Tag Archives: pain

Jun14

Surgery Recap #1

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Hi everyone.

So, summer 2016 is not going to be one filled with race recaps and training runs.  It’s going to be filled with recuperating and slowly getting back into hopefully doing a 5km by end of August.  On June 10th, I had surgery on my right foot.  It’s been five days since then, and I wanted to write a quick post on how things are going, and what I have ahead.

Friday-Surgery

Up at 5 am, out of the house at 5:30 am.  But wait, don’t you live three blocks from Chinook Regional Hospital Andrea?  Why do you have to leave so early for a 6:30 arrival?  Oh yeah, all podiatry surgeries apparently happen in Cardston. (My husband at 5:15 am-“What bumfuck town do we have to drive to again?”)  I had never been to the Cardston Hospital, and when we arrived it was sort of entertaining, as the lot was the size of an elementary school parking lot, yet completely empty.  We went through the main entrance…only people in the check-in area other than the bored security guard.  Got sent upstairs to check in to my room.  It was silent up there.  Kind of eerie.  Within that hour, I had a nurse come in to start an IV, which took two painful pokes.  He said my skin was tough and didn’t want to take the needle…reminded the nurse of the Hutterite farmers….yeah, he said that.  My tan, leathery skin was just pointed out.  About an hour and a half in the room was all I needed, and they whisked me away to get ready for surgery.  Dr. Williams and the anesthesiologist met me in the hall to go through exactly what he would be doing.  First, I straight up said I wanted general, not spinal.  I did not want to be awake during this.  Then, Dr.  Williams looked at my foot, talked about where the incision would be, that they would shave down the bone spur, etc, etc (a cheilectomy is the official term)….and then he questioned why we weren’t doing anything about my bunion today.  Well, why aren’t we?  I am getting put under, so do it all now.  He disappeared to reassess the x-ray, came back, and had me sign off on that they would also fix my bunion.  It would be through the same incision, but there would be some cutting and moving of the bone to straighten it out, a few tiny screws in the side, and voila!  I was soon brought in to the surgery room, where I breathed into an oxygen mask a few times, saw them put a brace around my foot, and then I was out.


When I woke up, everything that went on in Cardston was blurry.  Dan said the doctor came and talked to him about what they exactly did, and that they ended up doing even more than they initially planned.  Bone spur was shaved, bunion was fixed, but he was surprised at how much arthritis was actually in my foot.  And, they found a piece of bone (about the size of half a tic tac) just floating around in my foot.  So they dug that out, put it in a jar, and gave it to me as a souvenir.  Once I drank some water, ate some food and was able to use the washroom, we were headed back home.

The rest of the day was spent taking my pain meds on time (I was prescribed Tramadol and Ketorolac), watching all the tv I had dvr’d and napping.  I wasn’t really feeling much pain, but I didn’t sleep more than 2 hours at a time.  This happened throughout the night, as I did want to take all my pills every 4 or 6 hours as prescribed.

Saturday-Day 2

I was awake and moving by 7:30 am, and I felt amazingly well.  Of course, this would nose dive later in the day.  I hobbled around in my medical boot, ate some breakfast, changed clothes.  I even did my hair and went outside to look at the work Dan had done so far in preparing the roof top patio.  Since I was going to need some “supervision” the next couple days, Dan was going to stay at home and work on our rooftop patio.  If I needed him, I could just call his cell phone and he would be there.

I made the mistake of thinking I was a hero and that I could hobble around in the yard and fill the bird feeders.  I also decided to go chat it up with “old man Dwayne” next door, and then I even cut some dill from our herb garden and brought it to our neighbor Darcee.  I felt like a million bucks!  Then, I went in the house and laid on the couch, took of the shoe, and saw some blood on my big toe area.  SHIT.  It was at this time that on cue my doctor called to see how I was doing.  He said that I was probably still feeling the effects of the hospital drugs, which is why I felt like I could move around just fine, but I needed to relax.  And I sent him a photo of the blood on the bandage, and he said it was fine…just if it got worse I would need to go in.


That was enough to force myself to plop in front of the TV again.  I made it through almost both seasons of Netflix’s “Grace & Frankie” and as I was getting ready for my HGTV, TLC, FOOD rotation, my foot was ON FIRE.  Like, felt like it was on hot coals.  This pain was there for a solid 24 hours, even though I took my meds on schedule.  I also had so much stomach pain at 1:30 am I thought I was going to die in the bathroom.

Sunday-Day 3

Up at 6:30 am, and waited impatiently for 7:30 am to be able to take my pills, and wake up Dan.  He needed to go to the pharmacy STAT for something to help my stomach and make me normal again.  Also, huge shout out to my friend Maureen, who I have texted at odd hours of the night while in pain, and she’s been responding and listening to my TMI messages.  She is a new mom and she said my sleep schedule is much like her 7 week old sons, so it works out!


I managed a bath, somehow, at around 8 am.  I am so grateful we have a tub that allows my right foot to dangle over the side.  I felt a little more human after the bath.  I laid around all Sunday, felt a little better by dinner, and made myself eat a normal meal.  Friday and Saturday I had lived on ichiban for my dinner.  Tonight, Dan made some local farmer sausage, rice and asparagus on the grill.  It felt good to have real food in my tummy.  My foot started to not feel as painful, and I was able to sleep a little better at night.  By this night, I had gotten used to sleeping with the medical shoe on and rested on top of two pillows.  I slept almost 7 hours straight.

Monday-Day 4

My foot was feeling tons better than over then weekend, but my gut still didn’t feel the greatest.  I kept myself pretty productive today, without pushing my self physically.  I even did some school work outside in the sun.  This is what I pictured this recovery to be like–laying in the sun, getting a tan, sipping a drink, and working on math.  Yeah, instead its me in sweats, drugged up and bloated, with wind and sawdust blowing in my face, working on math.  I’ve also spent a lot of time trying to crochet slippers. I have redone the ones I started about 6 times now, and those are going to get sent to my mom.  I am then making some for Maureen and my best friend Ali.  Watch out, pretty soon I’ll have a one-person sweat shop happening in our basement.


My friend Jaclyn came over after golf league and brought Dan and I donairs for dinner.  Yum!  My stomach immediately hated myself for eating it, but it was worth it.  Since my pain had been down on my foot, I stretched the time between my pain meds to be longer.  I took my last set of pain meds at 7:30 pm, even though I didn’t go to sleep until 1:30 am.  I wanted to be pain med free on Tuesday.

Tuesday-Day 5

Well.  I slept until 10:30 am!  I woke up groggy, pain in my back (probably from the sofa) but my foot felt pretty good.  What have I done so far today?  Really, not much.  I called Dan, who was working on the deck in the rain, and he brought me down my regular medication, coffee, ichiban, water, etc.  After that smorgasbord, I took a nap.  Yeah, I’ve been really productive.  I didn’t finally change clothes until around 5:30 pm, and I am now writing this.  I pleaded for Dan to bring his laptop up from the shop and plug it in at the kitchen table so I could type this there.  I needed to be out of the basement.

Since I have now slept a gazillion hours, I will probably be up until 2 am doing who knows what.  I am currently awaiting my friend Bob to come back with Snoopy,, who he graciously took to the dog park with his dog Yasso.  Snoopy has been such a good little doctor the past few days!  And I appreciate my friends helping get him some exercise while I am laid up and while Dan is working.  During that time, I will also convince my husband to go to the liquor store and buy me wine.  I am off my pain meds, so I need a drink.


The days ahead

I need to keep this bandage on until Thursday, when I have my first follow up appointment.  The doctor will take the dressing of, allowing me time to freak out at my gross foot and examine how well they stitched my tattoo back together, and then bandage it back up until June 27th.  On the 27th, they take out the stitches, and I am hopefully given the go-ahead to be able to get in the water and start taking deep-water jogging classes.  During the time between these appointments, I will be doing much of the same as I have been doing since Friday-a whole lot of nothing.  I have to wear the medical shoe for at least 6 weeks, a lot longer than it would have been if I hadn’t gotten the bunion done.  I am not sure what that means in terms of walking, daily exercise, daily errands, etc.

So stay tuned for gross photos of my foot after the initial bandage is off!

 

 

Mar19

Marching on in March…

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Oh man.  Where to start?

At the beginning of March, I opted to have a cortisone injection into my foot.  This was performed after I had a “test run” injection of some other solution (yeah, I’m that bad that I couldn’t even name what they injected into my foot…but then i referred to the photo i took and it was Xylocaine.)  This first injection was to give me pain relief for a 3-5 hour window.  If this was successful, then a cortisone shot would most likely work.

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What got injected in round 1

What this first injection caused was pain, swelling, and not to mention, the fact I almost passed out during the shot!  That’s not surprising, because I have a history of passing out with needles….the first time I attempted to give blood when I was 18, after getting a flu shot at the student health center in university as part of a flu study trial (which I got paid $40 for by monitoring the injection site for two weeks)…some of the more recent ones also involved when I gave blood.  Not during the process, but after.  Donated blood and got lightheaded and had to sit down and get help from workers at Safeway grocery store…..TWICE.  My personal favorite was when I walked through The Bay department store after donating blood and then went to check out at the till and passed out briefly.  They had to get the workers at the blood clinic (it’s in the same mall) to come down with a wheelchair to get me, wheel me back, and phone my husband.  Oh, and lets back pedal to the original needle pass out occasion—when I went and got my belly button pierced when I was 15 (but lied that I was 16) and as I walked back to the car with my mom I passed out in an alley in West Allis.  I still have a scar on my elbow to prove it.  I think I was so hyped up that passing out just seemed like the right thing to do.

So, with all those needle freak outs/meltdowns/pass outs, you would have to know I would not handle this injection well.  The doctor had to go in blindly to my foot, without using ultrasound, and had to try it three times until he knew the injection had taken.  It was on the third time that I had to lay down, starting sweating, and started seeing stars.  I left the office after the first injection with high hopes, but then found myself walking around the house in pain, and I couldn’t even put full pressure on my foot, let alone put my shoe on my foot.

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First injection…before seeing stars

By the morning, my foot was better.  I had phoned the doctor a the previous night as the pain was overtaking me, and he believed that the shot may have irritated my arthritis.  Great.  So, a normal person would then cancel their second appointment for the cortisone.  I did not.

I am getting desperate, as I need to somehow function for the next four weeks and finish my training, do some races, and then run the race of my life:  The 120th Boston Marathon.  While Boston is all about completion, I have put a ton of training in, and don’t want to take it ‘easy.’  I still plan on pushing myself, though, I don’t necessarily expect a personal best.  So a week later, I went in for the cortisone.

before shot two

Selfie before the cortisone injection…a tad unsure!

I was better prepared for the needle, and it only took two times to get it injected into the correct spot.  I also creepily took a video of the doctor during the first injection, as to keep my mind off of just thinking about the pain.  This helped, and I didn’t pass out.  I know, after looking at my photos, its obvious I have a tattoo on my foot.  And I have many others too.  But tattoos never cause the pass-out feeling.  Just when the needle is actually under my skin….ugh.  So the cortisone shot was over and done.  The kicker with the cortisone was needing to take one week off of running.  I figured this was worth the chance of possibly being in less pain and having my foot less swollen after.

During those days off, my foot felt good.  It not swell like after the first injection.  I spent lots of time using my TENS machine and taking baths.  Once a week was up, my first training runs (Starting March 7th) went well.  By run 4, however, my foot was flaring up while doing a tempo workout.  Maybe the cortisone won’t help….and then on Sunday I went out to do a long run of 2 hours and 45 minutes max (20 miles max) and stopped at 14.25 miles.  While every mile was in the pace range I aim for during long runs, my foot was throbbing and I just didn’t want to push on.

smart ass

iMessages with my mom, post-cortisone

Does that mean I would quit during Boston if the pain took over?  Hell no.  I just don’t want to make it worse before Boston.  That seems silly because training for Boston and doing races in town before Boston is obviously messing it up more.  If the pain takes over in Boston, I know adrenaline, support, and absolute awe will take over.

 

Aug26

Edmonton Marathon Recap

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This past Sunday I participated in the Edmonton Marathon.  I had signed up for this event in hopes to qualify for Boston, as I failed to in June at Calgary.  I felt better trained and prepared; my head was in the game.  And the weather, other than the mugginess, was perfect-it did not feel like an August day!  Starting race temps were around 50 F, and only got up to just above 60 F.  However, this story did not have the exact fairy-tale ending I was hoping for….  

 

Here’s the story.

 

My husband and I headed up to Edmonton Saturday morning.  We had stayed in Red Deer the night before so this drive was relatively short, compared to the 5.5 hour straight drive from Edmonton back home to Lethbridge would be come Sunday.  After checking in to our hotel (Coast Plaza Edmonton) we walked the ½ mile to the Shaw Conference Center where packet pick up was.  This was a new location this year, and the facility was very nice.  I don’t know if it was crowded the first day of pickup, but by Saturday at 2:00 pm the place was dead.  Not tons to look at either.  I picked up my race bib, got my shirt, and back to the hotel to get things settled.

 

 

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I made a plan with my husband of spots for him to try to be at during the race.  I focused a lot on the second half of the course, as that would be when I would really need the help.  I had pasta for dinner, laid out my clothes and food items for the morning and went to bed around 9:00 (didn’t fall asleep until 10:00).

 

We walked back to the Shaw Conference Center that morning, as the start and finish lines were located here.  I felt mentally and physically set for the challenge ahead.  After kissing my husband, and my dog Snoopy, good-bye I filed in to the starting corral near the 3:30 pacer.  I knew I had to start of strong and find my pace quickly, so when the race began, off I went.  I got into a great groove and I was feeling positive about my pace.  My first five miles clocked in at 7:41, 8:04, 7:52, 8:10, and 8:03.  I was more than set!

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I had seen my cousin Erin and her friend about mile 3, and that was a great boost of energy.  I had been hoping to see my husband at mile 7 or 8, but he was nowhere to be found.  After we did the turn-around, he still wasn’t there.  I was still doing great at my pace, running miles 6-9 in 7:51, 7:55, 8:13, and 7:58, but I needed a familiar face.  The course is indeed flat, but you are curving through some neighborhoods quite a bit, and the streets aren’t lined up with spectators.  I started getting a leg cramp in my right leg (the leg that hasn’t been causing me issues!) and there was a pain in my IT band area.  I tried to avoid thinking about it.

 

I finally made it on a busier street, heading back towards the downtown Edmonton core, when I spotted Dan, Snoopy and Erin.  This was a huge boost that I needed at that point to bring me to the halfway!  I was still on track, though the pain was still there.  I told Dan I needed pretzels and more Nuun tablets the next time I saw him, and off I went.  Miles 10-13 were 8:05, 8:07, 8:15, and 8:16.  I was beginning to slip, but I was still on pace.

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Miles 14-17 was when my mind started going.  In my head, I wanted to keep going for that 8:00 minute mile pace.  I was telling myself to go get it, but I started to waiver in my pace consistency.  It was like what happened in Calgary at the start, but was happening now.  Miles 14-17 were 8:00, 8:27, 8:25, and 8:10.  I still was on pace to be under 3:35:00, but no longer under 3:30:00.  I could do it, and I felt pretty proud of my mile 17 time, because that was the mental mile I needed to get past.  The pretzels I had received from Dan during these miles helped, however, they couldn’t make me fly…

 

Mile 18-22 were a struggle, but it was at mile 21 that I just became unglued.  I knew I wouldn’t quit, but I realized that as each mile passed, Boston was slowly slipping away.  Miles 18-22 were ran in 8:31, 8:28, 8:21, 8:42, and 9:41.  Those miles began after I saw Dan, Snoopy and Erin for the 3rd time, and as I ran by I yelled “I need you to run with me.”  Neither of them had a chance to get out there and help me at that point, and I don’t think it would have done any good.  I knew with how the route was, I would be looping back over to where they were stationed, so I hoped one would join me for the home stretch.  Running through those neighborhood loops with my legs tightening up and being alone was extremely tough.  When I made it back that way, I had about 4 miles left to run.  I was hurting.  Bad.  Dan joined in with me as I was running, and he really thought I had a chance to still get Boston.  If my legs weren’t in the pain they were in, I could have potentially made up time.  But I was slowly coming to the realization that my body just wouldn’t let me do that.

 

Dan ran with me the rest of the race.  In his blue jeans.  And brown North Face canvas shoes.  I use the term ‘run’ loosely because we had to walk at points, I had to stop at points, and I gimped at points.  He kept telling me I couldn’t quit—I wasn’t going to quit.  I was going to finish.  As I realized Boston was gone, I did also come to the realization I could still get a personal best.  It would be close, but I could.

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I managed to get my last mile back under 10 minutes, which helped me get in to the finish at 3:44:59, beating my previous best by 1 minute and 23 seconds.  Those final four miles were run in 10:50, 10:21, 11:30 and 9:50.  I never full out lost it with tears that day, but as I came in to the finish my eyes swelled.  I was thinking about my training, about this race, about how much my legs hurt, about how close my time had been to the correct pace, about the last 2 years of running, about my dad…There was so much going through my head.   Sure, I didn’t make the time I had come out to get, but I had calmly talked to Dan as we jogged the last 4 miles that I would be OK with it.  I think he was actually surprised how calm I was, how I wasn’t throwing a fit.  Four years ago, when I was still all out of sorts about personal losses in my life, I would have lost it.  But I am in a better place now.

 

This wasn’t a true failure or defeat, though.  I did not ‘lose.’  Hell-I got a personal best!  I’ll take that any day of the week!  As for Boston-Boston will always be there; I have the rest of my life to qualify for it.  I will qualify for Boston and run in Boston someday.  I will, I can promise you that.  It just didn’t work out in the cards this weekend that I would be running in 2015. 

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The full marathon is a different type of beast, and it’s very hard to tame.  They have a mind of their own.  I can barely move today, and my body feels like it is just shut down.  I want to curl up in fetal and sleep for 24 hours.  I am going to continue with my half marathons, 10 km races, Spartan Races, and other distances I can find.  Maybe I’ll do another full marathon in the near future, but it won’t be for a Boston attempt at this time.  There would have to be a special reason for me to sign up to do the 26.2 miles again anytime soon.  I will keep searching out new races in the area to support and try, and also keep heading back to my old favorites.  I am also hoping to get more people into the act of running, because it is something EVERYONE can do.  I love coaching cross country, I love getting kids excited about long-distance running, and I love getting friends and family members involved who maybe otherwise wouldn’t have.  Running makes me happy, even when I am in as much pain as I am after doing 26.2 miles.  The pain I feel in my body is worth it, because if I didn’t keep running, I would be in more pain than this.

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Jan22

Training is 10% Talent, 90% Mental (these stats are made up by me at 10 PM on a Tuesday)

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I posted this week in regards to me joining a marathon club for the first time ever in my running ‘career’. I talked about my training style and how I hardly ever run with music. I also talked about how I usually always run alone. But I haven’t discussed how even after years of longer-distance road-running…getting going on a training calendar has its highs and lows.

I am the type of person who works better with a checklist, a calendar, a to-do. So as I prepped this craziness I have occurring the next year, I started making my first training calendar for my first half of the year, the Hypothermic Half in Lethbridge, Alberta. Planning out each day leading up to the race, I make sure my mileage increases appropriately, with proper rest days & long runs, and that I hit my peak distance at the opportune time. It gets me excited to run again! (Even if it is the death of winter!)

I get into a weird addiction cycle. Even though this ‘calendar’ is just a iPad created document with a stylus and Penultimate, I have to follow it. I get home from work at a decent time, get changed and done up for my run, and out I go. Before the training calendar comes into play, I find excuses to not run, stay at work longer and talk myself out of running…but the calendar gets me going! My long run this past week was Saturday-I ran 5.5 miles. I pumped it out in 50 minutes 17 seconds. i had a 9:08 pace. And I felt awesome. Then, Sunday, I got up at the ass-crack of dawn (at least as far as Sunday mornings go) and did my first Runner’s Soul Mararthon Club run. 4 miles-felt great! 39 minutes 12 seconds and 4.22 miles. Awesome pace for me on a training day!

Went into the work week feeling like the best athlete ever! Oh yeah-I felt like competing with my 18 year old self. But today, on my 4 miler, my legs felt like cinder blocks. It wasn’t windy, but I couldn’t get a good stride. I did exactly 4 miles, not a tenth more, in 38 minutes 24 seconds. And I was grumpy. I took a shower, put on pajamas, and have been sitting at the table marking papers, sitting on the couch watching “Parenthood” and crappily-wonderful HGTV shows, and sitting with my legs crossed. And they hurt even more. Point is…some training days are going to be incredible. They are going to make you even more excited for the insanity you are preparing for. Lets be honest… more often than not, you have these mediocre, blahhhhhhh training days. And those are the tough ones.

The ones that make you dread your run tomorrow in fear of it feeling even worse.

But that’s when you have to power through and focus on the reason WHY you are doing this. I am specifically doing these crazy runs this year in memory of my dad, and that keeps me going…but i also have to remember that i am doing these runs for me…to make me better, more complete, more disciplined. Not every day is going to be a record-breaker…more often than not, the days are disappointing, frustrating, cold, dreary and tough. The pain truly is temporary. Making it though the painful days makes the end even more rewarding.