One of our own going under the knife soon
 

Got a note today from a fellow official who mentioned he was going to have a pretty serious surgery in a few weeks....that it may very well be the end of his officiating days.

Keep Mark Padgett in your thoughts and prayers....wishing him a successful surgery and full and speedy recovery.

Even though he often speaks as if he dreads overtime, this game needs to go into overtime. Just don't puke on his shoes. ;)

Deo Volente
 

Mark,
Hope all goes well with you and your surgery. Here's hoping it's one of those miniscus things or something similar which guys go through and get back on the court several weeks or months later. Lord's blessings to you.
Freddy

Thoughts and prayers for a successful surgery and speedy recovery. Best wishes.

In My Prayers ...
 

Their prayer, if offered in faith, will heal him, for the Lord will make him well. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results. (James 5:14-16)

His surgery has to go well. He has a busy croquet schedule coming up. Where else are those old folks going to find a good croquet official?

Mi Sheberakh
Avoteinu: Avraham, Yitzhak, v'Yaakov,
v'Imoteinu: Sarah, Rivka, Rachel v'Leah,
Hu yivarekh virapei.

Here's hoping that Mark recovers and is able to continue and that he feels the support of all on this board.

Mark, prayers and wishes for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery!

Make sure you ask the doctor if he knows the first rule of medicine. :D

Good luck, Mark.

You couldn't have found a better way to spend the offseason? :)

This isn't the off season for him, he's usually working 30-40 youth games a day on the weekend this time of year.

Good luck, Mark...praying that everything goes well and your recovery is speedy.

good luck
 

Good luck Mark, hope all goes well. If it is indeed knee surgery, 2 fake knees later I am back on the field and the court....better than before

Amen...good luck Mark

Minds and hearts united
 

We are united in faith, trusting in the Lord, to bless you and your physicians, that all will go well. May your surgery be successful, and your recovery be quick and complete, that our fellowship may continue.

Get Well
 

You will be in our thoughts and prayers!

First of all, thanks to all of you for your comments. I really appreciate it. For those of you who know something about this stuff, the operation is to replace one of my heart valves. It's called aortic stenosis (sp?). I'm probably having the surgery in about five weeks but I have to "take it easy" until then, which means no running around a court. In fact, two days ago I had to go to the ER with chest pains and shortness of breath.

Whether or not I'll ever be able to return to officiating remains to be seen. Sometimes it's possible, sometimes not. Recovery time varies, but I know I won't be allowed to drive a car for two months. The only good thing about this is that my wife works at home and will be able to look after me.

Now if I could only win the lottery, I could pay for the hospital bills.

I'll try to stick my head on the board from time to time just to keep up on what's going on.

Pryaing you get back on the court soon, Mark.

All the best Mark and praying for a successful procedure and recovery.

Mark,

Maybe you can officiate from a sitting in a chair at halfcourt. :D

Thoughts & prayers with you Padg, get well soon!

Mark, praying that all goes well during and after surgery. You sure have a lot of great support coming to you from your friends on this forum. I know you are going to do well!

Mark,

My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Hope you can return to the court but if not continue to use your knowledge and expertise to prepare new officials and of course make veteran officials better.

Mark
My thoughts and prayers. If you can't ref, you know there's always the officials table. Maybe you can team up with you know who:)

Mark, wishing you a speedy recovery..

My thoughts go out to you and your family.

30-40 games a day?
 

No wonder man...you're wore out:)

I don't know you but I enjoy your posts. Get that ticker fixed and get back out there. Good Luck and Godspeed!!

Been there done that. Prayers with him

Just had surgery last week, myself. Found a rather large polyp during my colonoscopy last month. Too large to remove during the procedure, so they operated and removed the elbow where my small and large intestine join.

Lots of guys here who are approaching or who have reached 50. Do yourself a favor. Have a colonoscopy. The golf ball sized mass they found was benign, but a year from now, who knows? There's nothing to it. In fact, if I hadn't known why I was there, I could have woke up and never known what they did. Do it, it could save your life.

Mark, best of luck with your surgery. I'll keep you in my prayers.

I agree, a highly recommended procedure. Worse thing about the colonoscopy is the night before....talk about a rough pre-game:eek:

Speedy recovery BktBallRef.

My wife has been bugging me to do this.....this may just be the incentive I need!

Do it now, don't put it off. Like others, I had mine as directed by doc after turning 50. A few small polups were found they took out. They may have been growing for a few years, who knows. If I had not gone then and put it off like many do...first one year goes by then another. Next thing you know you may be 55, for instance, and have some trouble, only to find out something simple you could have and SHOULD HAVE done 5 years before could save your life..plain and simple.

Wish the best for you...both on your surgery and a speedy recovery.

BBR, wishing you a smooth recovery..

Mark, our thoughts are with you. A good friend of mine and a fellow official had the same procedure (replacing a valve) two years ago. The recovery is fairly long as you're aware but in his case, he's back to officiating and he's feeling and loooking great on the floor. You'll be out on the floor in no time chasing those young whippersnappers.

+infinity

Yes, Dear! ;)

It's not as bad as it used to be. My prep including to 6 oz. bottles of clear sulfate to be mixed with 10 oz. of water. Drank 1 pint in 10 minutes, chasing it with a quart of water over the next hour, the night before. Another the next morning. Easy peasy, about like drinking sea water, so chasing it with the quart of water was easy. I've seen my wife have to drink a gallon of thick chalky junk. Mine was a vast improvement!

I had been putting it off. Then, I had stomach cramps for about two weeks. Went to a new family physician who cleared me up and scheduled the gastro appointment for me.

Believe me, there's nothing to it. It's one of those things that I dreaded that I felt silly about later. And I can't imagine what it would have happened if I had continued to put it off.

Show your wife my post. She'll have you scheduled by noon Monday! ;)

And yes, I'm doing great. Laporoscopic surgery on Easter Monday, 4 incisions, 2 days in the hospital and this weekend, I'll be running the floor!!! http://www.runemasterstudios.com/gra...es/2thumbs.gif

....and admit she was right?

Been married 27 yrs next week -and THAT's my secret!

"Yes, Dear!" :rolleyes:

Mark,
Good luck to you. Hopefully we'll be back on the court together soon.

Mark, I haven't been around lately, but I just wanted to take a moment to wish you the best with your surgery and hope your recovery allows you to do the things in life that are important to you.

All the best to you Mark and I hope that you make it back to the court ASAP.

Mark - hope everything goes well, and you come back as strong as ever. Even if you can't actually officiate, hopefully you can still contribute as a board member in your leagues, or even observe and teach newer officials. Your knowledge is still needed, even if the legs and whistle can't participate as in the past.

Especially your knowledge of meds. :D

I wish a speedy recovery to you, Padgett.

Get back onto the court soon!

Good luck with your surgery, be nice to your "Yes Dear" during recovery, and return quickly. My prayers are with you.

That would be to substitute "stethoscope" for "whistle". :D

I hope Padgett sees this and gets a chuckle out of it.

Mark,

Here's to some relaxing downtime, a good surgery and uneventful recovery.
(And a hot-mom surgeon! :D )

Actually, I've had a consult with the surgeon. He's neither hot nor a mom. :(

However, from everything I've found out about him, he's extremely competent and successful. I have a cousin who's "in the business" and I've been consulting with him about this. It's a big advantage to have a relative you can rely on in cases like this.

Get well Mark. I hope everything works out. You are in my prayers and thoughts.

Peace

Only Works With Female Nurses ...
 

Hey Mark Padgett: I've got six words for you: Hot. Single. Female. Nurse. Sponge bath.

Nor A Brain Scientist ...
 

As long as he's not one of those "rocket surgeons" we occasionally discuss on the Forum.

Went back for my two week post surgery followup visit today. Surgeon shared the pathology report with me. The polyp was golf ball sized and had "high grade dysplasia."

That means it was pre-cancerous.

So again, if you've hit 50 and haven't had a colonoscopy, then go do it. It could save your life. It probably saved mine.

I'm happy to hear it was caught early!

While we're on the subject... age 50 is a also good time to start having a PSA test each year to alert you to the occurence prostate cancer. Here are three facts about prostate cancer:

1. This is the second commonest cancer that affect men after lung cancer
2. Prostate cancer is more aggressive in a black person than a white person
3. The risk of developing prostate cancer increases after the age of 50 years.

A painless blood test each year is really all you need!


BTW...Best of luck Mark. We're all pulling for you!

In This Case Digital Doesn't Refer To A Computer ...
 

There is some debate about the PSA test. Too many false positives? Nothing beats the good old digital exam. I don't mind it when the doctor takes off his rings before the exam, but when he takes off his wrist watch, that makes me a little apprehensive.

Thanks Bad Zebra and everyone else. My surgery is now scheduled for May 24th. I have an angiogram scheduled for May 8th. For the surgery, I'll probably be in the hospital 3 or 4 days, the first two in intensive care. My three kids and their spouses will be coming over to the house after the surgery to help out.

Anyone know when summer leagues start? :)

I think the the analog version is more accurate.

I hate it when he has his hands on my shoulders during the digital...:D

Seriously...debates aside. The PSA is still the best baseline measure. Any positives are always followed up with another test to confirm. Trust me...i speak from experience...it saves lives.

Good point. I think my PSA was .7 but BillyMac is correct. Nothing beats the old digital check. I'm fortunate my primary physician is about 5'6" tall, a little fella with little fingers. :)

Thinking of you, Mark. I look forward to reading your posts soon.