Yesterday marked the start of my diet. My father and I are using "The Idiot Proof Diet." Here's to hoping that name stands true.
My whole debaucle began in high school. I was diagnosed with a navicular stress fracture during my junior year. Long story short, it never seemed to heal properly, so I was still dealing with it when I went to college. I was a top-20 basketball recruit and I signed with UConn. I reported to UConn right after HS graduation... and then life really took a quirky turn.
Another long (rrrrreally long) story short, 'officials' there accused me of faking my foot injury. Test after test resulted in nothing... To deal with the pain, I received well over 15 cortisone injections in my foot. Basically that only masked the pain for about a day or so, which meant I was participating in grueling activity with a foot that had no business being subjected to that. Oh...and the best part? I later found out that only TWO SHOTS(!!!) had ever been documented in my medical records from UConn. Awesome.
I transferred. There were other reasons, but I don't want to get into all that. I landed in Richmond, VA at the University of Richmond. The head coach there recruited me in high school while he was an assistant at another institution. He knew everything that had happened at UConn, and extended his hand to me and offered me the opportunity of a lifetime. My trainers there (with the exception of the asshole strength and conditioning coach) were commited to figuring out what was going on with my foot.
During my first two years there, I continued to struggle with my foot. I was in and out of practice. I wore boots and braces. I was on crutches... You name it, we tried it. Bless my foot doctor's heart...he was simply baffled. But my life changed in March of 2009. My doctor finally referred me to an old teacher of his: Dr. James Nunley...a saint as I call him. I spoke with my athletic trainer and my coaches and decided to drive down to Duke Medical Center and meet with this doctor to get his opinion. I was EXTREMELY nervous, as were my parents. I couldn't take another "well...I'm not really sure what to tell you." After a quick glance at my X-RAYS(!!!!!), Dr. Nunley simply said, "Oh...torn spring ligament."
Oh holy hell, was he serious? No MRI, no CT Scan, no Bone Scan....a freaking x-ray showed him everything he needed. He said he could tell because my right foot was totally out of alignment. There was no option...if I wanted to walk later in life, my only option was surgery. Career ending surgery O___o It was like an atomic bomb explosion of emotion. I smiled, I cried, I was scared, disappointed and pleased all at the same time.
The surgery required a MINIMUM full year of recovery. After surgery, it was 3 months non weight bearing. Then, it was like learning to walk again. Awful... The surgery itself was actually a pretty good experience considering. If you are squimish, don't read this next part. The surgical procedure was CRAZY!! I would still love to see a video of this. It went something like this:
Step 1- Take a bone saw to Kristen's heel (calcaneous) and cut in half.
Step 2- Turn her foot sideways and make an H-cut on torn ligament and stitch together.
Step 3- Insert cadaver bone into Kristen's heel to realign the bones.
Simple right? hahaha. Here was the result when my cast was taken off.
I was forced to give up playing basketball...not just because of that surgery, but I also tore the labrum in both of my shoulders at various times. It was later determined that I was so prone to injury because of a genetic disease known as ED...haha no no not THAT ED...but Ehlers-Danlos. It is a disease of the soft tissue, and it makes your joints very suseptible to injury. So....3 surgeries = end of playing days.
This also meant, LONNNNNG periods of time without being to work out. My in-season, playing weight was usually around 185-190. In the summer, I got "fat" and weighed in around 200 because I wasn't as active. Well folks, today I weigh ::huge sigh and a shake of the head:: 223 pounds. I swore it would never happen to me, but here I am.
I want to be hot again. Because, damn...I was. So now I am commited to shedding these pounds. One pound at a time. I'm excited and not looking forward to it all at the same time. I love food...darn. But I digress...I am now on the Idiot Proof Diet (IPD) and I'm ready to do the damn thing. I'll let you know how things are going soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment