So I have come to the conclusion that I am not as young as I used to be. It seems as though I have found places on my body that I never knew existed and guess what-They all hurt. Not only that, those minor aches and pains become major and take a much longer time to heal. Believe me, they play real havoc with your golf game. I have to tell you that getting older is not for whimps. But, you do have to put all of this in perspective considering the alternative.
I would give you a rundown of all the aches and pains that evolved in my not so pure body, but I don't want to bore you any more than I have in the past with my earlier posts. Let us just suffice to say that they hurt, and in many cases have kept me from playing golf. I hate it when that happens. I deal with sciatica. My knees are bone to bone and I enjoy it when my orthopedist looks at my x-rays and says, "Are you sure your knees aren't hurting you? I have seen knees that were in much better shape that I have replaced." Actually, they don't hurt and once a year I go in for my hyleronic acid shot and do a series of knee exercises. They are fine for another year. I thank God for that and back out to the golf course I go.
I honestly think it is a conspiracy. My body is trying to tell that eighteen year old feeling brain that the body it is in is not eighteen, but is in a beat up seventy year old body. The body has finally thrown a major monkey wrench into the brain/body controversy. It has dealt an almost crushing blow with a new condition. I have been afflicted with the dreaded tennis elbow and it hurts.
The war is raging between the brain and the body. When I first started hurting from this I decided that it would not stop me from playing golf. What the heck, there is always the wonder drug ibuprophen. Four little tablets of this amazing discovery of the pharmaceutical world will beat back the pain and it will go away. I'll ice my elbow as well and it will disappear. It will be as good as new-all will be right with the world. Wrong, well if I stop playing golf for a couple of weeks and keep icing it as well as taking ibu, maybe it will go away. So, I laid off .
This was fine, but a complication arose. In September my wife out of the blue asked me if we had time at our timeshare the first week of January. Yes, I almost fell off my chair because as you know, she doesn't like to go away and travel. I told her that I would look and lo and behold there was a week available in the San Diego area. I told her about it and I grabbed the time. I love the San Diego area and I was excited. The next four months were filled with joyous expectation from me, enough to drive my wife close to insanity.
The weather was pretty nice in December, good enough for it to be pleasant on the golf course. We played quite a bit. I felt a slight tug in my right elbow and thought nothing of it. Unfortunately as the playing month wore on the pain got worse. The dreaded tennis elbow was knocking loudly at my door and it forced its way in. It got bad enough that on a couple of rounds, I had to quit about the fourteenth hole. My eighteen year old brain said play on soldier, but eventually the 70 year old body said, "Shut up kid, I hurt!" I came to a compromise with the two factions. I would play until I started to feel a bit of pain.
OK, so that didn't work. What was I going . to do? Our San Diego trip and its four day golf marathon were quickly approaching. I sat out the last week of December and stoked up on the wonder drug as well as icing my elbow and putting heat on it. I found out that YouTube is full of ways to alleviate the pain of tennis elbow. They helped, but the pain didn't go away but was lessened. San Diego and golf, here we come. That eighteen year old brain was fired up. The 70 year old body said, "You do what you want, but I am not responsible for any catastrophes." On to San Diego we went. I love San Diego and I love to play golf especially in San Diego.
Did I say I love San Diego? It is one of my favorite places on Earth. I love the warm climate, Casa Guadalajara Mexican restaurant, Fillippe's Italian food, Point Loma and the Cabrillo Monument, the harbor and especially the golf courses. I was not going to miss out on this trip. There was no way. We got to our resort in Carlsbad and checked in. My arm hurt and my 18 year old brain told me that I would be OK, but my 70 year old body tried to warn me of impending doom and disaster.
We teed off on Monday and my arm felt OK. There was a little pain but I had taken my ibuprophen and I was wearing my tennis elbow brace. I felt great. My eighteen year old kept telling me, "See, I knew you could do it." My 70 year old body said, "You just wait, the round is not over yet." I made it to the fifteenth hole and my arm didn't hurt but it was starting to let me know it was there. I decided that in order to keep playing this week I should listen to my 70 year old body and sit the rest of this round out. I didn't want to not be able to play tomorrow, so I thought I would rest the arm for the rest of the round. My 70 year old body was very happy. We got back to the resort and I went in the jacuzzi and put the water jets on my arm. It felt great. I was ready for tomorrow.
I woke up and it was a beautiful Tuesday morning. I'm ready for today's round of golf, I thought. I took my ibuprophen and put on my tennis elbow brace. Let's go conquer the world, my eighteen year old brain thought. My seventy year old body was yet to be convinced. We headed to the golf course and I was really excited about playing in this beautiful weather.
After checking in at the pro shop we got our cart, went to the car and loaded up our clubs. I felt good and it seemed that my ibuprophen was kicking in. On to the first hole we went and teed off. My eighteen year old brain kept encouraging me on and my 70 year old body reminded me that the round was not over. I was playing golf and enjoying it with just a little ache and nothing more.
I bogeyed the first hole, double bogeyed the second and pared the third. No pain here, just a very small ache. I had bogeys up until the seventh hole and I was still in good shape as far as any pain. My seventy year old body was waiting. On the eighth hole tee I felt a little tug in my elbow. The second shot was ok but on the third hole I felt a big pop-OUCH! That was it. My seventy year old body was now in charge. This is as far as you go buddy. I sat out the rest of the round in pain. That's it for today, but what about Thursday when we were going to play one of my favorite courses? I'll be all right as I can rest my arm tomorrow. Its going to rain tomorrow.
Thursday came and I was excited because this was the day we were to play one of my favorite golf courses Mt. Woodsen in beautiful Ramona, California. What a beautiful golf course in a mountain setting. If you look at the numbers on the scorecard it doesn't look very tough and is short by most standards. Yes, but a lemon looks sweet so don't let this course fool you. It is hilly and has some great holes, especially their signature hole which is a par three and you have to cross a long quarter mile bridge that snakes through the hillside in order to reach the third tee. What a wonderful hole and that hole had a significant role in my play for the rest of the week.
I hit my tee shot to the par three and it hurt. Ok, let's pick the ball up and go on to the fourth hole. My tee shot on the fourth probably was one of the worst drivers I have ever hit and quite frankly was beyond description. I was done for the day. My 70 year old body had totally counter manned my 18 year old brain. That was it for today. I tried a few more shots after that, but I found out that there were many ways you could hit a hosel rocket.
There was no way this trooper was going to soldier on. I was done. We had a tee time for tomorrow at another course but it was time to make some really mature decisions, and that decision was that my body didn't want me to play. We decided to cancel our tee time for Friday which was a good thing because Denise's knees were bothering her. It was time to retreat to the safety back in Merced, recoup and rest in order to soldier on another day. Its a long drive from San Diego to Merced. My 70 year old body was proud of me, and my 18 year old mind went off into a corner and pouted.
Several weeks ago I fell and braced my fall with my arms. Needless to say this was painful and has caused me another seven weeks of a hiatus from golf. I am having withdrawl symptoms and I am dying to get back to playing. Well, I'm just going to wait it out this time. I am going to display the wisdom of an almost 70 year old person and put my 18 year old brain in its place. I think the pain will do a pretty good job of that.
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