GAINESVILLE, Fla. – An office colleague suggested a good Father's Day story would be one about Gators men's tennis coach Bryan Shelton and his kids. She's right.
Shelton, fresh off winning the program's first national championship with his son, Ben Shelton, as a rising standout on the team, will get to see both his kids at work next season. Emma Shelton, Bryan's daughter and Ben's older sister, has transferred from South Carolina to join the UF women's tennis team. It will go by in a flash, but what stories the Sheltons can tell in the years to come about the time they spent together as Gators.
As Bryan headed out of the office late last week, our paths crossed and we stopped to chat. The team's run to the national championship, Sam Riffice's perseverance on the way to winning the NCAA singles title, and Shelton's weekend trip to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to attend a former player's wedding dominated the conversation. The story of Bryan, Emma and Ben and their Orange & Blue ties is for another day.
In reflecting on other potential Father's Day stories, I recalled the one I wrote last year on Stuart Hall and his near-death experience from COVID-19. The father of Gators soccer player Cameron Hall, Stuart Hall contracted the coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic's spread throughout America. He spent nearly a month in the hospital and his family was told he might not make it.
Fortunately, Hall pulled through, returned to good health and was able to attend Cameron's games last season. He also acquired this distinction: the first Honorary Mr. Two Bits in the COVID-19 era. Probably not something he grew up dreaming about, but the honor is his in perpetuity.
Weaving my way through the possibilities to write on Father's Day, I eventually landed on the guy looking back in the mirror. Writing about myself is not a talent I'm particularly good at or fond of, but the memory of Hall's fight with COVID-19 brought to mind my own experience with the disease and Hall's concern.
"Hey, Scott. Cameron just texted me,'' he messaged. "How are you? How can we help? How can we pray?"
In early February, I became ill and battled a persistent fever that would not go away. For a week the routine was the same as I remained isolated at home and primarily in bed. When I noticed my sense of taste had abandoned me, I realized it was likely COVID-19 and not a typical cold or flu virus. I made an appointment to meet Spencer Thomas, a longtime trainer with the Gators football team, on campus on a rainy and cold Saturday afternoon to get tested (again). The results came back positive within 48 hours. This after months of regular tests and not a single scare, even after traveling with the Gators to Texas A&M, a trip that resulted in an outbreak within the team and traveling party.
Following a couple more days isolated in bed at home and the constant fatigue of battling a fever – breaking the fever with medicine, enduring the chills and sweats that accompany the cycle, rinse and repeat – my breathing became more and more labored. Coincidentally, during Florida's Cotton Bowl trip to Dallas in late December, the bowl committee gifted members of the UF traveling party with a COVID-19 care bag, which included a pulse oximeter to monitor your oxygen levels. My wife clamped the device on my finger every chance she got, and when the oxygen levels began to dip on the Monday of my birthday week, she consulted with her family of medical professionals and off to the emergency room we went.
Two memories linger. First, leaving the house as my three kids, clearly scared to see their mom's anxiety and their dad's illness, tear up as we left. Second, after arriving in the parking lot of the emergency room, needing to take a break as I shuffled toward the front door. I stopped to lean on a bench, looked across the street where a tiny bird in a big tree stared back. For a brief second, I took in the scene in case it was the last time I would be outside.
I was never scared of dying, but as a fair-minded consumer of news about COVID-19, I realized the virus worked in mysterious ways and not everyone responded the same way. It had taken a member of my mother's family a few months prior. I felt sicker than I had ever felt and after several hours being monitored at the walk-in emergency room, I was transported and admitted in the middle of the night into UF Health Shands Hospital.
The routine repeated itself for a couple of days, but finally, with the of help professional care and elective entry into a clinical trial for a "drug that targets the virus that causes COVID-19 and may make it harder for the virus to infect you further," my fever faded, my oxygen levels stabilized and I began to feel more like myself.
I received the transfusion of clear liquid from a plastic bag attached to my hospital bed as I rested on my birthday. I don't know for certain if I received the experimental drug or a placebo, but you can probably guess which way I'm leaning.
Meanwhile, after five days in the hospital, I returned home on a Friday night weak but hopeful. Another week at home and I was back at work. Four months later, the only lingering symptom I can identify that is possibly related to my COVID-19 experience is a consistent brain fog, which can make chores like the concentration needed to write take longer than normal.
For the most part, however, I feel healthy and am grateful to all those who helped my family during our ordeal. Our story is just one of millions and, sadly, so many others have suffered much more devastating results than what we experienced.
But as life in America knocks at the door of normalcy following 16 months of unprecedented disruption, this Father's Day felt like a good time to share this story. I've been a father for only about a third of my life and consider it a gift beyond the imagination of my younger self.
A final memory lingers: the smiles of three kids when I stepped out of a van and into my front door after those days in the hospital. Happy Father's Day to all whom have experienced similar joy.
Bryan Shelton certainly has.
"story" - Google News
June 20, 2021 at 09:06PM
https://ift.tt/3cXr2Ex
Carter's Corner: A Father Tells a Story on Father's Day - Florida Gators
"story" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YrOfIK
https://ift.tt/2xwebYA
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Carter's Corner: A Father Tells a Story on Father's Day - Florida Gators"
Post a Comment