Goalie

KTeacher
KTeacher Member Posts: 1,103 Member
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
So, what was the score? Did you bring home the gold? Any color would be gold in my book, back in the game 1 year post treatment! How many CSN friends were you able to meet face to face, even with barbeque sauce in your faces! Hope that the weekend went well.

Comments

  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #2
    Silver...
    I have it from an un-named source they brought home Silver.....

    Five games in four days...

    WTG...

    Best,
    John
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #3
    Skiffin16 said:

    Silver...
    I have it from an un-named source they brought home Silver.....

    Five games in four days...

    WTG...

    Best,
    John

    Amazed

    I am amazed that after all he went through he is still able to play, just shows a willing heart and a strong spirit can do anything

    Hondo
  • Goalie
    Goalie Member Posts: 184
    #4
    Hondo said:

    Amazed

    I am amazed that after all he went through he is still able to play, just shows a willing heart and a strong spirit can do anything

    Hondo

    On the Ice
    Hondo, I was actually on the ice the month after treatment ended and played a couple of weeks later with the return slowed for a couple of weeks by the neck dissection. I was still down about 25 pounds at that point. This is not a willing heart; it's lunacy. But here I am. Doug
  • Goalie
    Goalie Member Posts: 184
    #5
    Skiffin16 said:

    Silver...
    I have it from an un-named source they brought home Silver.....

    Five games in four days...

    WTG...

    Best,
    John

    A Sweet Meeting
    OK, things have slowed down just enough down here that I was able to get onto CSN and see this clamoring for news. I am in Mexico at present. First, let me tell you why it has been hard to post.

    Yes, we played the final on Sunday and then left Rochester. On the way home we met Dawn Sweetblood (more on this below) and I will post a picture somewhere accessible. Then, back in Maryland we stopped off at the hospital to see Mary’s mother who had been admitted from her new nursing home over the weekend. Finally, we dragged ourselves in close to midnight, saw the kids and found that they had managed to eat and sleep ok, and went to bed … for a few hours. Mary always gets up at 4 to exercise and prepare for teaching. In my case I had to pack to go to Mexico where I have a project and spend about ¼ of my time. After working in DC and then flying all afternoon and evening I arrived around midnight local time Monday. Yesterday was a very full day and I was in the office until 9 pm and then working in the hotel until midnight. Finally today I am beginning to be able to peek out. The weather here is terrific, by the way. I can see it through the window…

    Back to the main story. We did, indeed, not win the gold this year. I am trying to convince people that the color of our medal is actually platinum and that is BETTER than gold but they aren’t buying it. We lost to the same all-star team from Michigan that we beat in overtime last year. The problem is that we didn’t score and, in most sports, if you don’t score, you don’t win. Modestly, I can say that I kept our team in it by playing really well as long as I could but I can really only stop the ones in front of me and when it is a 3 on 1 or 3 on 0 there’s always somebody behind me. I still only gave up fewer than 2 goals per game which, in amateur hockey, is pretty good, though last year it was only 2 for the whole tournament. I played 10 games in the 2 weeks leading up to the tourney and then 5 in 72 hours in the tourney so I think, physically at least, I am back at about 95%. If I had more saliva, it would certainly be easier. I know people think that just playing is winning but I would still rather have won the darn game.

    As for the other main story, we did not manage to meet up with anyone in Rochester, alas. People there were not feeling well when we were originally scheduled and the situation did not improve apparently. Sorry. But, on the way home, we did meet Dawn for lunch in Williamsport at a Perkins restaurant. We really did have a lovely time talking about ourselves, our travails, our friends on CSN, and our lives. Dawn had just gotten her hair done and was looking particularly nice. I hadn’t even combed after our last game. We showed each other our neck lines and compared weight loss - and weight gain - programs. Frankly, it was so good for me to talk to someone who really understands what it is like not to be able to eat no matter how much willpower one applies. I am hoping that this will encourage more of us to get together in person just to affirm each other and our winning our common battle.

    I will post something here when I have the picture somewhere. And thanks so much for caring. Doug
  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #6
    Well
    They met me on Sunday for a bit of a chat and a couple of bites to eat at Perkins, in Williamsport. They are both very nice people and I am glad we got to meet.

    For some reason, I thought he would be like, 6'2" or more. Lol. Goalies and hockey players always look super tall, huge and menacing on tv. :)
  • DrMary
    DrMary Member Posts: 531 Member
    #7
    sweetblood22 said:

    Well
    They met me on Sunday for a bit of a chat and a couple of bites to eat at Perkins, in Williamsport. They are both very nice people and I am glad we got to meet.

    For some reason, I thought he would be like, 6'2" or more. Lol. Goalies and hockey players always look super tall, huge and menacing on tv. :)

    I had fun
    Both at the games and at lunch with Dawn - watching Doug eat always makes me happy, but watching the two of them eat was even better.

    BTW, Doug manages to be intimidating without having to be huge. . .
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #8
    Goalie said:

    On the Ice
    Hondo, I was actually on the ice the month after treatment ended and played a couple of weeks later with the return slowed for a couple of weeks by the neck dissection. I was still down about 25 pounds at that point. This is not a willing heart; it's lunacy. But here I am. Doug

    Hi Doug

    Congratulations on the win my friend, it is not about the medal it is about you and your ability to come back and recover so fast and once again enjoy the things in life you did before.

    Hondo
  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #9
    DrMary said:

    I had fun
    Both at the games and at lunch with Dawn - watching Doug eat always makes me happy, but watching the two of them eat was even better.

    BTW, Doug manages to be intimidating without having to be huge. . .

    Menacing
    Lol. I'm sure! It's just one of those silly, personal, ' idiot' stereotypes I made up in my head. Or maybe they all just look bigger on tv? Idk I kind of think of football players a certain way too. Plus I think from 'talking' to people you always get a mental image of them. I find the real person, rarely, if ever, looks like what my head makes up.
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #10
    sweetblood22 said:

    Menacing
    Lol. I'm sure! It's just one of those silly, personal, ' idiot' stereotypes I made up in my head. Or maybe they all just look bigger on tv? Idk I kind of think of football players a certain way too. Plus I think from 'talking' to people you always get a mental image of them. I find the real person, rarely, if ever, looks like what my head makes up.

    Looks
    Dawn, I look every bit as good in real life as you have imagined me in your head, LOL...bawawahahaha....

    JG
  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #11
    Skiffin16 said:

    Looks
    Dawn, I look every bit as good in real life as you have imagined me in your head, LOL...bawawahahaha....

    JG

    Looks
    You know, I would totally pick on you, but I don't even think I can. Your wife is not only younger, but she is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! So apparently, you're some kind of babe magnet. Lol
  • Goalie
    Goalie Member Posts: 184
    #12
    DrMary said:

    I had fun
    Both at the games and at lunch with Dawn - watching Doug eat always makes me happy, but watching the two of them eat was even better.

    BTW, Doug manages to be intimidating without having to be huge. . .

    The picture
    OK, it is posted. I just got back from Mexico last night and, with the patient help of the lovely wife, got the pic up on my place. I had first asked Dawn if I could post this and she said that it was OK as long as I didn't tag her. I told her that I had heard that nowadays "tagging" is what we used to call spray paint vandalism but I am apparently at least one or two meanings behind. Of course, I also thought that "FB" meant "Fullback".

    Anyway, if you click on my name on this post and go to the Expressions part of my identity there, you can see the pic as a thumbnail and then as the whole thing.

    All of this in almost exactly one week! It did take a while to get the film developed and prints made at Fotomat ...

    Doug
  • KTeacher
    KTeacher Member Posts: 1,103 Member
    #13
    Goalie said:

    The picture
    OK, it is posted. I just got back from Mexico last night and, with the patient help of the lovely wife, got the pic up on my place. I had first asked Dawn if I could post this and she said that it was OK as long as I didn't tag her. I told her that I had heard that nowadays "tagging" is what we used to call spray paint vandalism but I am apparently at least one or two meanings behind. Of course, I also thought that "FB" meant "Fullback".

    Anyway, if you click on my name on this post and go to the Expressions part of my identity there, you can see the pic as a thumbnail and then as the whole thing.

    All of this in almost exactly one week! It did take a while to get the film developed and prints made at Fotomat ...

    Doug

    Picture
    Love the picture. Sorry, I didn't mean to put pressure on you. I had no idea that after the hockey you would be off to Mexico. I am amazed at how well you have recovered, I guess you are quite the jock!
  • DrMary
    DrMary Member Posts: 531 Member
    #14
    KTeacher said:

    Picture
    Love the picture. Sorry, I didn't mean to put pressure on you. I had no idea that after the hockey you would be off to Mexico. I am amazed at how well you have recovered, I guess you are quite the jock!

    Um. . . .
    . . . .you do realize that Doug is totally nuts, right? He played hockey hours after he'd been in the ER for kidney stones and kept playing once even when his helmet was smashed by a slapshot and he was gushing blood from his forehead.

    I would have taken a few days off after the weekend he had, but Mexico really needed him, so he went. He got back yesterday, and actually rested a bit before he got back to work. Then he rushed out to a game tonight.

    Yes, he's quite the jock. I do think both hockey and work helped him recover, but the fact that he was close to Olympic-level fitness before treatment helped a lot. I am constantly in awe of him.

    Gee, and it's not even his birthday. . .

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