One Good Dog

I had a great dog onetime, a Dalmatian.  He actually was my daughter's dog.  She got him one Christmas morning and immediately dubbed him Bubba.  We had no idea he would be huge for a Dalmatian and thus deserving of his name.  They were inseparable. 

But then my daughter went away to college.  From that point on, Bubba was mine, heart and soul. 

I've had other dogs.  My first was a Beagle named Bubbles who died too soon after an apparent snake bite.  Then my dad brings home this little dog of mixed breed.  Brown from the tip of her nose to the end of her  tail, we called her, of course, Brownie.

Brownie didn't like people outside the immediate family and I was never even sure about the family but we fed her so she tolerated us.  My friends knew to wait until Brownie was put up before they came into the house.  She was just downright mean.  She lived too long and I left her with my parents when I went away to college.  I didn't miss her.

But Bubba was different.  He was special.  He loved everybody.  We never had to worry about him with other people.  He lived to please.  He might thump you with his tail but that was about it.

And he worshipped me.  When I was gone through the day, he wouldn't eat a thing.  Then, when I pulled in the driveway, he would wait until I opened my truck door, make sure it was me, then head for the food bowl.   When I travelled I would always worry about him.

I would occasionally take him for a ride in my son's jeep.  He would sit like a statue in the front seat.  He enjoyed it so much he wouldn't so much as move a muscle lest I not take him with me.  He wouldn't even move his head, just catching a glance of me by moving only his eyes.   I don't think he loved anything in the world more than that.

Then he got cancer.  When he wouldn't eat bacon (his and my favorite food), I knew it was time.  I cried like a baby when I buried him near my barn. 

So what's this got to do with sports?  I don't know...I figure that if the Westminster Kennel Club show can be featured in the sports pages and shooting birds over a dog is considered a sport then my story of Bubba can fit in there somewhere.

And it doesn't have much of anything to do about injuries.  Bubba was healthy until the end. 

Maybe it has everything to do about living.  I know there are people out there who only get exercise when they walk their dog.  That's OK.  At least they're out there.

For some, I know that it is a cure for loneliness.   Even the unloved can find love in a dog.  A dog loves unconditionally and too few people don't have that in their lives.  Most dogs require very little, just food and a pat on the head.

So if exercise and healthy living add quality to your life, then I think there is room for a dog in there too for a dog surely adds to the quality of our lives.

I miss Bubba but I don't want another dog.  I had one great dog in my lifetime.  I think that's enough.

Avoiding Skin Cancer

When I sit down to write in this space, most of the time I write about what's running around in my brain at that moment.  Something always seems to pop up that leads to a column. Things I see in our community.  Most often something to do with sports. Sometimes it's more what's on my heart. 

I try not to focus on my own personal story.  You probably know too much about me anyway.  I know I wrote about my own headaches last week but my point was really that if you have headaches that persist or are somehow different you should seek medical attention.

But sometimes my experiences might help you understand where you are in your own path to good health.  I had more of that this past week. 

Let me explain.  Last week, I underwent a dermatology procedure called Blue-light therapy.  Also known as Photodynamics, it is a treatment for precancerous lesions. 

If you've paid attention, you know that I advocate visiting your dermatologist on a regular basis.  You also know that I encourage everyone to take care of their skin.  Unfortunately, we don't do that very well.  Lots of sports are outside, exposing athletes to lots of sun.

But the sun takes its toll.  And usually the problems aren't revealed for many years.  Those spots that we might call age spots or sun spots? If left untreated, about 10% of them can turn into a type of skin cancer called Squamous Cell Carcinoma. 

What you might also not know is that a lot of cancer that is found elsewhere starts with skin cancer.   Unchecked cancers on the skin can metastasize to the different organs in your body.  It happens too often.

The good news is that most of it is preventable.  Early detection and removal offers a great deal of control of skin cancers.  It's why you should see a dermatologist.  Regularly.  They will likely perform a full body scan and make note of any suspicious looking spots or lesions.

Maybe a lesion doesn't need to be removed right then but it might need watching.  Removal in the early stages is usually quick and easy.  Some lesions can even be frozen off.

I happen to be at high risk for skin cancer since I am outside so much.  Yardwork/Farmwork.  Football practice that begins in July and lasts until December.  Lots of time on the bike.  It seems like I'm working, sleeping, or outside.

All that exposure to the sun takes its toll on my skin.  I use sunscreen frequently but not frequently enough.  So after removing several lesions, my dermatologist recommended that I go through this Blue-Light thing.

I'll spare you the details but the treatment is effective.  Oh sure, it wasn't fun for a couple of days.  I had a rather severe sunburn the next day and my skin is still peeling off but it was definitely worth it.

The bottom line is to protect your skin.  Use sunscreen liberally and often.  Cover up.  Wear a hat.  A "healthy tan" isn't healthy at all.  Protect your skin.

Dealing With Headaches

Do you have headaches?  I used to think everybody did.  It was so normal for me.  I've had them pretty much all my life. 

I used to have migraines.  Regularly.  A pocketful of Excedrin was with me always.  I hit 45 and they stopped.  I said then it was the onset of male menopause but who knows.  I was just grateful. They came back a bit at 55 but never nearly as bad as they used to be.  I feel blessed.

I had a wrestler with a headache the other day.  He blamed it on dehydration--wrestlers do that, you know, dehydrate for weight loss.  He wasn't really a candidate.  I blamed it on exertion.  More on that in a minute.

It got me to thinking about headaches, both my own history and what headaches mean to active individuals.  Back when I had migraines, the world almost stopped.  Nothing else mattered much.  I couldn't eat.  I couldn't sleep. And I sure couldn't exercise.

In the throes of a booming headache, I was willing to do anything, to take anything to make it go away.  Not to trivialize drug addiction but I could understand what might lead someone to do things that they might not ordinarily do. 

A lot of people get headaches from problems with their neck, particularly postural problems.  Poor posture leads to a lot of things and headaches are one of them. Get those taken care of and your headaches could be much better.

Problems with the TemperoMandibular Joint (TMJ) can cause headaches.  Do you clench your teeth a lot?  Have you been told you grind your teeth at night?  Does your job pop and crunch?  It could be your TMJ.  Ask your dentist. 

What we eat and drink can cause headaches.  There a lot of things that seem to contribute to the classic migraine.  Hard cheese, caffeine, beer, processed meats, chocolate, and MSG have all been linked to migraines.  Sometimes it's not the food but the additives.  Your best next tactic?  Take a food inventory (what you eat) and match it to your headache pattern.

If you get a blow to the head and have a headache, you should be worried about a possible concussion.  Always.  Concussions are something we take very seriously.  I deal with young athletes a lot.  I can tell you that we are ultra-conservative when we suspect a concussion.

Stress can contribute to headaches.  Emotional stress.  Mental stress.   You will probably say "but stress is everywhere."  Yes, probably.  But that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of things that you can do to effectively deal with it.  You owe it to yourself to investigate what those things might be for you. 

Physical stress can contribute to headaches.   I believe my young wrestler was experiencing a headache because of extreme physical stress.  Not to personalize this whole column but back in my headache days (pre-45), extreme physical stress would always precipitate a headache.

And usually not right then.  For me, it was later that night, but then most of my headaches have been in the middle of the night.  My headaches were vasodilatory--the blood vessels in my brain would dilate and make my head hurt.

My basic recommendation is that you should never just assume that headaches are a way of life for you.  Get them checked out.  Especially if your symptoms seem strange somehow.  See your Primary Care Physician.  Don't wait.

You Old Goat!

So here's the story.  My wife and I were hiking last summer.  Glacier National Park.  We were coming down after visiting Sperry Glacier, a truly magnificent hike.  We were descending across a scree field on a trail cut into the side of the mountain when we came upon a family of four stopped in the trail.

To give you a picture of that, it wasn't really that steep of a slope but you didn't want to fall off.  It wasn't like the side of a cliff or anything but the trail was a bit narrow. 

Directly in front of them was a mountain goat, munching on some grass on the side of the trail.   There wasn't really room to go around the goat so these folks were stopped in their tracks.

The family included grandma, granddad, son-in-law, and 7 year old granddaughter (mom and a newborn were at the lodge at the trailhead).  They were from North Dakota and were afraid to pass the goat, who was a bit menacing, bobbing his head up and down as they approached. 

Now keep in mind, this was a wild animal.  Bigger than most of the goats we see around here, he did have those curved horns that we assume he uses for butting things.   This family was wise to proceed cautiously. 

So I pulled on my full "country boy" persona and stepped forward boldly, clacking my hiking poles and yelling at the goat "Billy, get off my trail."

The goat just looked at me.   "I don't have time for this, Billy, get off my trail!"  He moved to the side of the trail.

"That's not enough.  Git on up that hill!"  To which Billy ran on up the hill, nimbly, like mountain goats do.  We all passed safely.

On down the trail, we stopped and talked to the family.  The little girl was in awe.  "Mister, how did you do that?" I told her "well, honey, me and that goat just speak the same language--one old goat talking to another old goat."

The little girl was just all "wow" and everything while the grandparents laughed out loud (lol to teenagers and millenials).  As you might have suspected, there is a message behind this whole story. 

In recent weeks, I've talked about making decisions, not resolutions and about what you might do to stay healthy.

Well, sometimes you just have to take charge.  Take charge of your health.  Make those decisions that allow you to be the person you might need to be.

Take charge of where you are.  Take charge of your work environment.  Take charge of your family situation.  Take charge of your life.

Like with that old goat, sometimes you have to move boldly.  And bravely.  I was confident that I could handle whatever that old goat could come at me with.  Being brave is not about having no fear, it's about being able to look fear in the face and tell it to move out of the way.

It's about taking charge of the situation, your situation.  Know that inside of you is all you need to achieve your dreams, whatever they may be.