Round 4 - 5th Grade

I was told this week that I get to teach 5th grade again next year! I am so excited. Although we hope to have the choice where we want to teach or stay, it doesn't always happen, so I was elated to find out that I get to spend another year in 5th grade. I spent a full year there student teaching and have taught 2 full years in 5th since, so this will be round 4. And the I know the best year yet! Student teaching gave me a ton of experience in just being in the classroom and procedures. My first year, I focused on math and writing. This year, with having a student teacher strong in reading, I was able to recreate what reading looked like and will hopefully continue that process into next year. I am in search of something to "fine tune" for next year. I believe I am going to work on more "tiering."

This was very successful last year, but I did not end up doing it too much this year. Tiering is where you pre-assess the students and small group them accordingly. So if 5 students know 8/12 concepts, you only teach them the 4 remaining concepts, and then extend their learning, for example. It is a great way to differentiate instruction, but can be a lot of work. I did it with math regularly last year, and the students learned. Next year I also get a new math curriculum, so why not start it up again full force. While I am writing this, I had a brainstorm for how this can be done in reading as well. I can make my reading groups more fluid, almost daily.

There is always something that can be worked on as teacher. Our job is always changing. We are not only teachers, but always students ourselves.

Two Doctors

I sent my one and only set of hip xrays off to Dr. Philippon and then got some advice from others to check out other doctors. This is great advice, but now I am scheduled to get another set of hip xrays tomorrow. I am going to back up a bit in my week. I struggled immensely through this week. On Tuesday night, I started finding more blogs about Dr. Philippon. I found Nicoll Blevins' blog (linked on the left) and started reading rapidly. I read that it took her 6 months to get in for surgery with Dr. Philippon. I cried and cried, and then decided to try and get in touch with her to find out the details of her situation. Within 15 minutes, we were talking on the phone. She verified her 6 month wait time. As much as I would like to go see Dr. Philippon, I am a teacher, and my students are among top priority. If you do the math, 6 months puts me in the middle of fall, right when I am teaching again. If I wait until December to do it over Christmas break, I will come back to work while trying to manage hours of physical therapy in January, during a 5th grader's most important time of the year: CSAP preparation. Since my district is also the one of first pay for performance districts in the country, my pay is directly connected to how well my students do on CSAP; therefore, for my students and for my pay, I am fearful of scheduling my surgery during an academic school year.

Every morning I talk with a friend on the way into work. We are very close and she has had many surgeries on her foot. She suggested I look into the other doctors that were recommended to me. She said, "If they have a wait time, then you know, you have done everything." So I quickly called Dr. Byrd in Tennessee. Within 30 minutes, I had spoken with 2 people from his office, YES TWO, and one of them for an extensive amount of time. She answered all of my questions, and I felt more comfortable than I have in the last 6 weeks. Dr. Byrd is about 6 weeks out from when he receives your films, which will be this Tuesday, after I get my new hip xrays and they are overnighted. That will give me enough time to finish out my school year, go on a two week vacation, and get to Tennessee for surgery.

In the meantime, I emailed Meghan, Dr. Philippon's surgical coordinator, and she confirmed the wait time for Dr. Philippon, about 5 months once he decides to treat me. He is still in that deciding stage. I have kept the process going with him just in case I change my mind. He should have gotten my hip xrays late last week, and I assume I will hear from his office this week.

In requesting my arthrogram results to send to Dr. Byrd, I was able to look at the report: I have three tears. One they label as a "full-thickness" tear. They also say that one could be from degeneration. The forth diagnosis: Bone marrow edema in the femoral neck, my stress fracture.

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!

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.

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!

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.