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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

July 8, 2010

Check-In at 10:00am for a surgery time of 12-Noon! AN ANSWER! Finally. Halee has been gracious enough to share her birthday with my very anticipated surgery date. When Cindy at Dr. White's office said that was the choice for that week, I said, "We will celebrate her birthday all summer!" Let me back up to earlier today, to what got me here.

I arrived at Dr. Brian White's office in Denver for my 1:30pm appointment. I was greeted in the parking garage by a man in a boot who held the door and said, "I don't miss those," referring to my crutches. He then wanted to know what was going on. In the short 2 minute ride up the elevator, he knew that I was in hopes of some answers and on my way to getting them. My appointment started with hip x-rays and quickly, Dr. White came into the room. He began with the very typical, "Start back from the beginning and be sure to include why you are on crutches now." Which in doctor's terms, I have come to realize means, "Don't lie, tell me everything, including you ran the Boston Marathon on a stress fracture." So I proceeded to give him the run down. Then I hit the little bump in the road...yes, I ran a marathon on it. I can't believe how doctors react when I say it. Maybe I should start to believe it. They all react the same. They all tell me how crazy I am. You would think I just told them that I ran over an old lady in a cross-walk in front of their building. "You did what?" He got over it quickly and moved on from the moment, performed a physical, and then went through my options. All the while, I bombarded him with question after question after question. He confirmed: my stress fracture HAS to be completely healed and cleared before I can be operated on. I have to stay on crutches until I walk into the hospital for surgery. Then I will enjoy them after as well. He advised me to invest in some new, upgraded pads. I will. He wants to give me as much time as possible to heal, while working with my teaching schedule. WOW! So, we worked backwards. School starts the first week of August. Back up 3 weeks, July 8. Back up about 3 more weeks, my MRI, June 21. (If the MRI is not clear, it gives him 3 weeks to book a surgery.) The June 21st MRI will be compared with my MRI done in March and they will be able to see, hopefully, improvement and complete healing. I am happy to have a date! Post-op timeline: 6 months until I can try to take my first running steps, and he was serious. One question that I had, and I know some of my loving family members may have as well, "Was this caused entirely from running?" His answer, "Yes, 100%" Some people can run hard forever and things like this never happen, they are "built" for it. My hips aren't built like a Kenyans.

Until surgery, I get to ride my road bike and swim, no running, no surprise. So I celebrated with a swim and have set up some swim/ride dates with my girls. Since the outdoor pool is open, I will be hanging out there more too. It won't be a bad summer afterall. I have so many plans: vacation to California, the girls have camps, camping trips, MRI, surgery, swimming, biking, gardening, and hanging out with the girls!

3 comments:

  1. I'm sure you feel much better now that there is a definite plan in place. Good luck with the crutches in the meantime. That can't be fun!

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  2. Yippee! I wonder if you can fit in a century before surgery ;-)

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