KoriEllis
09-28-2004, 03:35 AM
Wallace counts his blessings
He had emergency appendectomy he considered 'scary.'
By Chris McCosky / The Detroit News
www.detnews.com/2004/pist...286770.htm (http://www.detnews.com/2004/pistons/0409/28/d01-286770.htm)
AUBURN HILLS — It could have been a whole lot worse.
As it is, Ben Wallace isn’t expected to be at full strength when the Pistons open training camp Oct. 4. He is working out with strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander, but his weight is still down and he won’t be ready to run all-out for another couple of weeks.
But, again, it could have been a lot worse. He underwent an emergency appendectomy in Richmond, Va., on Aug. 25.
“It didn’t burst, but it was irritating me real bad,” Wallace said Monday. “It (the appendix) is normally about an inch or two long, and it had grown to about 12 inches. :shock It had doubled back into my lower back. I thought my back was shot.”
Had the appendix burst, Wallace’s life could have been endangered.
“It was scary,” he said. “But they caught it in time.”
Wallace said it was nearly 10 days before he could do anything as strenuous as shoot free throws.
“With the medication they gave me, I slept for like three or four days,” he said. “When I woke up, my side was sore but the rest of my body felt good.”
With one exception — he had no appetite.
“Now I know what’s it’s like for those people who get tummy-tucks,” he said. “You can’t eat. I would eat a half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and feel full all day.”
He is just now getting his appetite back, but he has yet to regain all the weight or the bit of muscle mass and strength he lost.
Are the Pistons worried? On the contrary.
“This is going to be a good thing for Ben,” Kander said. “With our season going so long, and Ben’s summer routine being as strenuous as it is, it’s good that he was forced to take a break. He’s going to be better for it in the long run.”
Wallace, 30, admits he was on pace to overdo it. He took only a short vacation — which included celebrating Ben Wallace Day in his hometown of White Hall, Ala. — before returning to Richmond to train.
“I thought this summer I probably did get back into the gym a little too early,” Wallace said. “Some of us are a little hardheaded sometimes. Maybe this, forcing me to rest, was a good thing.”
The plan is to allow Wallace to ease into training camp. Given his workaholic nature, though, that might not be practical.
“I’m ready to go,” said Wallace, who, as always, was the last to leave the gym Monday.
He had emergency appendectomy he considered 'scary.'
By Chris McCosky / The Detroit News
www.detnews.com/2004/pist...286770.htm (http://www.detnews.com/2004/pistons/0409/28/d01-286770.htm)
AUBURN HILLS — It could have been a whole lot worse.
As it is, Ben Wallace isn’t expected to be at full strength when the Pistons open training camp Oct. 4. He is working out with strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander, but his weight is still down and he won’t be ready to run all-out for another couple of weeks.
But, again, it could have been a lot worse. He underwent an emergency appendectomy in Richmond, Va., on Aug. 25.
“It didn’t burst, but it was irritating me real bad,” Wallace said Monday. “It (the appendix) is normally about an inch or two long, and it had grown to about 12 inches. :shock It had doubled back into my lower back. I thought my back was shot.”
Had the appendix burst, Wallace’s life could have been endangered.
“It was scary,” he said. “But they caught it in time.”
Wallace said it was nearly 10 days before he could do anything as strenuous as shoot free throws.
“With the medication they gave me, I slept for like three or four days,” he said. “When I woke up, my side was sore but the rest of my body felt good.”
With one exception — he had no appetite.
“Now I know what’s it’s like for those people who get tummy-tucks,” he said. “You can’t eat. I would eat a half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and feel full all day.”
He is just now getting his appetite back, but he has yet to regain all the weight or the bit of muscle mass and strength he lost.
Are the Pistons worried? On the contrary.
“This is going to be a good thing for Ben,” Kander said. “With our season going so long, and Ben’s summer routine being as strenuous as it is, it’s good that he was forced to take a break. He’s going to be better for it in the long run.”
Wallace, 30, admits he was on pace to overdo it. He took only a short vacation — which included celebrating Ben Wallace Day in his hometown of White Hall, Ala. — before returning to Richmond to train.
“I thought this summer I probably did get back into the gym a little too early,” Wallace said. “Some of us are a little hardheaded sometimes. Maybe this, forcing me to rest, was a good thing.”
The plan is to allow Wallace to ease into training camp. Given his workaholic nature, though, that might not be practical.
“I’m ready to go,” said Wallace, who, as always, was the last to leave the gym Monday.