The Comeback Trail

I've had a lot of free time to think these past few weeks. While the New York Mets have been on their team journey, I've been on one of my own. On Thursday, June 24, I spent quite a few hours in an operating room at UCONN Medical Center in Farmington, CT. I had two fairly major surgeries performed on me: one on my lower back and one on my neck. It was almost 12 hours from the time I closed my eyes under the anesthesia until the time I reopened them again back in my hospital room.

My hope at that point was that I would begin a process of healing that would continue in a fairly straight line until I healed my way back to my reasonably good health. That was quite similar to my hope for the Mets at the start of the season — not that there wouldn't be ups and downs, of course. There always are in a baseball season. But within that context, I really hoped to spend the year watching the Mets improve on all facets of their game as they transitioned from MLB laughingstock into a legit contender.

In neither case did my greatest hopes pan out. A huge rash of injuries mostly undid the Mets, while I stumbled into some personal setbacks of my own.

I was discharged from the hospital on June 26, only a couple of days following the surgeries. The severity of the work performed necessitated a strong combination of painkillers and muscle relaxers, and I had a negative reaction to them the first time around. I was back in the hospital last week and had to spend another three days there. But the new drug combo worked better, and I'm even able to get out for some short walks since my second discharge.

I had a goal from long before I needed these surgeries that I would be back in Citi Field in the month of July watching a Mets game in person. I've had to adjust that goal backward a bit, but my new plan is to make a live game in August. I've got some work ahead of me.

One thing I seem to have in common with my team is that comebacks aren't smooth and easy for either of us. We've both have endured some stumbles here and there. But over the last few days and weeks, we've seen key players return and at least the hopes for a much better team. While there are no guarantees how their comeback will turn out, it's clearly well underway.

Seeing that made me realize that, from a writing standpoint, it was time to begin my comeback. I'm still under a fairly strong combo of meds, but I wanted to return to writing in this space about life and the New York Mets. Thanks for indulging me.

Please be well and take care.

 Follow me on Twitter @MikeSteffanos.