Posted on 24 February, 2011
Hey everyone,
So it’s been a while since I last wrote, and to say a lot has happened since then would be quite the understatement. I made my return to the court and started off the season well, starting every game while my team posted some important non-conference victories. However my immune system thought it appropriate to follow the common theme set in the first 18 months of my college career and hit me with another bout of tonsillitis. I was forced to sit a game out, as well as a week of practice, before making my return against the 22nd-ranked team in the nation – Arkansas Tech. Coming off just one day of shoot around in the past week in which I barely left my bed, I admittedly played horrible, however my team managed to get the win, our first against a ranked opponent in my brief career.
The next few weeks went by without complication, and in our last game before Christmas I posted a career high 12 points (on 2-2 shooting from three) to go with 8 rebounds in just 20 minutes. Unfortunately our team lost, but I was finally feeling confident heading into the New Year. However, knowing my recent history of illness, I should have known it was too good to be true, as I would ring in the New Year in an emergency room hospital bed with an IV pumping meds into my veins while I struggled to breathe past my super-enlarged tonsils. The doctor diagnosed me with tonsillitis (that would be number five in 9 months, for those counting) and it would lead to me spending three consecutive nights in the ER with high fevers, nausea, cold chills and all that fun stuff that comes with having the immune system of a child. A visit to the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist confirmed that I had chronic tonsillitis, and with my excellent track record in mind, it was decided that the only thing to do now was to have my tonsils removed.
So a few weeks later I was back at the hospital so they could put me to sleep and cut out my golf-ball-sized tonsils. Obviously I remember nothing from the procedure, besides waking up in a room full of similarly-confused people before being wheel-chaired downstairs so I could be driven home by my extremely supportive fiancée, who had the pleasure of being by my side through all of this. For two weeks I was mostly bed-ridden, restricted to a liquid diet consisting mainly of milkshakes, jelly, and chicken noodle soup. My highly nutritious diet allowed me to lose 20lbs, which by now didn’t really bother me as my personal morale was hovering around zero at this stage anyway. Only now – four weeks post-surgery – have I finally started lifting weights and undertaking shooting drills, though it appears unlikely I will be able to play again this season with only a few weeks remaining and my fitness rivaling that of a sedentary senior citizen.
And so while I look back on my first two-years of college basketball and think about the roughly 30 games I have missed (out of about 60) due to illness, I still believe this has been the greatest opportunity of my life. I’ve met some amazing people and been to some not-so-amazing places (I don’t want to name names, but there are some places in America you never want to go. Hint: Arkansas), and I even managed to play the odd game of basketball. One thing I know for sure… I can’t wait for next season!
Go Wolves!
Brett Seljak #40
