Day: October 31, 2023
Once Again Hospitalized
Well, it happened again. Something that I thought was sorted out and would never happen again and that I just need to be careful and hope that my legs get back to full strength. I got my problem again. On Friday morning, after doing a night shift of 1:30 am till 9:30 am, I went to get some coffee and breakfast. In fact I had actually started my work at the office at 12 am. After coffee and breakfast, I came back home but as I was getting in the Uber, I had abdominal cramps. I chalked it up to having less water and also the room that I was in was a bit hot and the ac was barely on.
I came home by 10:45 am and went to bed at 11:30 am but woke up at 12:30 pm with cramps on both calfs. It refused to go away and it got worse when I tried to sit down. We had to call an ambulance and I needed help to get in and get down. At the hospital they have me some painkillers via a drip and then I waited to see the doctor I had been consulting with. After he saw my blood test results, he asked the nurses to give me two shots of a powerful painkiller and then I was led to my room. BY this time the pain had decreased and it was almost gone and it was almost 6pm by then.
I was in the hospital till yesterday evening. Turns out I also have a bad infection and this could have triggered the cramps. I do not know. I am on anti-biotics and will go back on Monday. I spend Saturday, Sunday & most of Monday in my room with my sister, eating simple meals, drinking lots of water and resting. I am now taking my medicine and resting at home, getting some sleep.
Big Joe Thornton Retires From Playing Hockey
Joe Thornton has officially announced his retirement from the NHL following a 24-year career as one of the game’s top playmakers. The 44-year-old Thornton hadn’t played since the 2021-22 season with Florida but hadn’t made an official declaration about his plans until releasing a video Saturday through the San Jose Sharks. Thornton entered the NHL as the No. 1 overall pick by Boston in 1997, had his greatest success in 15 seasons with San Jose following a trade to the Sharks, and then finished his career by playing one season in Toronto and Florida.
He played 1,714 regular-season games, recording 1,109 assists and 430 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, an Olympic gold medalist for Canada in 2010 and won the Hart Trophy as MVP and Art Ross Trophy as scoring leader in 2005-06 after getting traded early that season from Boston to San Jose. Thornton ranks seventh all-time in assists, 12th in points with 1,539 and sixth in games played. About the only thing Thornton didn’t accomplish was winning a Stanley Cup, losing in his only trip to the final round in 2016 with the Sharks against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
But with his pristine playmaking and iconic beard, Thornton became the face of the Sharks franchise after being acquired from Boston on Nov. 30, 2005. San Jose had only intermittent success before his arrival but made the playoffs all but two seasons during Thornton’s time with the Sharks. He helped the team win the Presidents’ Trophy with the best record in 2008-09, make back-to-back conference finals appearances in 2010 and ’11, the Stanley Cup Final in 2016 and another trip to the Western Conference final in 2019. His No. 19 will one day be raised to the rafters at the Shark Tank next to his old running mate Patrick Marleau’s No. 12 that was retired earlier this year.
At the time of his retirement, Thornton was the last active player in any of the major North American professional sports leagues to have played in the 1990s, and the last active NHL player to have played in an NHL game against Wayne Gretzky. Thornton is married to Tabea Pfendsack, whom he met while playing in Switzerland during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. The couple has a daughter and a son. Born in St. Thomas, Ontario, Thornton became a naturalized American citizen in July 2009 at a ceremony in Campbell, California, a suburb of San Jose; he later also received a Swiss passport. Joe and former Sharks teammate Scott Thornton are first cousins.