Listen while you read.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Frustrated...

doesn't begin to explain how I feel. I finally received the long awaited call from Dr. Philippon's office today, and they informed that he would like to see regular xrays of my hip as well. I was originally told to only send my arthrogram, so after a two plus week wait, you can imagine that I am a little frustrated to know I will have to wait even longer. The arthrogram confirms the tear, but does not actually show if there is an underlying issue, such as hip dysplasia. Being a runner, and running on icy single-track trails all winter, I assumed my tear was from a slip on the ice and not from hip dysplasia or a hip disorder. Obviously he didn't get to be known as a world renowned doctor by overlooking the details, but in my case, I am wishing we could cut to the chase and get going with scheduling surgery.

So I made a quick call to my orthopedic surgeon here in the Springs and asked if they could mail my xrays. It wasn't easy, but the nice lady said she would take them to the post office on her way home. Thank goodness! I thanked her profusely.

In the meantime, Madeline, Dr. Philippon's receptionist, gave me his surgical coordinator's phone number so I could call her. I am wondering if it is taking weeks to get films reviewed, how long it will actually take me to get surgery scheduled. I had to leave a message and she will get back to me at her earliest convenience. All phone numbers for his office go directly to voicemail, and so I am constantly in a state of waiting: something that I do not like to do. As a matter of fact, when i got pregnant with my first child, my dad said, "Well, this is one thing you are going to have to wait for and that you can't control!" I guess being a serious type A personality, I like to be in control of everything, and this is one thing that is definately beyond that. And the bummer is, I began running because I felt it was a controllable situation: your training, your results. Now I am left with an uncontrollable situation, especially as it pertains to running.

In the meantime, while I wait, I am building up motivation to go swimming tomorrow. Scheri is going to meet me for a swim date. I wanted to workout on Saturday, but was in so much pain, I decided that was a bad idea. I am finally feeling like I want to workout, but it is hard to get motivated to jump in the pool or hop on a stationary bike. It just doesn't excite me like hitting a trail. I better stop daydreaming, grow some patience, and start living for today!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

And There Were Three...


I have all three boxes in and done! I have planted my cold weather plants in the middle box. My warm crop seeds have sprouted and I can't wait to plant the rest in a few weeks.

Still Waiting...

Yesterday was one of those days. I kept counting in my head...February, March, April, and almost May. Even though it has only been just over two months since I have actually had this injury, and two weeks since I was officially diagnosed (a month if you count from when the doctor told me he thought I had it), it seems like the time is dragging on and on. I know I should be happy because I have read stories from people that have had this for years to get diagnosed after they have dealt with it for what must seem like an eternity. Just when I think I have my post surgery schedule all figured out, I read another blog where someone has a completely different routine than the last. So I guess I will just have to continue to wait to see what the doctor actually says. And I guess I'll have to continue to wait for the doctor to actually call me back to let me know where we go from here. Hopefully they call tomorrow.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Boston Marathon

I ran the Boston Marathon this last Monday, April 19th. It was an amazing race, and I am very happy that I made the decision to go and run. Scheri and I arrived on Saturday evening and began our site seeing early Sunday morning. We started by taking the bus and the T (the metro system) to the expo, picking up our numbers, race shirts, and Boston Marathon goodies. Quickly after, we jumped on a double decker tour bus to start our round of the city. This tour has 20 stops and tons of buses, so we could get off and on as we choose, stay as long as we like, and then catch the next bus every few minutes. This was a great way to see Boston and I highly recommend it. It also included a boat cruise of the Boston Harbor. What a bonus! We saw all of the sites such as Harvard, Cheers, Boston Common, parks, shops, and more. We were worn out when we arrived back at our hotel after 7:30pm. We worked out our plan for race morning and went to bed early.

Monday morning began with an express bus ride into downtown Boston. This only took about 12 minutes. We proceeded through a long line in which they boarded thousands of runners onto the buses. After arriving downtown around 6:30am, we waited for a while and did not board our bus until 7:45 or so. The bus ride itself took quite a while and we arrived at Hopkinton High School (the start area) around 9am. We only had an hour before the race started and 20 minutes before we had to get into our corral. AND we had to go to the bathroom and drop our bag. After all of that, we walked into our corral with about 10 minutes or so to spare, and we took a few pictures and soaked it all in. It was a perfect day!

The race began, and we started out at a faster pace, like we suspected. The first 6 miles were around an 8:30 pace. (Our hope was around a 9:00 mile pace on average.) I felt pain right away, but it really set in around mile 4. In most cases, I feel the pain around 17 or 18, so this wasn't the greatest sign. I told Scheri a few times that I wanted her to leave me at mile 16, which was our prior agreement prerace. She did let me know that she probably was not going to. My Garmin turned off (battery died) at mile 12, and we were at an 8:37 average, so I knew we were slipping. From 15K to 20K we averaged 8:49 per mile, so we were actually more on track. However, I knew hills were coming and I really feel the tear in my hip on the uphill, and the stress fracture hurts on the downhill. I had stopped talking back at mile 8 and had concerns about being able to stay with Scheri the entire time. We reached mile 17 and began a series of hills. 25K to 30K was ran at a 9:40 pace. I asked Scheri to go so many times, but she kept motivating me along. Before I knew it, I thought if I can hang with her until mile 20, I can push it out. With 7 miles left, she informed that we had to do 10 minute miles in order for us to make a sub 4:00 marathon. I didn't think I could it. It sounded impossible. I was having spasms in almost every inch of each of my legs. I was drinking as much Gatorade as I could in hopes of helping, but they only got worse. I took a gel every 4 miles, and each time she would say what I had to do, I would pick up my leg through a cramp or spasm and hope that I would be able to pick my leg up again, and again, and again. We made it through the hills, and I knew the crowds would only get better and the course would get flatter. (Flat is actually what I needed for my injuries.) Even though 30K to 35K is flat, I am only able to maintain pace, not speed up, but glad I did not slow down. (I only realize this as I write this blog.) We make it to 23 miles, I finish my last gel, and I am worshipping every timing clock we pass. I knew Scheri was hoping for a sub 4 hour, and I wasn't going to be the one to hold her back after all of this. She hasn't ran a marathon over 4 hours, so it was more a fun thing, than an actual goal...but still important. I maintained pace from 35-40K. This felt like a 7 min. mile, and my effort level was a 10 the entire race. We turned the corner, where we could see the finish in the distance, and Scheri said, "We have 4 minutes, do you wanna walk?" I hadn't walked yet and I knew better than to think we had any extra time. The finish line was not THAT close. I pushed it hard with everything I had left, which wasn't much. (Apparently-it was just a 9:23 mile or so.) We crossed the finish line and I collapsed. I didn't have another step left in me. A doctor quickly checked me and verified that my hip was not broke, so I maintained a stress fracture on 26.2 miles of asphalt. My tear hurt more than anything, so I got a bag of ice, my crutches and bag, and headed to the park to rest. I finished! I went to Boston to finish the race, and I did it in 3:59:13. Not too bad considering I have a hip stress fracture and a labral tear...
The point of the marathon for me - to push myself beyond what I think I think I am capable. I succeeded. I finished!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Arthrogram Films Were Sent...

to Dr. Philippon in Vail, Colorado. I received my positive results - hip labral tear (hip stress fracture still showing up, another injury for another time) on Saturday from my orthopedic surgeon here in Colorado Springs. He referred me to Dr. Philippon and so I called his office first thing Monday morning in which I was told that it could take his receptionist 24 hours to call me back. Not his nurse or the Dr. himself, but his receptionist. She returned my called today, just over 24 hours later. She informed me that she would conduct a short interview, basically my address, birth date, etc. and then asked how the injury happened: "Did this happen in a car accident?" I replied, "Nope, running." I also told her that I had a hip stress fracture and was hoping to recover from surgery and that simultaneously. She informed me that Dr. Philippon's process was to review my films with the short interview, and then get back to me in about a week.

Already losing sleep, I quickly asked if she could give me a ballpark range of time that I would be looking at before I would be getting in for surgery. Her response, "Dr. Philippon will look at your films and then we leave it up to him to decide when you need surgery." She was very nice and probably did as much consoling as she possibly could without me actually being their patient yet. However, it left me still wondering when all of this would begin, and ultimately end.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

My Garden









I am almost done "building" it, the garden of course. I have been in the process of adding boxes to the gigantic garden this year, in order to make it more manageable. I have two boxes in and one to go, which I hope to have done tomorrow. I also decided I was going to stain the fence around the garden to make everything look absolutely beautiful. In June, when Black Forest Mulch opens, we will have two loads of mulch brought in for around the boxes and fill in the flower beds with the rest. Now all that we need to do is plant our cold weather vegetables and wait until May 15th to transfer our starters. Very exciting.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

"You have a Hip Labral Tear..."


and "the femoral neck stress fracture is still showing up on your MRI." It has been about 10 hours and although I was trying to fight it, every second today, it finally hit: I am totally freaking out! I am not quite sure what to do, so I decided blogging was a good idea for now. I guess the real answer is, there isn't much I can do and that is what is so stressful and so frustrating. Searching the internet led me to the picture of what I will have to wear to sleep post-op. There is plenty more that I will not include in this post. On Friday, after my arthrogram, I tested out my "balance" on my right leg again, just by trying to stand on it. I still couldn't. I try every day, and I never can. I knew it was a tear this whole time, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, that pain I was feeling was the stress fracture, but now I don't think so.

I was expecting the news, so I had a list of questions prepared. My kidneys (because I have kidney stones) have been hurting with the increase of calcium, so I asked him about that. He said to take it down a bit until they felt better. I also wanted to know about my post-Boston plan. I am still running Boston. The tear doesn't change my mind about Boston and the Dr. agreed that the tear shouldn't affect that, the stress fracture should have. He said he wouldn't need to do another MRI post-Boston because he felt that me getting surgery would ultimately make me stop running and rest the stress fracture; therefore, healing it. He told me I needed to go on crutches immediately following Boston. In fact, he warned me that I would WANT them. (I can't imagine wanting them right now, except after my arthrogram on Thursday, I couldn't walk AT ALL, and did WANT them...as much as I hate those things.) So I may have them waiting for me at the finish line. Pretty sad.

My plan as of right now. Call Dr. Philippon in Vail, CO, on Monday and find out how soon I can get in. He is one of few Dr.s that perform this surgery and I am hoping it doesn't take forever to get this done. I have a swim date planned with Scheri on Monday...to start preparing for my summer sport. I will be swimming a lot. She is a good friend, and planned for us to ride the recumbent bikes and swim. (This is supposedly what I will be able to do after - maybe.) Writing has helped, so thanks for reading and listening.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter Weekend

I had a super productive weekend...cooking with my "meal makers" group and now officially have 10 frozen meals, did all of the laundry, worked in the garden, washed the car, and cleaned out the garage! I decided that crutches were like a job, just for Monday through Friday. I was in some pain last night, but seemed to ward it off today. Not sure why I feel it in the middle of the night so much, but it seems to be getting less and less frequent. Anyways, back to how productive I was-

Marc is visiting his family this weekend, and I usually like to keep busy to make the time pass quickly. Plus it is exciting to have a couple of days warm enough to clean out the car, which leads to the garage. I am trying to get my garden boxes completely done by the end of next weekend...oh ya and I started staining the garden fence too. I will post pictures when the yard starts growing in.

Quick running update: two weeks until Boston. Arthrogram, including 2nd MRI, is this Thursday. I did my long run on the elliptical this last weekend - 2 hours worth, felt like a lifetime. Thought about secretly hitting the trail today...just for a few miles, but didn't.