Dein erstes Forum » s of my scar is that I can use it as a weight-g

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Ivan Dodig and Marin Cilic kept Croatia alive in the Davis Cup quarterfinal match with the United States, beating twins Bob and Mike Bryan 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday.Dodig and Cilic cut Croatias deficit to 2-1 heading into the reverse single Sunday on the Tualatin Hills hard court. The United States took a 2-0 lead Friday when Jack Sock and John Isner won the opening singles matches.The Croatians made a last-minute substitution, inserting Cilic, ranked No. 12 in the world, in place of Marin Draganja in doubles.Croatian captain Zeljki Krajan said the team began discussing the substitution Friday night, and made the move a few hours before the match. Cilic said he feels fine physically heading into Sunday.The conditions here are not too difficult; the weather, not too humid and not too demanding, Cilic said. In Davis Cup, its a bit tougher dealing with emotions because youre pumped up and that takes some energy. But I pretty much feel fine.On Sunday, Isner will open against Cilic, and Sock will face Borna Coric.The U.S.-Croatia winner will advance to the World Group semifinals, facing the France-Czech Republic quarterfinal winner Sept. 16-18. If the United States advances, it will play host to the semifinals at a site to be determined.The lineup shuffle didnt surprise the United States.I think its fair to say hes a better doubles player than Draganja, U.S. captain Jim Courier said. That made a lot of sense from their standpoint,The Bryans didnt relish having Cilic in the lineup.Cilic is dangerous. He brings great returns and some nasty groundies and his serve is pretty strong, Bob Bryan said. So putting him in there was probably a smart play,The 38-year-old Bryans, handed just their fifth Davis Cup loss in 29 matches, had their serve broken six times by the Croatians.We werent making a lot of first serves, werent getting them in trouble from the start. They just kind of outplayed us in every aspect of the game today, Bob Bryan said. Those guys are two good players. Thats the type of match that we have to play at the top of our game to take them out. We just didnt do it.The doubles win gave Cilic a much-needed boost of confidence after blowing a two-set lead to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, then to Sock on Friday.I was thinking a little bit after yesterdays loss that maybe I was a little mentally drained. Wimbledon left a small mark on me. This gives me good sensation for playing, Cilic said.The United States, 157-3 in Davis Cup with a 2-0 lead, claims its confidence hasnt wavered. Isner beat Coric in three sets, while Sock bounced back from a two-set deficit to win the final three sets against Cilic.Obviously, we would have loved to close this out today, but were up 2-1 going in and our singles players have confidence, Courier said. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but were confident.The United States is trying to break a nine-year Davis Cup title drought. The U.S. won in 2007 when it beat Russia 4-1 in Portland. Croatia claimed its only Davis Cup title in 2005. The U.S. has won a Davis Cup-high 32 titles, but only one since 1995. Brian Bellows Jersey . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros. Dino Ciccarelli Jersey .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift. http://www.cheapstarsjerseys.com/?tag=adidas-alexander-radulov-jersey .Y. - Free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, fresh off winning the World Series with Boston, reached agreement with the rival New York Yankees on a seven-year contract worth about $153 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday night. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. Greg Pateryn Jersey . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Just over 18 years ago, I had to have a liver transplant. I was only 22 at the time, but had been diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, which caused my body to malfunction and attack my own liver because it recognized it as a foreign object. As a result, the doctor said I had the liver of an 80-year-old male alcoholic, and if I didnt get a transplant right away, I wasnt going to make it.I was in denial at first, thinking, Just give me a shot or some antibiotics to see how this plays itself out, but Im not going to die. I went home that night and started throwing up bile. I was completely dehydrated, swollen, and I was too weak to walk on my own. The livers function is to clean your blood, and mine had gotten to the point where it wasnt filtering any of the toxins out, so I was completely toxic and had to be stabilized. I wound up hospitalized for a week. Thats when I was like, Oh, this is for real.It took 18 months before a donor match was found, and my doctors prepared me for what surgery was going to be like. They never sugar-coated things and helped me manage the fear as well. They said, Imagine what it would feel like for a Mack truck to run over you, and whatever you think that could feel like, amplify it by 10 because thats how youre going to feel after the surgery.The liver is located toward the back of your body, so what they had to do was open my chest up like a book. Theres a vertical cut that starts in between my breasts that goes down six inches and then horizontally across on both sides. They peeled my skin back to expose my rib cage and broke a rib on my left side to have better access to my liver. After they replaced it with a new one, they had to reconnect the bile ducts and all the major veins, reset the bone and then closed me up with sutures and staples.?The whole process took eight hours.During the recovery process, its mandatory to give blood every week so your doctor can monitor whether or not the liver is functioning properly. The average hospital stay after surgery is about two to three weeks. I was so tired of being sick that I checked out in eight or nine days. The staples didnt come out for another week or two.Theres nothing you can do to prepare for the first time you see the scar. Its such a deep cut, and the lines are so huge that its not something that will ever completely close -- you will always see this huge upside-down T on me. All across the scar lines are the dots from the staples, which have faded over the years, but its still slightly pinker than my normal skin color, and the scar tissue makes it a little bit puffier than the rest of my skin. It looks very tribal.The scar felt foreign at first, and I had mixed emotions. Obviously, I was thankful to have it because it meant that I made it. I was one of the lucky people that was given the gift of a donor, and Im here to tell the story.But I can remember that first summer going to the beach and wearing a two-piece -- because I was a 20-something and thats what Ive always worn. I didnt even think about it until I noticed people staring.At first I thought, What are they looking at? Then I realized it was my scar. It was bittersweet because something that brought me life caused people to look at mee with what felt like scorn.dddddddddddd I dont think I processed it as curiosity or even concern; I processed it as if they were judging me for being imperfect.I dont notice the stares now, but that first year after surgery I was extremely aware of them. I was a young woman and was much more concerned about what others thought. It made me less confident around men and in dating because I was like, Oh, God, Im going to have to tell them about my experience. If things progress, hell see it and what will he think? Its not something that I ever get to walk away from.There were definitely times where I felt awful. I was so mad at my surgeon because the cut isnt a straight line. It sounds crazy now, but Id taken such good care of my body, and before the surgery I had no other scars. None. I never had an accident as a kid that required stitches or didnt heal completely. I dont even have tattoos. So I just felt ruined.Thankfully, my mom was there to talk me through it emotionally because she grounded me. Whenever I expressed concern about people thinking Im ugly because of the scar shed say, How can you worry about that when youre here and youre healthy? If a scar, which is something that was integral to making sure that you were even here becomes a deterrent, then that person has their own hang ups and is not the one for you.Im very proud of my scar now, and I have been for a very long time, but in the beginning it definitely helped me make a lot of smart decisions about people. If I was talking to someone who was very focused on physical perfection and what is and isnt beautiful I would remove myself because Im actually extremely imperfect. Im very comfortable with that, and my scar allowed me to be more aware of the kind of person I want to share my imperfections with.Another surprise bonus of my scar is that I can use it as a weight-gain tool. I dont have the luxury of saying Im going to put on 10 pounds, because whenever I put on weight the scar tissue stretches and it hurts. I immediately feel physically uncomfortable. It just feels like your skin is being pulled taut -- but from the inside -- so it itches. Because of that, its important for me to stay physically fit, so I work out regularly. Im only 5 foot tall, so my sweet spot is 118 pounds. At that weight I still have my curves and my tummy is flat. Thats when I feel my sexiest because a toned up Mitzi is a happy Mitzi.Although my surgery and illness is not the type of experience that I would wish on my worst enemy, I wouldnt take it back because its such a tremendous part of my life journey. It informed who I am today. Im a survivor, and my scar is a daily reminder that life is for the living. I was literally just two cuts away from dying. Theres not a day that I dont get up and recognize how blessed I am to be getting up, period.Anslem Samuel Rocque is Brooklyn-based writer whose has appeared everywhere from Essence and The Root to Complex and Penthouse. When hes not shopping for memorable socks, hes procrastinating about finishing his debut novel. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @iamARocque. ' ' '