Recovery Continued....Sweet 16 Basketball Style....

One more day of Summer-like weather, before things begins to dampen and slowly drop off, but still remaining above normal, temperature wise,  for the rest of the month of March....I won't venture a guess as to what April and May might bring.

Now on my 6th day post surgery, my progress on the road to recovery is going slower than what I hoped for...bur frankly I wasn't sure what to expect.  My voice is still hoarse....and my air intake not what I like....so after being dissatisfied with the progress on those fronts, I called over to Lima and inquired what to expect.  "One to two weeks for the voice, if not vocal nerve damage, possible one month"....then she added, if that doesn't work out, it may be necessary to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist.  Having already searched the Internet, the answer came as no surprise....she also insinuated that when I returned to umpire work to make sure I protected the neck area....that was a given to me, but I assured her that I did not plan doing any plate work for awhile, and I had made plans to protect my sutures at all reasonable costs.

I just have little patience...but also realize that I cannot afford to risk do something stupid that would risk long term or permanent damage...so, risk taker I may be, I will still proceed with caution.  Meanwhile, the good news is...if I don't feel like conversation, I can always beg out because my voice is "shot".

Basketball Weekend_____

The NCAA moves into the next to last weekend, starting today...16 teams, four from The Buckeye State, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Xavier, and Ohio University are among those....and four from the Big Ten, including the "Buckeyes", Indiana, Michigan State, and Wisconsin, will be playing as well...Which gives me plenty of basketball viewing to take my mind off my physical limits.

In addition the Ohio High School Boys championships are being played in Columbus....those kicked off this morning, with state top ranked Division 4 area team, undefeated Jackson Center, taking on the Columbus Area Afrocentric Early College{as in college to prepare you for playing basketball}, a school with a shaded past in past eligibility issues...JC, down by as many as 15, rallied in the second half and pulled out a 53-50 win to move on to Saturday's final.  Arlington, a team I officiated this past roundball season, plays at 1:30 in the other D4 semi-final.  

12 games in the four divisions will be played over the next 3 days, ending with the D1 final on Saturday night.  I used to travel to Columbus, usually to broadcast the games for 20 years or so during championship weekend...these days it's just not the same, with the games being moved out of St. John Arena to the larger, less personal Schott Center near the OSU Campus.  I have not been down for about 10 years or so.

Sam will be home to work my baseball games for the next couple of days, before he returns to Columbus, for his final quarter at Ohio State....once this Spring is done, he graduates, then OSU will switch to semesters...something I never cared for in my college days.  Quarters moved faster, and were less drawn out....classes frankly, bored the Hell out of me, and the shorter they were, the better.

More rambling on a variety of subjects as the recovery days go on....

back later>>>>