Hello again! This is Luda. And yea, it’s been a while since I wrote my last blog. And today, March 16, 2012, I was supposed to weigh in for my fight today, but no… I am sitting here writing this blog for you. Now, allow me to explain what happened that forced me to withdraw from the fight.
I started fight camp in January 2012 and all was going well . I felt good, strong and rearing to go. My wife and I were very excited that I was returning to the cage after yet another long hiatus. I could not wait for March to get here. I wished I could just skip all of February and get to the fight. The day before the Super Bowl, after training, I noticed a small cut on my arm. No problem. Sometimes that happens in the gym. I thought, I’ll clean it when I get home and move on.
After a few days, I noticed that the cut was not going away. I figured that if I just bandage it and put some ointment on it, it will heal. A couple days later, I’m feeling a little more tired than usual and my cut became rounder as the days went by. Then it starts itching. After multiple discussions with my wife, we decided that if my cut doesn’t heal in a couple days, then I will go to the doctor. A couple days later, I made a doctor’s appointment That same day, I returned to the gym and talked to my coaches about this situation. I showed the wound to some of my teammates as well. The general consensus from my team was that I got a STAPH infection.
The nurse confirmed it on February 10. Sure enough, it is STAPH. My wife and I noticed more bumps around my left armpit. It had spread. They prescribe me with Antibiotics and tell me to keep the wound cleaned and covered. I am home, no training for the next week and my wife is bandaging and treating the wounds.
On February 14, I decided to take the day off training to take my wife out to dinner for Valentine’s Day. We had a great time enjoying our night out without worrying about my upcoming fight or our business. …It was an awesome night.
The morning after Valentine’s Day, about 4 AM, my wife wakes up and notices I am extremely hot. Like with fever, not like sexy as I normally am. F*ck!!!! So, my wife starts placing frozen vegetables and ice packs on my body to break the fever. That feeling is worse than any fight I have ever been in. She calls my clinic’s emergency hotline and they advised her to keep the frozen ice packs and veggies on me until the fever breaks and my temperature decreases to at least 99 degrees F. I was bitching and complaining until the fever finally broke around 7 AM the next morning. I called my boss about an hour later and called out sick. I slept half the day away. I woke up a few times that day to take the antibiotics and forced myself to stay hydrate and eat some food. How in the hell am I suppose to train for a fight when these new issues?
Around 7pm, my wife woke me up so I could my medication. Pound Cake noticed I had a rash all over my body and face is swollen. I didn’t believe her at first until I saw my face in the mirror. My wife calls the clinic again and informed the nurse my symptoms. She informed me that I was having an allergic reaction to the bactrim. New instructions: Discontinue taking the antibiotics, drink lots of fluid, eat… and of course, back to the doctors…urgh! I met with my physician and she confirmed that I was truly allergic to the medication.
I met with my physician and she confirmed that I was truly allergic to the medication. So, I was prescribed the antibiotics that gave me those crappy side effects the last time I took them. She looked at all of my wounds and confirmed only one wound to be infected with staph. And what about the other 10 wounds? Based on the distribution of those other wounds, the physician said I had shingles! They gave me a different set of antibiotics, which finally cleared up the infection. I do get through this and get back to training!
You would think would be the end of it. I was wrong.
On February 29 during training, I was choked unconscious by a guillotine. I was informed by my teammates that I was out for a few seconds. It was by accident of course and happened too quickly for me to tap out. On Tuesday, March 6th, I started to feel a little off. I felt like I was there, but living in a haze. On my last day of training, I start to feel dizzy. It was as if the world was spinning around me. I thought this was probably dehydration or the result of lack of nutrients in my diet. Plus it was a tough training session. I also noticed seeing a black line over my left eye, which was never there before. I went to the eye doctor and after lots of vision tests, they found a small scratch in a layer behind my eye but not a serious issue. For the next few days, I drank lots of water and increased my caloric intake. The dizzy spells still persisted when I was standing, sitting, driving… etc.
I discussed this with my wife. As you can imagine, she was worried. Pound Cake could have been a typical wife and begged me to stop. She would have every right to feel that to do that. Pound Cake was always there for me whenever I had my medical issues. But, fighting is my passion. And a significant other of a fighter is fully aware of this. . On March 10, I asked my coaches for their opinions on if I should still fight. Everyone at my gym was very concerned. General consensus… "Luda you need your brain" and “head injuries are no joke."
On March 11, I went to the urgent care clinic for their opinion. Since I passed out during my training session, they feared that I may have had a brain bleed, concussion or other serious issues. They said I could either go straight to the ER for the CT Scans or make an appointment for those tests later on in the week.
We opted to go to the ER instead of waiting it out during the week. We went and spent six hours in the E.R. While we were waiting for the results, a patient in the ER was complaining about his d*ck bleeding whenever he had an erection… it happened earlier that day while he was soliciting a pro…. Yea, story for another day.
After multiple blood and urine tests and 2 CT scans, all the physicians ruled out a concussion, brain bleeds, brain tumor and damaged arteries in the neck. Yes! Nothing serious. Maybe I could still fight…
But the neurologist came in and asked me some questions. Then, he performed the Dix-Hallpike Manuever on me. And I felt the world spinning around me again.
I was diagnosed with Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) exactly seven days before my scheduled fight on March 17th, 2012. I relayed this to my coaches and they pulled me from the fight.
Words could not describe my emotions throughout that week. Anger.. Denial... "Hey maybe I can still fight…" Disappointment… Shame in the fact that I had to pull out of the fight. This has never happened to me before and did not want to be known as the guy who pulls out of fights last minute.
Many people in my life do not support my passion in MMA. And for the first time in my fighting career, I had at least 20 people coming to watch me fight, not including Team Sityodtong. My friends and family from NYC already booked their hotel rooms and were ready to see me fight in the ring. I felt that I let them down.
I even felt bad for my opponent, Soap Am, for having to pull out so soon before the fight. I apologized to my family, friends, Team Sityodtong, co-workers, my fans and TPS and everyone seemed to understand. But, I was still angry as hell and frustrated that I couldn’t train until my symptoms went away.
Pound Cake finally had to snap me out of this with her words “John, you are acting like this was a championship fight with a $100K purse…Get over it!!!”. I didn’t that second but I did eventually.
But fighters, please don’t be stubborn like me. If you see a strange cut on your skin, get it checked out immediately. Or with any medical issue, research it and make a doctor’s appointment. It’s better to be proactive about your health instead of ignoring it and making it a worse situation.
Update: The vertigo is gone... but now I have horrible migraines! URGH!
