Our first game as the Sierra Mariners of the PSSBL was on Saturday afternoon.  Unfortunately, we came out on the short end of that one.  Much like the real Mariners, we got buried in one inning and could never quite crawl out of the hole. 

What was great was that my teammmates absolutely embraced me being there. I thought there would be some weirdness around me just kinda hanging out but there was none of that at all.  There were lots of pats on the back and words of encouragement the entire time. 

I did everything I could to just go about my routine as usual. I had my rubber tubing out to stretch my legs out.  I did my wind sprints. I stuffed myself full of Big League Chew.  When the team was doing. batting practice with whiffle balls, I was out there chasing them down and making one handed grabs. When the team took infield, I caught for the person hitting grounders. 

Best of all was just being out there with the team. It felt great to wear the cleats and to get the glove out of hibernation. It felt great to just yap about baseball with my teammates and to analyze the opposing pitcher. It was fun to see the umpires miss calls and bitch about the on the bench.  We're never wrong by the way. 

It was just flat out fun. Sure, there was a big part of me that wanted to pitch, but I have come to terms with that. I realized that what I really wanted to do was contribute and I felt I did that. Sure, I'd prefer to contribute with some scoreless innings, but I can't. Hell, I couldn't even grip a baseball until last week.  

It's better to be a part of something in the best way that you can rather than just forget it because you can't be part of it in the way that you want. It would be easier just to not worry about it and stay home every game but I won't do that. Even if I'm just shagging balls or keeping score, I am still contributing. And I am happy to contribute however I can. 

*side note*  I just heard George Sherrill is going to be joining the TJ fraternity.  I think this is the only frat in the world where I hate seeing new members coming in.  Good luck George!

Today I thought I would fire off a list of things that I can do and a list of things I still can't do.  All of the things that I can do are things that I couldn't do even two weeks ago.

 Now, I can:
Write relatively well.
Type with two hands
 Wear T-shirts instead of just baseball jerseys.
Raise and lower a cable on the weight tower at the gym
Open a can of tuna
Carry a cup of coffee
Go a day without taking an Aleve
Put on socks
Drive

 Unfortunately I still can't:
Wash my hair or face with both hands.
Sleep on my right side
Wear a long sleeve shirt
Turn doorknobs very well
Pick up more than a cup of coffee

I think this has been a pretty good amount of progress. For just a few weeks out, I am still noticing small things that are easier every day. It's great to be able to see a challenge and then overcome it. Makes me feel like I am accomplishing something. It makes that year seem shorter.

One Month Later.....

Among many other things going on today, I had a follow up with Dr. Trumble to see exactly how this little project is going.  

It was nice to be able to make it into the gym before-hand just to get a little activity into my body before I showed the professionals just how well I thought this was going.  

I thought the first thing they would look at would be the scar to make sure it was healing okay, but it was actually all based on mobility, strength, flexibility and other things.  The first thing they did was take a look at the actual bone to make sure that nothing was thin or strange around the tunnel (remember, the figure 8).  They did that through a machine I've referenced before called the fluoroscan.  This time, I managed to get a picture of this thing.

They did a minor stress test to make sure that the little gap that was there before no longer existed.  Remember when that ligament was torn, every time I moved my arm side to side, there would be a variable gap that occurred in the joint. So, under the fluoroscan they moved my elbow back and forth a bit to make sure there were no gaps in there.  Of course there weren't which was awesome.  That means that the surgery really was successful in completing its most basic job. See below...

See the little tunnel up there on the right? That's where the figure 8 is to hold this sucker in place.  You can also see how tight the joint is now too.  That gap used to be up to twice that big...occasionally more. 

They followed that up with some very basic stuff in my forearm to make sure everything was interacting properly between the elbow and the hand. They followed that up with a lot of strength tests to see how my muscles were holding up. I had to spread my fingers against resistance, move my wrist up and down with resistance, and then various grip tests.  

They were more than pleased with the results. I go back in six weeks to re-assess. Any time your surgeon grins ear to ear and doesn't talk in a condescending tone, you're probably ok.

Unfortunately, I am stuck in this brace for another two weeks. Oh well. There are worse things than that. It is awfully frustrating though.  I mean, it's impossible to wear long sleeve shirts and sweatshirts with this dopey thing on.  Plus, the Iron Man jokes will only get worse when the Avengers movie shows up.

Back to PT in the morning where I get to learn some resistance band training! 

Oh, one last picture.  Remember when I said this guy wrote the book on these surgeries?  Here's proof!

It has been a month!!!

Witness the magical month of recovery!

Perfect

Saturday, I got to witness the 21st perfect game in Major League Baseball history.  It was tossed by Philip Humber of the White Sox...a member of the fraternity.  He had the surgery in 2005.

His road to the majors was pretty spotty and full of potholes bouncing around in minor league camps of the Mets and Twins before finally landing with the White Sox. The White Sox called him up for a spot start when Peavy couldn't go and he's been hanging around ever since.  Even though Humber's story is at a high point now, there were concerns about him losing velocity after his surgery.  It looks like that may not come back and that he has figured out how to use his secondary pitches more effectively. The slider was looking like it was working amazingly well.

 I can't really be sure about throwing a slider after this surgery. That pitch requires a lot of torque on your arm.  I tend to throw to it with the elbow really far forward and snap it pretty hard. I have been wondering if I should go back to it honestly. Right now, my thought is that I won't throw it again. It's a great pitch for me as I am able to completely vary most aspects of it. I can change the velocity, tilt, break and location at whim usually.  At any rate, seeing a perfect game was amazing. Seeing Humber throw one post-surgery is really encouraging.

Succeeding because of fitness and an update.

I was talking to Ken Roll, my physical therapist yesterday about Jamie Moyer.  Ken said that one of the reasons that Jamie is able to bounce back and endure is because of all of the hard work he does as far as conditioning and preparation go. It's well known here in Seattle that Jamie relentlessly works to keep himself in great shape. I remember so many of those stories being told when he was up here pitching....at the ripe old age of 41.  

I don't think that it's a coincidence that he has recovered completely from Tommy John at age 49 and that he has a such a strong fitness regimen.  I just can't believe that fitness is irrelevant when it comes to recovering from surgery or other trauma. 

The question is why.  Is it because of your mental mind set? Is it because your body is naturally used to recovering?  Is it because you have less body fat or more muscle?  We probably won't ever know but it is a pretty interesting question. Moyer is definitely lending some evidence that fitness greatly aids in recovery.  

On another note, my arm fully extends outward now (zero point zero degrees). It's also bending up at 138 degrees. My fellow TJ fraternity brother, Ryan Alvis, says that it's getting tougher as it goes along. He's ahead of me by about 3 months so his previews have been great. He was quite helpful and encouraging (and honest) when I talked to him just before surgery so I am sure he's right. 

For now, I am enjoying the successes.  I like to think I am ready for the challenges. 

Just like Jamie.

Well, if HE can do it....

It's a nice night in the Northwest where I am watching the Mariners show signs of having an offense. 

I watched Jake Peavy throw another amazing ballgame tonight.  He's one of my heroes and someone, as I have mentioned before, that I look to for inspiration as I recover.  Though he didn't have my surgery, he did tear his latissimus muscle nearly off and made it back fom that.  That's a worth a lot of respect in my book.  

So, on to Jamie Moyer.  Forget about the "oldest guy to win a game" stuff for a second.  Think more about 49 year old guy coming back from major surgery who pitched his way onto a major league team and continues to keep his spot by having outings like last night: Throwing a strong 7 innings...even though it was against my Padres.

I started watching Jamie when he pitched here in Seattle and admired how he continued to get batters out despite having lower velocity. He was really using that natural movement and making smart decisions on the mound. He became one of my favorites after a while. I continued to follow him when he left for Philadelphia and eventually the MLB network which is where I thought he would settle in once the UCL news came down. 

He swore he would come back and pitch after Tommy John.  He knew he could do it.  He told everyone he was doing it.  I'm pretty sure everyone nodded with a smarmy "Yeah, right".

But here he is back on the mound and beating my Padres. He's 49. He doesn't hit hit 80mph on the radar gun.  He is coming back from Tommy John surgery.  Think about all of those factors for a second. Any one of those could (and in some cases should) preclude you from pitching in the majors.  

But there's Jamie...winning ballgames.  

I hope to meet him one of these days and let him know that he's one of my heroes.