back to the gym, but the eye problem stopped that.  I was even going to go yesterday, but I didn’t want to be completely stiff and sore to start the game tonight.

So we shall see how things go when I get there.  I am well into my game day ritual as I write this.  I took Toby for his 4K walk this morning and had a pre-game nap.  I had my lunch and I’m adding a pre-departure hot shower today, just to make sure everything is good and loose.  I usually carry a hot water bottle and put it on my back while driving, but I think I can skip that with a shower.

I’ll feed Toby his dinner at 2:30 PM and then make myself a big travel mug of coffee.  I’ll take a couple of B vitamins for the energy and then we shall head out from here at 3:00 PM.  This will give me time to stop into my favourite hockey shop in Burnaby on the way.  There I will get my skates sharpened and grab a few rolls of tape and then head to UBC.

I try and time my arrival for just after 4:30 PM, that way I only have to pay $4.50 for parking in the parkade, instead of $10.50.  I will then roll into the dressing room at about 4:45 PM and will be the first one there.  That gives me 45 minutes to tape my sticks, defog my visor and put my gear on.  There will be lots of chatting and joking as the guys start to filter into the room.

At about 5:20 PM, I’ll go out to the bench with one or two other early birds and I will do my stretching routine, while watching the Zamboni clear the ice.  There it will be, a fresh new sheet of ice, to start a fresh new season.  After a 10 to 15-minute warmup, the game will be underway and I will be back where I belong.

I am looking forward to this season even more than normal.  Partly because of all the trials and tribulations of the past summer, but also partly because I am happy to be still playing at 61.  The game that has owned me since I was a kid and I am still playing.  This year I am looking forward even more with the new found flexibility in my back, that seriously had me wondering if it was all over.  Now there is re-found hope.  Maybe even a re-found slap shot that has all but disappeared in the last couple of years.

065 NEEDLES IN THE EYE

Have you ever described something you disliked intensely by saying “I’d rather stick needles in my eye”?  I have many times and in the last few days I have had exactly that done.  Surprisingly it didn’t hurt and I was expecting it to hurt more than anything I could imagine.  Who knew?  But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

This all started a couple of weeks ago, no that’s not quite right, it started many years ago.  As a kid my eyesight was perfect, but then suddenly in Grade 11, I discovered I needed glasses.  I was near-sighted and discovered this when I was sitting in the front row of the class and could not read the blackboard.  So I got glasses.  This almost came back to haunt me a few years later.

At 19 I applied to the Vancouver Police Department after spending the past 14 months in the Police Reserves.  When it came to the medical testing, I just barely failed the vision test.  Two thing conspired to let me in.  One was the massive number of recruits needed and the other was my good record as a Reserve Constable.  However, I had to get contact lenses.  This was when soft contacts first came out.  It took me two hours on the morning of the first day of the academy to get them in my eyes.

After about 5 years on the job, I abandoned the contacts and went back to glasses.  Suddenly after about 20 years, I went back to contacts.  They drove my eyes crazy and with 2 years left in my career, I took the big step to have laser surgery.  I went from 20/50 to 20/10, the eyes of a fighter pilot they said.  It was so awesome and I marveled at my newfound eyesight every day.

Everything was perfect until a couple of weeks ago, when I suddenly noticed a blurry area, a shadow that looked like a cloud and lots of those black floaty things.  I figured they would go away, but they didn’t.  I was due for an eye checkup anyway.  Since the surgery I have religiously gotten my eyes checked about every 5 years and so I booked an appointment.

Everything was going along perfectly.  My eyesight was checking out great and I ordered some custom reading glasses.  On the pressure test for glaucoma, I had a reading between 9 and 12 which is excellent.  Anything over 25 is dangerous.  I had the final consult with the eye doctor, who ordered a second set of photos of the inside of my eyes because he was concerned about something, but didn’t say more.  We did the shots and he put them up on the screen and then pointed out an area and gave me the shocking news.  “You have a tear in your retina”, he said.  We’ll book you a spot in the surgical center and call you.

Knowing how the wait lists are, I figured this would take place weeks, or even months down the road.  The next morning, I got a phone call telling me to report to the eye center in Vancouver at 1:00 PM.  Holy cow, was that fast and that is when the whirlwind began.

I went through a series of tests and 3 different types of photos on my eyes and the news I got was even more shocking than what I had received the day before.  I not only had a torn retina, it had become partially detached as well.  He told me that the tear had allowed some fluid to get behind the retina and caused it to detach from the back wall of my eye.

He then explained a new procedure that they do and that is to inject an air bubble into the eye.  He warned me that it only works about 70% of the time and carrier with it a risk of infection.  Again, I figured this would be several days away, but again I was wrong.  It was happening now!  I was sent to sit in the waiting room.

I admit it though; I was scared spitless about having needles in my eye.  I knew, or thought I did, how much this would hurt.  Now whenever I am scared or nervous, I pace, and so I did, up and down the hall.  My Fitbit showed I did 5,000 steps while I was waiting.  Then the call came and off I went.

They put yet another set of drops in my eye and then came the needle to “freeze” the eye.  I tensed waiting for the intense pain and it didn’t happen.  In seconds, that one was over.  I had to wait a few seconds for it to take effect and then he stuck a second needle in my eye to remove some fluid.  As he explained, they had to make room for the bubble.  Then they injected the bubble and he drew an arrow on my forehead with a Sharpie.

ARROW HEAD

I had to keep the arrow pointed straight up and so it meant keeping my head cocked at a strange angle.  My neck began to hurt more than the injections had.  The purpose of this was to keep the bubble centered over the detachment.  This would press my retina against the back wall of my eye and hopefully it would attach.  If it didn’t it would mean conventional surgery where they open my eye and repair it that way.  Renee drove me home.

The disconcerting thing was that I can actually see the bubble on the inside of my eye and it is annoying as hell.  Even with a bandage over my eye, I can see it.  But my vision in the right eye was crystal clear and I drove to the clinic the next day.  I discovered that I can drive better with one eye closed than 70% of the drivers in Vancouver.

Twenty-four hours later, on a Saturday at 4:00 PM I was back in the chair.  Again I had needles in my eye to freeze it, and because I take daily aspirin, it bled a lot more than it should have.  The Doctor then looked and was very impressed with the result.  My retina had adhered so well; it was hard to even see the tear.

He began to laser the inside of my eye, essentially spot welding the retina in place and closing the tear.  Every so often he would hit a nerve and the pain would shoot through to the back of my head, but they were minor and over quick.  After about 40 minutes, I was on my way home.

ZOMBIE EYE

The next day, I was able to take the bandage off and I am able to see clearly again.  I think it was successful.  Well, clearly except for the damn bubble.  I can see perfectly over top of it, but looking down my vision is obstructed.  Two days later I was back in the vision center and was told that the surgery was a complete success and I had achieved an “outstanding” result.  My vision is back to 20/10 and perfectly clear.  Well, clear except for the damn bubble.

064 SUMMER IS OVER

Summer is over.  It’s not officially over until September 21, but today is Labour Day, so yes, it’s done.  As I mentioned in an earlier article, leaves are already coming off the trees.  People go back to work tomorrow and the kids go back to school.  My hockey season starts next Wednesday and I am really stoked, with my back feeling better than it has in years.

When I reinjured my back a few years ago, I stopped going to the gym, because it just hurt too much.  Granted, it didn’t stop me from playing hockey, but it sure did limit what I could and couldn’t do.  Never a strong skater, it turned me into a weak one and the extra weight I packed on certainly didn’t help.  The biggest thing it did was to steal my biggest weapon, my slapshot.  I’m hoping it will return this season, I’ll know on Wednesday.

Now that the weather is cooling down as well, I am going to return to the gym.  Trevor Linden’s Club 16 is just up the road and is much easier to get to than the one in Burnaby I used to go to.  The cool weather is important in this endeavor as Toby goes everywhere with me, and I’m not leaving him in the truck when it is hot.

Obviously, I won’t be able to start off where I was and will have to work up to it.  My workouts were a little on the insane side.  I would start with a 10-minute bike ride to warm up, then I would do the weight training circuit (12 stations) 3 times and take about 45 minutes.  That would be followed immediately by 30 to 45 minutes of sprints on the bike followed by a cooldown of fast walking on the treadmill for an additional 30 minutes.  I did this ever Monday and Tuesday, play hockey on Wednesday evening.  Then it was back to the gym for Thursday and Friday.  I would rest on Saturday and play hockey Sunday morning.

Now, I have not been completely sedentary for all this time.  I was still playing hockey every Sunday and Wednesday during the season and every single day I take Toby for his walk for 45-60 minutes every morning.  At the old house, I took Toby to the park, so I will admit, I wasn’t moving the whole time, especially if there was another dog owner to talk to.  Now, out here, it is an actual fast walk for 45-60 minutes every morning and another 20-30 minute walk every evening.

I missed going to the lake this year, but I know I did the right thing with how good my back feels now.  I’m still stiff and sore when I get out of bed, but that’s more age than anything and it passes once I’m up and moving.  It’s the same if I have been sitting for any length of time.

Another important milestone is just around the corner.  Wednesday marks the 6-month anniversary since I took possession of my new house.  Next Saturday is a big milestone as it marks 6 months since I actually moved in and spent my first night in the house.  After 20 years of living in an old 300 square foot basement suite, it is a slice of heaven living here.  In fact, it was 20 years to the day when I moved in and when I moved out.

There has been several more bear sightings in and around the complex, although, I have personally only witnessed one.  I have seen lots of evidence of bears around, but not the bears themselves.  It’s probably just as well, but I would like to see one from a place of safety, with camera in hand to get some nice shots.

All in all, it has been an adventuresome 6 months and an amazing summer.  The weather wasn’t the greatest for long periods, but, I don’t tolerate heat very well at the best of times.  My favourite kinds of days are, sunny days where it is just warm enough to wear shorts and T-shirt, or better yet a bright sunny day, where it is at 0 degrees or lower, just after a fresh snowfall.

Which is something I am really hoping for and looking forward to.  The Farmer’s Almanac is calling for a very cold winter with lots of snow, so we shall see.  In Vancouver, snow was something that if you got it at all, it was just a dusting that lasted a couple of days.  Maple Ridge has always seen more snow, so hopefully it continues along that pattern.  Especially since, I no longer have to shovel it.