My father had a quadruple bypass and woke up the next morning with more energy than he had had for years. He was back to his normal activities in about three or four weeks and he was over 70.
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Not only is Jim Bollman feeling good in his recovery from heart bypass surgery in late May, he may actually be feeling too good. While the Ohio State coaches were working youth football camps last week, Bollman, the offensive coordinator, showed up unexpectedly and the other coaches had to chase him away.
Bollman, 51, has said all along that he expects to be back before the Buckeyes open preseason camp in August.
OSU FOOTBALL
Bollman too feisty to coast in recovery
Coach back on field less than three months after bypass
Monday, August 14, 2006
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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Considering Ohio State offensive coordinator Jim Bollman is less than three months removed undergoing heart bypass surgery, it’s easy to be impressed by his vim and vigor on the practice field.
"Impressed? He and I almost got into a fistfight," defensive coordinator Jim Heacock said, laughing.
As for the root of the altercation, "We just had a little discussion," Heacock said, on what the defensive line was doing against the offensive line in a drill, or vice versa.
"Whenever you are going against each, there is always a little tension in the air. You get a little competitive at times. Not that I would say offensive linemen hold, but ... I would never say that."
The fact that Bollman was willing to engage him said a lot, though.
"He’s competitive and cantankerous. He’s doing great," Heacock said. "He’s working out every day and he’s healthy. I think he is feeling good."
Not that Bollman is ready to run a marathon. Not yet, anyway.
"It’s been 10 weeks since I’ve been home from the hospital," Bollman said. "I have lost a lot of weight; I am getting close to losing 35 pounds, though I’m not quite there yet."
Which would drop him down to what?
"I don’t think we have to say that," Bollman said. "A lot less than I’ve been. How about that? "
The forced diet began as he drove home early from a recruiting trip to Canton in mid-May, feeling a little pain in his chest and general uneasiness. The next thing he knew, doctors in the Ohio State Medical Center were doing a bypass on three clogged arteries.
Once he was stitched up, his primary goal became returning to active shape in time to be part of preseason camp in his sixth year as coordinator.
As Heacock pointed out, Bollman made it and then some.
"I am probably going a lot better than most people think I am, and, shoot, I’m probably going a lot better than I thought I might at this point," Bollman said. "In fact, I’m feeling pretty good.
"There’s still days where I get worn down by the evening. And like on the first day of camp, when I was out there yelling really for the first time, you kind of go, ‘Whoooooa,’
"In my chest it feels like I’ve got a cage in there. So when you yell it sort of starts vibrating, and you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Is this right?’ Then you say to yourself, ‘Well, I guess this is the way it’s going to feel now. So away we go.’ I can’t ever imagine it feeling like it did before."
His true test of endurance begins today.
"It is going to be interesting to see what happens when we have our first two-a-day, and I have my heart rehab session in the break in between," Bollman said. "They put a portable (electrocardiogram) on me and monitor me while I work out, usually on a treadmill or an elliptical machine. It will be interesting to see how I hold up in the afternoon."
He has heard stories about how bypass patients often find their hearing improves or their taste buds spring back to life in the months afterward, because their circulation is better.
"I can say this, I feel temperature a lot more than I used to," Bollman said.
Which means he’s turned into a more sensitive fellow?
"Yeah, right," he growled. "But, I do have to tell you, I think I’m doing OK."
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LordJeffBuck;782121; said:It's kind of ironic that the OL prospects keep mentioning Coach Bollman as a huge plus in favor of Ohio State, while many fans wanted to run him out of Columbus a couple of years ago (as recently as the 2005 season, IIRC...).
OSUBucks22;782148; said:I've been e-mailing with a UF insider that still isn't ready to concede Mike to tOSU, despite all the evidence that is mounting... He feels Urban will steal him away later in the year because Mike is a FL kid (despite not growing up there :crazy:)... I told him that Big Mike going to UF would be counterproductive to all the effort he has put in for our recruiting class... But still he refuses to concede... :osu:
Well, you did say you thought it was a basic requirement.osugrad21;782131; said:We don't use a blocking sled?!?!?! What?!?!
The good 'ol days.