Author: George Malik

The gallbladder is out. My expert surgeon removed it last Wednesday at Ascension Providence in Novi, and it came out full of stones, but tested cancer-free, so that’s good. There were no surgical complications, I am being careful in terms of my diet, weight-bearing, etc. to recover as smoothly as possible, and my pain management was not too difficult.

I spent the first post-surgical week sleeping in our living room recliner to attempt to keep pressure off my laparoscopically-invaded belly, and that went all right, but I’ve returned to Moon Base Alpha (a.k.a. the basement) to sleep on my side, as I prefer, and it hurt too much to tolerate.

Long story short, I am still recovering from major surgery (as my surgeon told me, “There is no such thing as ‘routine surgery'”), and my long-haul COVID is still impacting my energy, but I already feel better in terms of my digestive system, and…

We’re gonna try to blog the draft here. I don’t know how reliable I’ll be for the first couple of weeks, but my goal is to attend the Red Wings’ prospect tournament and main training camp this fall as your representative, and to go from there.

FYI for TMR readers: I wanted to let you know that I do still hope to return to blogging at some point, hopefully this summer and/or before training camp.

At this time, I’ve been advised by my primary care physician that my gallbladder is unhealthy, and needs to be removed. Its issues (gallstones and “sludge”) do not fully explain my fatigue–it’s more likely at this point that my February “flu” was in fact undiagnosed COVID-19, and that I’m suffering from Long Haul COVID issues…

But having the gallbladder out should at least partially address the autoimmune symptoms I’ve been experiencing, and it should relieve other chronic health issues that have hampered my day-to-day health over the past couple of months.

I’m seeing a surgeon on Monday to discuss the procedure, which is laparoscopic in nature these days (i.e. they use a “scope” to remove the gallbladder), and we’re going to go from there.

Regarding the rest of the fatigue issues, I’ve struggled to find a rheumatologist to address the Long Haul COVID issues because there is a shortage of rheumatologists in Michigan at present, but I’m hunting for one that will take my insurance.

That’s where I’m at. I’ve been working as hard as possible to recover, I’ve been consulting with physician as possible, and I’m most likely going to find a new primary care physician after my gallbladder surgery is resolved as my current doctor simply responds to my fatigue issues with, “Oh, George, you’re always fatigued.”

I’m trying my damnedest to get back to work. I miss blogging about hockey, I miss being able to make enough money to help pay the bills, and I miss interacting with my readers on the blog, Twitter and Facebook.

You’ve all been damn good to me–I am typing on a computer that you helped me purchase last fall–so I feel indebted to all of you for helping me live a dream that is currently deferred, but not dead by any means.

Everybody,

Several TMR readers have reached out to me to ask how I’m doing, and I wish I had a positive report. I’ve been experiencing symptoms similar to chronic fatigue syndrome for the past three months, and, I’ve seen neither improvement not any support from my family physician, who simply said, “You’re always fatigued, George.”

The problem is that my doctor, while hesitant to treat me, is also correct. I come from a family where auto-immune and immune-compromised folks abound, and, after three months and two Pfizer vaccines, I can rule out any coronavirus issues, but the utter exhaustion that’s keeping me in bed (and unhappy to be in bed!) most days has lingered.

As such, if I were to be honest about how I’m doing right now, I’ll tell you the truth–I’m pretty effing miserable. I want to get back to work doing what I love to do in following hockey stories and sharing them with readers on the blog and on Twitter, and this “being stuck in bed while feeling utterly exhausted” business is plain awful.

Because my primary care physician is dismissing my concerns, I need to find a new primary care physician so that I can begin to find some answers as to why I’m so damn tired, and I need those answers to determine whether the fatigue is something that can be treated.

At this point, I just want some damn answers as to whether I’m going to be able to come back, and that’s going to take time, but I hope that the journey is worth it, because I was finally doing my dream job a couple of months ago after three years of stops-and-starts due to my mom’s health, and now my health is preventing me from blogging and taking care of my aunt.

That’s all I want to do–blog about hockey and take care of my aunt–and I’m having a hard time doing either right now. I need to figure out why the chronic fatigue that’s stopping me from doing my job is stopping me from doing my job, and whether it can be treated, because I miss you all very much, I miss covering the Wings on a daily basis, and I promise that I am going to fight very hard to get back to blogging.

If I can’t come back, I’ll say as much, but I owe both you and me some answers as to why I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I’m holding out hope that there will be some way by which I’ll be able to get back to doing what I love the most in blogging about hockey.

I hope all of you are doing as well as can be expected, and I hope that if you are able to get a coronavirus vaccine, you’re getting it, because that’s another thing that we’re all sick and tired of having to deal with.

I’ll talk to you guys and gals and in-betweeners soon.

With love and hope for a better day for our Red Wings,

George

Hey everybody. My health situation is getting worse energy-wise, and I have an appointment with my primary care physician next week to hopefully start ironing the issue out. I’m barely able to get out of bed and the fatigue has been off the charts of late. I want to get back to work very, very badly, but my body’s not cooperating.

Briefly: some of you have wondered where I am, as have I, over the past couple of weeks. The simple answer is that I’m still ill with what I believe is influenza.

I was getting healthy about a week-and-a-half ago, but things have gone right back downhill since then, and I’m pretty much bedridden again.

As soon as I can sit up and function in even a limited capacity, I will return!

Hi, everybody. I wanted to let you know how things are going health-wise.

Both Aunt Annie and I got the flu–plain old influenza–about two weeks ago, and things got particularly bad last week. We both had the kind of body aches that people write about in tales of hospital-bound flu, our fatigue was off the charts, so we were both sleeping most of the day and night, I had a fever, and both of us had “grumbly tummies.”

It took a full week’s worth of being very, very quiet and taking a lot of Tylenol to deal with the physical pain to come out on the “still exhausted” side of things, but AA and I are starting to get better. I’m not going to put a date on when I’m coming back as that’s often a dangerous self-fulfilling prophecy, but this week seems likely.

I’d like to do two things: 1. Thank you for your support and; 2. Remind you to get your flu shot if you have not gotten it (it’s never too late to get your vaccine).

Even with the influenza vaccine, this bugger of a flu bug hit me rather viciously hard, but I know people who’ve been hospitalized with influenza this year, and I got to skip that part of the physical fandango.

Hockey-wise, the Wings are doing okay, and I miss talking with you guys and gals, so I’ll get back to work as soon as I can.

For the present moment, stay safe if you are in Southeastern Michigan as we’re going to get somewhere between 5-10 inches of snow overnight, get your flu shot if you haven’t gotten it, and know that I’ll be back ASAP because I miss talking with you. Again, thanks for your well-wishes.

See you soon!

My apologies for my absence over the past day and a half. I’ve gotten a classic case of influenza, with bad body aches, fever and fatigue.

I’m unable to sit up and work right now so I’ve spent my time resting as best I can. I will return as soon as I can sit up again.

This is the definition of a “paper move,” a transaction which means nothing save filling up roster spots on the taxi squad so that the Wings don’t have to recall anyone from Grand Rapids:

UPDATE: Forwards Givani Smith and Mathias Brome have been assigned to the #RedWings taxi squad.

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 8, 2021

The Free Press’s Ryan Ford writes a “NHL Central Division Misery Index” column every Monday at Freep.com, and this morning, Ford’s column focuses upon the Red Wings’ struggles winning when Jonathan Bernier is not in their crease:

On Oct. 29, 2019, Jimmy Howard picked up the win for the Detroit Red Wings, stopping 31 of 32 shots against the Oilers — yes, we’re surprised too, and we watched that game — for what would turn out to be his final career victory.

The Wings won 13 more games in the 2019-20 season, all with Jonathan Bernier in net. Howard retired and the Wings brought in Thomas Greiss as a free agent in the offseason — only to see him go winless wearing the Winged Wheel.

Finally, 467 days after Howard’s win, the Wings had a goalie other than Bernier get a W, as Greiss stopped 36 of 37 shots by the Panthers on Sunday in Sunrise, Florida.

It wasn’t for lack of variety, either. The Wings had 40 non-Bernier starts over the streak, with Howard picking up 27 losses last season, Greiss taking those nine L’s this year and Eric Comrie and Calvin Pickard each going down twice.

Meanwhile, every other NHL franchise had at least two goalies win a game. In fact, four — the Hurricanes, Avalanche, Canadiens and Devils — had five goalies each nab wins.

Continued; ouch. That’s all I’ve got to say about this one.

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a morning notebook discussing the play of Givani Smith, Thomas Greiss’s first win and the Wings’ work to “clog up” the neutral zone.

Regarding Smith, nobody’s suggesting that he’s the second coming of Darren McCarty, but the Gordie Howe Hat Trick-holder in yesterday’s game vs. Florida displayed both the offense and toughness he can bring to the Wings’ “middle six” forwards:

Smith has been shuffled from the taxi squad to the Grand Rapids Griffins and back to the Red Wings over the past few weeks as the NHL club juggled its lineup due to COVID issues, injuries and ineffectiveness.

He has appeared in only five of 13 games, but Smith is tied for sixth on the team with four points. He has earned a regular spot in the lineup, at least for an extended time.

“Tonight was a great example of what he brings to the team, what he’s been bringing every night he’s been in the lineup,” Robby Fabbri said. “He’s got a great mentality and mindset around the rink, coming in when he’s needed and doing his job. You saw tonight he did a little bit of everything – hits, a fight, a goal, and an assist. That’s what we need out of him every time he’s in the lineup.”

Smith brings several elements the Red Wings (3-8-2) need – size, toughness, strong forechecking and a net presence.

“He’s a big, big body and he’s got better skill than people might understand,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “He can make a play with the puck. He’s still got to get better on the wall breaking pucks out, but I think he’s done a good job of using his skill and getting to the net front and ultimately, he’s a big man around the net and he’s just hard to contain.”

Continued (paywall); don’t be surprised if Smith is continually moved up and down from the taxi squad as a “paper move” during off days over the next couple of weeks. It won’t affect his status as playing on a regular basis.

Also: Alex Wood, a.k.a. AWood40 on YouTube, happened to post an extended highlight clip from yesterday’s game: