The legendary basketball player Petkana Makaveeva was born on October 4, 1952. She played for the teams of "September Glory" Mihailovgrad, CSKA, "Akademik" and "Levski Spartak". With the national team, she won a silver medal from the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980, and a bronze medal from the Games in Montreal in 1976. There is also silver from the European Championship in Budapest in 1983 and bronze from the European Championship in Clermont-Ferrand in 1975. Her great club successes are with the "Levski" team - two-time winner of the "Liliana Ronkhetti" KNK (1978 and 1979), and in 1984 also lifted the Cup of the European Champions. How the fan favorite with the most accurate sight lives now, she herself tells in an interview for "Doctor" magazine.
Ms. Makaveeva, did you have any injuries during your professional basketball career?
- I had a partial achilles tear and nodules on it from the bounces and strains. They were terrible pains, I could not stand on my feet. Nadka Golcheva had the same problem. And because we didn't have to stop playing, Dr. Atanasov gave us injections and so we continued. I got another big injury at the European Championship in Banja Luka in 1980. In the match with the Polish team, the central striker blocked me, put her knee and crossed my thigh muscle. There was a huge hemorrhage, my thigh swelled up. The journalist Pesho Hadjiyski, may God forgive him, was with us at this European event and wrote that I was a heroine. I played with a swollen leg, I was dragging it, but I had to save the team - not to drop out of the top six. Well, I saved the day. But then I couldn't play for "Levski" until the end of the year.
How did you do?
- "Levski" sent me to Germany to their biggest specialist traumatologist at that time. They took my picture. They had a special machine that took pictures of the muscles. This device was not available in Bulgaria. When the doctor saw what the situation was, he cleared up the hemorrhage in a week with just pills. Otherwise, Prof. Shoilev wanted to cut and clean me, because I had calcified I don't know what. Then I would be done with basketball. But the club sent me to Dr. Elenek in Berlin with two other injured athletes. Then I continued playing.
The third serious injury was to the teeth. I played for the national team. I was standing under the wrestling basket. Then Todorka Nikolova from Plovdiv broke through, but she was bumped and she hit me with the head. As a result, my front two teeth came in. Dr. Popova grabbed her head.
Did you have your teeth pulled out?
- No, they saved them. They were broken inside the bone itself. Then, for many years, the professor gave me as an example to the students. My upper jaw was splinted and I was only taking liquids. In six months with splints in my mouth, my broken teeth healed. I was lucky that I didn't tear ligaments in my knees. That in those years there was no Prof. Tony Georgiev, who now fixes them in weeks. Then, when you break up, you're done with the sport
And I played basketball for 23 years, of which 15 years in the national team.
After you ended your racing career, did you have any he alth problems?
- The only thing is that I gained a lot of weight. I stopped at 36 and maintained my weight for ten years. But suddenly I gained weight.
I recently went to Ivan Garabitov and with a special regimen I lost 10-12 kilograms. Things are done with palm syrup and 10 days of complete starvation. But this nice syrup gives you all the nutrients you need, energy and fills you up. At the same time, it cleanses the body of toxins, plaques on the blood vessels, cleans at the cellular level. Gymnastics is also done. It's not very complicated. Like for pensioners. These are 5-6 isometric exercises, kind of like yoga. You sweat, but you don't run. The most difficult for me was the back exercise - you lie down and make movements like a absorbent pad. But I did more or less. I also underwent a joint massage with some kind of device. I used to not be able to bend my knees. My knees and ankles were swollen. But now I feel very well. I underwent the procedure with Mr. Garabitov together with two other female friends of mine - athletes. I am very pleased. I'm more energetic now. I'm already calmly bending over and tying my shoes. I couldn't bend over before. I had gained 130 kg.
I am thinking of doing another course of treatment with Garabitov after the New Year holidays. At least two months should pass after the first weight loss. I want to lose less than 100 kg. I used to think that by running with my grandson in the kindergartens, I would lose weight. But it didn't happen.
- Maybe some hormonal drugs have slowed down your metabolism?
- No, just because I suddenly stopped moving, exercising. I said to myself: "Enough of running! 23 years is enough!” I got a nice rocking chair, just sat, watched TV, read newspapers, books. When I weighed myself, I was scared. Good thing I did that weight loss. I feel better now. Otherwise, I was still dizzy, I was still sleepy, it wasn't me. I used to be so lively. I said to myself: "Oh Petkanche! Get a grip!”
And how's your blood pressure?
- It was very high and I picked it up abruptly for emotional reasons. Sometimes over 200, so I ran to the polyclinic to the jeep to give me injections. On the third day since I drank this syrup and did the rest of the procedures, my blood went from 150 to about 130.
Received from losing weight and cleansing
It's expensive, but worth it. Plus it cured my cough. With the clearing of the cells, the cough also stopped.
What is this cough from? Do you smoke?
- I explain it to myself with the dust I breathed in the halls. Otherwise, I have neither smoked nor smoke.
Are you on any diet?
- Here yesterday and today I ate nothing but grapes. Tomorrow I will eat only grapefruits and so I will ride on fruit for a week. One needs to cleanse one's body from time to time. And I'm a butcher, and I can eat meat for breakfast. But it is not very useful to eat meat all the time. Because it's not clean either. They stuff the animals with hormones. I did the expensive Dukan diet - with meat and salads - and lost a few pounds. But then I suddenly uploaded twice as much.
Which medicine are you a fan of - official or alternative?
- I combine them from time to time. I drink herbal teas, but I trust medicine more. I stopped the coffee because Ivan Garabitov told me that it is better to go for tea and juices. I go prophylactically in the year of examinations. However, I pay myself so that I don't have to wait in front of the offices. To be on the safe side, I'm going to a private reception. The GP gives me a referral for a mammogram, but I still pay there. It may be less than no referral, but I pay. I have to go to a gynecologist for a preventive examination soon. I go regularly.
What is your daily routine?
- I get up in the morning at 6 a.m. I drink a glass of warm water, get dressed and start preparing lunch. Since the grandson appeared, I stopped working. At 8:30 they bring me Martincho, who is now 3 years old. If the weather is nice, I go out with him. I am among mothers with children. It is very important to keep in touch with young, enthusiastic people. And not to gather with grandmothers like me. The whole neighborhood knows me - grandma Pepa with Martincho. He went to crèche, but one day in crèche and then he was sick for three days. That's why I watch it.
And when your sons Stefan and Zlatin were small, how did you look after them?
- Whatever Dr. Krastev said in the 14th polyclinic, that's what I did. But they grew up he althy boys. I raised Zlatin in the "Slivnitsa" hall. I'm at practice and he's on the sidelines in the cart. As I run, I tell the masseuse to give him the milk or change his diapers. I am happy with Dr. Daniela Hartmann, who was then the team doctor and advised me.
