Nasty Nate
Double Eagle Member
I felt like posting a little blurb about disc golf and my arduous journey to the present. Basically I'm having to learn how to throw all over again and I'm going to talk about it. We can commiserate and talk about having to change your game due to your own physical limitations.
I'll try to keep it concise (although sorry it is kind of long). I'm going to talk about myself, which I hate, but I need to talk about what I've been through and how it has affected my disc golf.
As some of you may or may not know, I was in a bad car crash last year that resulted in numerous trips to the hospital. It was literally the worst experience of my life. Here is the gist of what happened, to make a long story short. I was on the freeway going to my final for a stained glass class at OSU and I was cut off by a semitruck and had to slam on my brakes, which caused me to fishtail off the freeway and down the side of the road into a huge log at the bottom of the ditch. I didn't know it immediately but I had to go to the hospital. (Oh yea also I got ticketed by the state trooper for crashing my car)
They told me that the seat belt had somehow lacerated my small intestine and I would need immediate surgery to cut it/suture it because if you don't get that fixed then your gut bacteria could literally kill you. Not good, especially because I was very sick as a newborn and had much of my large intestine removed. This was my worst nightmare realized, having my belly cut open again. So they operated on me the Monday of finals week, I had to miss all of my exams and shack up in the hospital. I'll spare the discomforting stories of my hospital stay in a shared room in the trauma ward. Let's just say it was terrible.
Fast-forward to whenever I was home... I woke up one night to find that my incision was infected and leaking nastiness out of my body. After violently vomiting for a while I went back to the ER. They said my incision was infected and I'd have to take care of it. Oh also that I'd need to have an open hole in my body (that I could see inside) so it could drain. Horrifying. So I dealt with that... but then I got another infection.
I can't recall everything exactly because I got 4 infections but at that time I think I also had an infection in my intestine which they treated with antibiotics. Fine. Get that **** out of the way and heal up. But I still had this pain in my side... Eventually I got another CT scan and the doctor told me I had an infection in my side that was bigger than a golf ball. I then had the pleasure of getting a drain bag installed in my body. I had some tubing running right in there that I had to flush out daily with sodium chloride as well as change the bandage dressing.
Got that out of the way but I was still having problems. Constant pain. Like I said, I don't recall everything exactly (I was on a lot of painkillers and antibiotics) but after another CT scan the doctor finally determined that my colon was perforated and leaking all kinds of nasty stuff in my body, which is what was causing all of my infections. They would have to go back in and cut it out. This was the worst news I've ever received. I cannot tell you how upset I was knowing I would have to get cut open again and have more of my insides removed.
So I had surgery a second time for the same problem... they removed more of my colon (which I didn't have much of) and some of my small intestine. This time they left my whole incision open so it didn't get infected and I had to dress the wound twice a day. Oh yea, my whole belly was cut open and I got to look at it every day and stuff bandages in there so it cleaned out all the crap. It was hell. I still hate thinking about it. I hate my belly and how oddly shaped it is. My worst fear had been realized twice now. I am not exaggerating when I say this was the worst experience of my life. I was in constant pain for ~8 months.
That's the basic story of my road to hell and back. Now to talk about disc golf.
As you can imagine, I am very weak after all this. I was not supposed to lift anything over 10 pounds for the longest time. I still think I strained myself when I shouldn't have, and I keep thinking my belly would have healed a little more evenly. Anyway, I can't throw like I used to. I feel completely lost. I was afraid to throw with any power for the longest time.
Do I just accept that I am handicapped at disc golf? I feel like I'll be back into form once I can get in shape and work on some things, but I don't know if I'll ever be back to 100%. I've been trying to figure out if I should drop some drivers for slower ones, or at least lighter, easier to chuck discs. I still experience discomfort if I strain myself. It really sucks not being able to do the things you once did.
I'd just like to have better drives for my weak arm. My mids go about as far as my drivers right now. I need to rework my whole form and figure out what works. I thought we could commiserate about disc golf limitations and how you approach them. I'm glad I can still play guitar because if I lost that ability then I'd probably just stick my head in the oven.
Thanks to anyone who took the time to read my ridiculous DG post. I've just been through a lot this past year and it really changed how I play my favorite outdoor game. Hoping to some day throw the shots that I want and maybe look good while doing it
.
I'll try to keep it concise (although sorry it is kind of long). I'm going to talk about myself, which I hate, but I need to talk about what I've been through and how it has affected my disc golf.
As some of you may or may not know, I was in a bad car crash last year that resulted in numerous trips to the hospital. It was literally the worst experience of my life. Here is the gist of what happened, to make a long story short. I was on the freeway going to my final for a stained glass class at OSU and I was cut off by a semitruck and had to slam on my brakes, which caused me to fishtail off the freeway and down the side of the road into a huge log at the bottom of the ditch. I didn't know it immediately but I had to go to the hospital. (Oh yea also I got ticketed by the state trooper for crashing my car)
They told me that the seat belt had somehow lacerated my small intestine and I would need immediate surgery to cut it/suture it because if you don't get that fixed then your gut bacteria could literally kill you. Not good, especially because I was very sick as a newborn and had much of my large intestine removed. This was my worst nightmare realized, having my belly cut open again. So they operated on me the Monday of finals week, I had to miss all of my exams and shack up in the hospital. I'll spare the discomforting stories of my hospital stay in a shared room in the trauma ward. Let's just say it was terrible.
Fast-forward to whenever I was home... I woke up one night to find that my incision was infected and leaking nastiness out of my body. After violently vomiting for a while I went back to the ER. They said my incision was infected and I'd have to take care of it. Oh also that I'd need to have an open hole in my body (that I could see inside) so it could drain. Horrifying. So I dealt with that... but then I got another infection.
I can't recall everything exactly because I got 4 infections but at that time I think I also had an infection in my intestine which they treated with antibiotics. Fine. Get that **** out of the way and heal up. But I still had this pain in my side... Eventually I got another CT scan and the doctor told me I had an infection in my side that was bigger than a golf ball. I then had the pleasure of getting a drain bag installed in my body. I had some tubing running right in there that I had to flush out daily with sodium chloride as well as change the bandage dressing.
Got that out of the way but I was still having problems. Constant pain. Like I said, I don't recall everything exactly (I was on a lot of painkillers and antibiotics) but after another CT scan the doctor finally determined that my colon was perforated and leaking all kinds of nasty stuff in my body, which is what was causing all of my infections. They would have to go back in and cut it out. This was the worst news I've ever received. I cannot tell you how upset I was knowing I would have to get cut open again and have more of my insides removed.
So I had surgery a second time for the same problem... they removed more of my colon (which I didn't have much of) and some of my small intestine. This time they left my whole incision open so it didn't get infected and I had to dress the wound twice a day. Oh yea, my whole belly was cut open and I got to look at it every day and stuff bandages in there so it cleaned out all the crap. It was hell. I still hate thinking about it. I hate my belly and how oddly shaped it is. My worst fear had been realized twice now. I am not exaggerating when I say this was the worst experience of my life. I was in constant pain for ~8 months.
That's the basic story of my road to hell and back. Now to talk about disc golf.
As you can imagine, I am very weak after all this. I was not supposed to lift anything over 10 pounds for the longest time. I still think I strained myself when I shouldn't have, and I keep thinking my belly would have healed a little more evenly. Anyway, I can't throw like I used to. I feel completely lost. I was afraid to throw with any power for the longest time.
Do I just accept that I am handicapped at disc golf? I feel like I'll be back into form once I can get in shape and work on some things, but I don't know if I'll ever be back to 100%. I've been trying to figure out if I should drop some drivers for slower ones, or at least lighter, easier to chuck discs. I still experience discomfort if I strain myself. It really sucks not being able to do the things you once did.
I'd just like to have better drives for my weak arm. My mids go about as far as my drivers right now. I need to rework my whole form and figure out what works. I thought we could commiserate about disc golf limitations and how you approach them. I'm glad I can still play guitar because if I lost that ability then I'd probably just stick my head in the oven.
Thanks to anyone who took the time to read my ridiculous DG post. I've just been through a lot this past year and it really changed how I play my favorite outdoor game. Hoping to some day throw the shots that I want and maybe look good while doing it
.
