Rothenberg grounded by intense operation

Meghan Rothenberg, the Lady Bobcats’ starting goalkeeper, is out of the fields indefinitely, due to an intense intestinal blockage surgery.
The GCSU women’s soccer team (3-1-1 overall) will not count on the sophomore under the goal for the important upcoming conference games. Rothenberg, a psychology major from Knoxville, Tenn., is recovering from last week’s operation.
According to Rothenberg, her dolorous days started when she had an appendectomy on Memorial Day, three months ago. Because of where it was removed, scar tissue automatically forms after surgery.
“My scar tissue started forming around my small intestines, which I was unaware of,” Rothenberg said. “So what I thought to be complaining of a small stomach ache all day and at practices, then turned into extreme pain, which placed me in the emergency room at 2 a.m. Tuesday (Aug. 29) morning.”
Rothenberg’s painful nightmare was not even close to an end. As she went back to the emergency room on Friday, Sept. 1, seeking treatment, the nurse told her that the news would not be pleasant.
 “So while the nurses are pushing a tube through my nose, down my throat, into my stomach, which is the worst pain I had experienced up to that point, the doctor comes in and tells me that I have an intestinal blockage and he must operate on me immediately,” Rothenberg said.
 Sept. 1, Labor Day, was the date of Rothenberg’s complex intestinal blockage operation. She spent her holiday under the knife and the five following days in pain and hungry.
“I was kept in the hospital for five days, and was not allowed to eat food for three of them,” Rothenberg said.
Rothenberg is going to go through a long recovery period and cannot exercise for four weeks after surgery. She is not allowed to lift anything over five pounds for the same amount of time.
GCSU Soccer Head Coach Robert Parr knows Rothenberg’s importance for the team, but does not want to rush her recovery process.
“She is a great goalkeeper. Meghan, along with all of our keepers, was being prepared to play this year’s season. I do not really know when she will be able to play again,” Parr said. “Hopefully soon; she was doing an impressive job on our first games. By losing Meghan, we lose a little bit of leadership on this team, even though she is only a freshman.”
Teammates were shocked with Rothenberg’s sudden intestinal surgery and are doing their best to keep up her self-esteem.
“Meghan is a good leader in our team. She has a strong presence on the field,” said junior left back Alex Stover. “We (the team) are being very supportive with Meghan. We have been doing everything we can to keep her motivated.”
Rothenberg is also confident of her, hopefully, rapid recuperation and cannot wait to be back on the soccer fields for the Lady Bobcats.
“I have had so much support from all my teammates, coaches, trainers, friends and family that I should recover better than I was,” Rothenberg said. “I plan to come back as soon as I possibly can. I need my teammates and I want to be back out with them as soon as my body lets me do that.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 22 2006. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry