Weekend Wrap-Up/"Ruptured 2003"

10:15 AM

Patricia headed off to church, with the boys both gone(Sam off to Oklahoma City, Hal down to Dayton getting his place ready for the start of classes after Labor Day. I stayed home with Anissa, we headed over to mom's to visit with her and Mike, take the Lima News over etc.

Speaking of Lima...and the area..Football Friday was a mess, most game were either postponed outright or delayed in the middle and played yesterday(Saturday)...Celina led at Lima Senior 7-3 late in the first half when the lightning and downpours stopped play...they finished up yesterday with Lima coming out on top 20-14...Celina had lost their starting QB earlier in the month in a scrimmage, and the freshman QB, although playing well, could not get the Bulldogs over the hump.

I was scheduled to officiate the JV contest(Lima @ Celina) on Saturday morning, but with the change(the JVs travel with the varsity) they moved the Freshman game from Lima to Celina, so we did that one....back and forth they went, in cloudy, wet, and very humid conditions....Celina up 20-13 gives up a TD to LS with 5 minutes left, x-tra point blocked making it 20-19. The Bulldogs managed to fumble 2 plays later and the Spartans take over near midfield...poor clock management by Lima sees them at the Celina 30 with 10 seconds left and no time outs....lucky for Lima they get called for a "motion" penalty(not by me)...stopping the clock...on the last play of the game, the QB tosses a 35 yard er as the clock hit 0:00 the wide out makes the grab, walks into the end zone, and Lima runs off the field with a 25-20 victory...rough weekend for the Bulldogs, all around.

Photo: 9 years ago Hal was a Freshman linebacker(#54), that Celina team in 8th and 9th grade went 15 wins 0 loses, outscoring their opponents 490-89...they never could convert it into a winning High School team however, a new clueless coach, and injuries, made them a .500 team their 3 varsity season...this is a Freshman game with Lima Bath in September of 98.

4 years ago

___________Had been lucky health wise for the past 10 years, no back problems, and since I had started working out with weights and walking, umpire work, and a vitamin regiment...I had only been sick on a couple of occasions.....that's why this hit me like a brick. Sam and I were doing some umpire work just before Labor Day 2003....between games of a double header, I begin to feel like crap....by the time I got home, I wasn't in the mood for a beer or a cigar, and this being late summer with great weather, that should have been the alarm...but ignoring the pain in my side and stomach I also ignored Patricia's pleading with me to go to the emergency room...Stomach Flu I said.

The next day, never left the house, when Patricia returned from school, I was still sitting around in my robe and feeling(I thought), somewhat better....but 7 PM I was rolling off the couch and in major pain....finally agreed to go to the emergency room at the Coldwater Hospital....Probably an appendix attack said the ER DR.....well, you could say that...by the time they rolled me into surgery, the appendix had blown....they put me under(no near death experience, but peaceful to say the least)...needless to say, I was out of commission in the hospital for 4 days, then out of sorts for another month.....the doc basically said, 50 years ago you would have been D.O.A. or SOL, take your choice....before penicillin, I would have assumed room temperature before they got me off the operating table.....

But I survived, and am still here to write/talk about my brush(one of several) with the grim reaper.

prh