hi arch, thanks for sharing. I know exactly how you feel too. The feeling that you were unstoppable and having all the power! ha i loved it and i ate it all up! Those were great times i miss. Back to your question... I had the surgery done because I was tired of feeling embarrassed. Everytime I shook hands with my friends they would say something about it and how its gross and they've never seen anything like it. I had so many friends so this happened all the time. Sometimes people wouldnt shake my hand because they knew what was coming. After awhile you start to feel like a freak of nature..well thats how I thought of myself..certainly not anymore when i think about it. So I couldnt deal with it anymore and so I did research about the ets. When I found out about the surgery I was so excited I didnt even think twice about what was soon to be an unescapable black hole. The doctor stated very little side effects.."you may have little bit cs in other areas but nothing too extreme" bullshit like this which did not turn out to be little..let me tell you! ha So basically it all came down to that...but like you said im working on trying to better my life. I will definitely take your advice of keeping bball in my life. I still play its just not the same anymore but thats ok. I would love to coach kids one day..but right now my focus is on school and trying to move on and smile and think about everything good in my life.