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attaboy2005
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Wagner recovering well from colon surgery
By CELESTE E. WHITTAKER
Courier-Post Staff
Larry Brown might have given Dajuan Wagner the biggest assist of his life.
Brown, the former Sixers coach and current New York Knicks coach, hooked Wagner up with Dr. Lisa Callahan, one of the Knicks' team doctors, who in turn directed Wagner to a well-respected doctor, Dr. Joel Bauer, in New York City.
The result: The 22-year-old former Camden High School star underwent surgery Oct. 25 at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York to remove his colon. He'd been battling colitis -- inflammation of the colon or large intestine -- since last season and the surgery became necessary after medications and other measures didn't work.
Time will tell if Wagner -- a former first-round NBA Draft pick by Cleveland -- will ever be able to play basketball at the professional level again. Wagner believes he will.
"I'm feeling better, I'm getting there," Wagner said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "I'm up. It just makes me hungrier. I've been away from the game for a long time. I'm not depressed. It's not the end of the world. A lot of people doubt you. I feel like I'm in high school again and I've got something to prove, and I'm going to prove it."
Dr. Bauer, the clinical professor of surgery at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and vice chairman of the department of surgery, says the procedure was a success. He says the majority of his patients are able to return to whatever their function was before surgery.
He saw Wagner on Monday for a follow-up visit.
"I really think he's doing spectacularly well," Dr. Bauer said. "He's exactly where he should be or even ahead of schedule right now. Again, we can't make any predictions, but things could not be better. He's really doing very well. From the issue of his health, he's doing far better than before the surgery. There's no timetable for him in terms of when he can play ball, but the surgery was definitely a success. He's gained weight back. He looks real strong. Everything is healing, very, very well.
"He's only about three months out, but I think he's right on schedule but every person is individual. Most patients get back to whatever their function was before surgery. His function is at a much higher physical level, but our patients almost always go back to their normal function. I can't tell you when, but he looks terrific right now." The diagnosis
Dr. Bauer said Wagner had an inflammation of his entire colon or large intestine, which was making him very sick. He was losing weight, losing blood and was having difficulty "functioning as a human being."
"Medical management was tried, then that was failing, he was not having good results in that, so he was a candidate to have this operation," Dr. Bauer said.
So Wagner's entire colon was removed. Bauer said he removed the lining out of the rectum and made a reservoir or pouch out of the very last part of the small intestine.
"He maintains his continence, he essentially can function in terms of bowel function almost normally," Dr. Bauer said. "The colitis is completely gone. He has no appliances on the outside or anything like that. He has a normal digestive system except that he does not have a colon."
Before the Sixers played the Knicks on Nov. 26 at Madison Square Garden, Brown spoke about Wagner and his hope that he'll be healthy.
"We've got to get him well," Brown said. "Dr. Callahan got him the help he needed. They took his colon out. I love him as a kid, he's been through a lot and I'm just hopeful we can get him well and get him around us and move on. That's pretty serious surgery, but Dr. Callahan told me that he can live a normal life.
"He has to make some adjustments, but the most important thing now is to get him healthy and strong, because he's been sick for quite a while. But I'm hopeful that before too long he can be back working out and then we can get on the right track." In good spirits
Wagner played in two summer leagues, and even had several workouts with NBA teams, including the 76ers and Knicks.
He said he was feeling better, but apparently, even then, he was still dealing with the effects of colitis, which can cause abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite and loss of body fluids and nutrients.
According to Wagner's agent, Leon Rose, Wagner had another flare-up this summer and things went downhill from there. But he said his client is in good spirits.
"All things considered, I think he's in an excellent state of mind," Rose said. "It's amazing to me how he keeps such a positive outlook with so many setbacks, but he continues to be positive and look to the future. I believe, based upon his attitude and the success of the surgery, that Dajuan will make it back to the NBA."
Said Wagner: "As the weeks go by, it feels like I'm getting stronger, from when I first came home from the hospital and now."
He's been spending some of his time attending boys' basketball games at Camden, sitting on the bench, sort of an unofficial assistant coach for his alma mater.
"I've just been trying to stay around the game," said Wagner, who once scored 100 points in a high school game and finished his career as the state's all-time leading scorer in boys' basketball. "I go out there and try to help them out a little bit. But Coach (Clarence) Turner is the man. He pretty much knows everything." So far . . .
Wagner had a storied high school career at Camden, then played one season at the University of Memphis where he led the Tigers to the postseason NIT title. He was drafted with the No. 6 overall pick of the 2002 NBA draft by Cleveland, but had an injury and illness-marred three seasons with the Cavs.
He played in only 102 of a possible 246 regular-season games with Cleveland, missing most of them with injury or illness.
The Cavs declined to pick up an option on his contract, which would've paid him $3.4 million this season. He became an unrestricted free agent.
The good news is Wagner is still young. He doesn't turn 23 until Feb. 4. Reach Celeste E. Whittaker at cwhittaker@courierpostonine.com
Published: January 19. 2006 3:00AM
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1/19/2006 11:14 PM