Comfort and Vin Scully

 I officiated my first games today for the FOR Candy League, 4th and 5th grade girls.  I had been assigned 3 games at Gardena Municipal gym with my son Jared.  It has been a long day due to a basketball clinic where I had to preside over two meetings explaining to new parents the ins and outs of starting a new team and navigating the waters of Asian Basketball.  And to be honest, I didn't think 3 games would be a problem, no major running up and down the court, just a nice low key 3 games.

When I first walked in the gym over to the score table the first question I heard from a friend was, "Are you OK to run?  I'm not calling the para medics if you fall down....." Of course I assured her I was OK and that all she had to do was to drag me out of the gym and across the street to the fire station.

The first time running down the court I could feel the chest pull.  It was at that moment I knew I would not last the full 3 games.  What I felt was the area on my left side of my incision in my chest.  I just saw my Cardiac Surgeon last week and asked about the numbness on that side.   He explained that that is where they took the mammary vein for two of the grafts and that it should take longer to get feeling back in that area.  When I run down the court, I feel the area of numbness pull on the area that has feeling.  Yuck.

That sensation and being winded after four times down the court made me realize I could easily be in trouble by the third game.  Apparently all these months of Cardiac Rehab have been more maintenance than building up my stamina.   The first thing I did during half time, was to call the young referee that had the shift after mine to come a game early.  He came into the gym just after the start of the third game.  Now if time flies when you are having fun, time crawls when you are waiting for your replacement.  My youthful replacement took his *%#& time getting dressed and ready to go as those girls started to fast break more.  How long does it take to put on a referee shirt and change your shoes and flirt with the girls, and......  I finally got to sit down after 5 minutes into the game (did I mention time crawls?).

My next mistake was sitting down next to Gayle.   The inquisition started.  How do you feel?  What do you mean your chest hurts?  I noticed you breathing hard running up and down the court, Haven't you been going to Cardiac Rehab?   You need to pull your shoulders back, stand straighter so you can breath easier.  Did you stretch before you ran on the court?  OK, she was making direct hits on cause and affect.  Damn.........

As I survived the questions with the acknowledgement of humility one of my nurses from Cardiac Rehab walked in the gym.  The one who threatened me in the hospital that she better not see me in the gym last year.  At least I dodged that bullet.  That is all I needed was another grilling.


If you are ever curious as to what the "zipper" looks like, there is currently a stop smoking commercial airing.  I shows an African American with his shirt off talking about the after affects of CABG surgery and the daily reminder of looking in the mirror. I  show two additional 1" horizontal slits at the bottom of the scar on both sides that were for the drainage tubes.

There are some mornings where you just don't want to swallow all those pills.  They don't seem to get smaller.  And its the supplements that are the ones that give me the most difficulty.  I can recite to you by memory my medications and their dosage, but I have difficulty remembering the everyday things like packing my Ipod and running shoes for the cardiac rehab days.

If there is any comfort in the world, it has been for me knowing that Vin Scully is back in the Dodger broadcast booth for another year.  Somehow his voice echoing through the stadium or through the TV on a summer night just seems right.