Archive for December 31, 2011

The Triathlon Rx | December 31, 2011
8 comments

GoodBYE 2011, Good GOALS 2012!

It’s probably bad luck to wish time away, but I’m ready (and I know I’m not the only one… can I get an AMEN Lindsay?!) for 2011 to be done. Pack it up. Put it in a box. And put it AWAY. So instead of “wishing time away” … I’ll try to put more of an optimistic spin on it. ;)

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize.
- Philippians 3:13-14

Ahhh… much better.

Once again, we have reached the end of another year. The time associated with “resolutions”, rush crowds at the gym, and champaign jello shots in fancy flute glasses. Only I do New Year’s a little differently…

  • The word resolutions drives me NUTS! I just feel like it cheapens the fact that you can make a conscious choice to make a change / start something new / work towards a goal at ANY time on ANY day. I do love goals, though by making goals in the last week of a December maybe I’m defeating my own point… Long story short: goals/”resolutions” = good things. Always!
  • The “fresh” crowd at the gym… I think in previous years I let myself get annoyed because it meant crowded parking lots, crowded locker rooms, crowded spin class, and crowded fitness floor. Yes, there is an increase in traffic at the gym come January 1st, but that also means there is an increase in people being cognizant about their fitness and the effects that has on one’s health. Will their commitment stick? Maybe, maybe not. But everyone has to start somewhere, and if you choose to commit to your health on New Years day, more power to you. I hereby vow to let you work in, show you where the the alternate ropes/bars are, show you how to “turn on” the elliptical, and be as kind/patient/helpful as possible. To anyone in particular that I ever rolled my eyes at for doing squats with an EZ Curl bar, I am sorry. :o
  • Champaign. Alcohol in general. Still can’t drink!! I will chose to abide by the “do not mix with alcohol” warning on my medications bottles.. and be rockin it extremely sober this NYE.

Before I get into any recent/future goals… I thought it might be fun to look at goals from the past few years, which, thanks to the blog, I have documentation for!

2008

  1. Decide: transfer to NEU, or stay at the U of MN.
  2. More family time.
  3. More home cooked meals.
  4. Strengthh train damnit!
  5. GET. MORE. SLEEP.

 

2009

Mysteriously absent… I was two weeks post surgery [#1], home from Boston for break [and recovery], and had just realized how much I missed being home in Minneapolis. Which eventually led to my decision to transfer back to the U of MN and move back to the Twin Cities.

 

2010

  1. Continue to work on getting more sleep. Ideally 8 hours minimum per night.
  2. Make sure to keep up swimming and cycling during the brief periods that you are “cleared” to run.
  3. Allow room for grey areas. Not everything in life is all or none, needs a plan, or a set schedule. Try to incorporate the practice of “go with the flow”.

 

2011

  1. Explore new ways to deepen my faith.
  2. Bandshell mass this summer!
  3. Call/write/send something to both of my grandparents EVERY week.
  4. Plan out training times at the beginning of the week.
  5. Don’t overschedule myself!!

In terms of “progress” from last year, I can check off numbers 1, 2, 4, and 5. Number 3 was an ambitious goal that I kept up for about two months… and then sadly fell off. I do love my grandparents dearly, and would like to make sure I get as much time with them as possible. You only get one family!!!

For 2012, my list is a little more extensive. Some of them are non-negotiable: Rehab… continuing education units… renewing certifications… mass. They just need to get done. Others – keep learning Italian – are more in the would be nice category. So without further delay, here it is in writing:

2012

Quite a few of these I’ve already got a running crutching start on. Others will require quite a bit more effort/time/money/PATIENCE…

Hmmm, maybe that last one should have been on the “personal” list. Too late – it’s already written!! ;)

Reader Qs:

What are YOU working towards this coming year/month/lifetime?

Te cuidas and ¡hasta luego!

-E

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The Triathlon Rx | December 23, 2011
8 comments

Friday Confessional: 12.23.11

Just wanted to check in quick before heading out of town for the holidays!! Hope everyone is doing well. If you’ve never played Friday Confessionals before, don’t sweat it. The only rule is that there isn’t any – everything goes, and you will not be judged for it. If you feel so inclined, you can check the official rundown post… GAME TIME!

1. I feel kind of badass…

A buddy of mine the other day told me I was tough as nails, and have the hardware to prove it. It was just kind of a nice reminder that this hasn’t, and won’t take me down. I am still that little feisty redhead… just have to turn the fire down for a little while. ;)

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

2. I am way behind on Christmas…

Christmas is in less than 48 hours. I just finished wrapping all my gifts at 5pm tonight. I just finished making the rest of my gifts this afternoon. (They are very Pinterest inspired… I’m actually tackling that “post-surgery crafts” board!) Oh and by the way we are heading out of town tomorrow morning. Wooops!

Luckily there are quite a few people who I am doing gift exchanges with after Christmas… Which means I will still have time to shop for for them when I get home on Monday. :D Not going to lie: don’t hate the fact that everything will be on sale!

3. Not working out is not working out…

At least mentally. It’s not even so much the I’m going to blow up into the size of a baby whale thing… calories in vs. calories out is something I know how to balance. But it’s just having all this TIME on my hands to do NOTHING!! Previously, my day was taken up with practice > work > eat > sleep > repeat. Right now my work is on hold (I work at a University… winter break), and going to practice obviously isn’t happening if I’m only able to do toe-touch weight bearing. It just feels like too much couch time, and it makes me frustrated. :mad: Maybe I just need to bulk up my “non-active to do list“.

BUT… for full disclosure I do still get to go to the gym. My doc is thoroughly encouraging to use the arm ergometer, and I’ve been getting “better” at it day by day. But it kind of feels like waiting to watch ice freeze… and it’s obviously not what I’m used to. I miss squats!!!!! (<- whining voice)

________________________________________________________

Post-surgery update:

It has only been 9 days… but it feels like it has been 3 weeks. Several changes worth noting:

Physical Therapy: Those exercises that were so hard last week? Not so hard anymore! I can do all of them unassisted, and with much less difficulty/pain than before. Today I booked PT for about 6 weeks out, and am excited to get started with it and start makin’ some progress!

Post-Op Appointment: Was this morning, and it went very well! Healing and rehab is all on track. My wound is closing nicely (and I will be able to get in the POOL on Monday!!!! So you better not here me giving a Friday Confessional next week saying “the pool is so boring!” Trust me. I’ll take it.) I will go back for xrays at the end of my six weeks (January 25th… yeah, it has been circled on the calendar for a month) and pray that the above “fresh Christmas tree cut” on my femur has fully healed!

Forearm Crutches: … have honestly changed my life. Up until my post-op appointment today I was using the traditional, under the arm crutches. And I’m pretty sure my skin was rubbed almost all the way down to my rib bones!! They make sheepskin coverings for the underarm crutch pads to help reduce friction, but I was literally wincing with every step and didn’t think the little lamby skins would cut it. If you have ever been on crutches for an extended period of time and experienced this rubbed-raw sensation, you have my deepest sympathy.

So today then, I talked to my doctor about forearm crutches. He said more and more athletes are choosing them, and they tend to work out even for non-weight bearing assistance because our breed (so to speak ;) ) already has greater arm strength. Yeah… after all this hand cycling and upper body only weights, I’d like to think I have some arm strength!!

Reader Qs:

Any additions you can give me for this non-active to do list?

Have you ever been on crutches? What for, and did you burn off all your underarm skin?

Any big holiday plays / Santa Shuffle 10Ks / extravagant field trips planned?

Take care, be good to yourself, and be safe if you’re hitting the roads.
-E

Category: Friday Confessionals | Tags: , ,
The Triathlon Rx | December 17, 2011
25 comments

Three Days Post-Surgery: Success!!

Step #1: Make it through surgery

Check!

Several hours after going under, I heard from my parents, who heard from my surgeon that the unscrewing, sawing, drilling, and plating was successful! I have a sweet post-op xray with the new fancy hardware store, but don’t have it on a disc yet so that will have to wait! In the mean time, check out the new hospital space suit/body heaters:

Yeah… talk about instant birth control right there. They’re like hospital gowns with a vacuum hose attached, pumping in hot (or cool) air. Makes you look like the Michelin Man. Also made me feel like I was sitting in a sauna, so had to turn that bad boy down. Of course the hair net is always super attractive. ;)

What I remember before surgery is all the prep, anti-bacterializing my hip, and taking out my contacts. I remember saying goodbye to my parents and the nurses wheeling me into the OR, and I remember them transferring me to the operating table. I don’t remember them at all putting the mask with anesthesia on me, and I definitely don’t remember doing the backwards countdown or anything else until I woke up 3 minutes 6 hours later! Kind of a bummer… that back words countdown and knock-out moment was kind of my favorite part.

Step #2: Make it out of the hospital

Check! 

(Last week at the clinic with pneumonia.) With minor complications. They kept me a day longer than intended due to not quite hitting the pain management marks on schedule. Then, my second night I ended up spiking a fever of 101.5, but was freezing with goosebumps, and was super congested. You might remember that I got pneumonia the week before surgery – brilliant timing, right? – so they were concerned about a reoccurrence of that. After being intubated and staying in the hospital, it’s apparently quite easy to get pneumonia. Let’s not do that!! Several PT sessions in “the gym” (full of stairs, beds, curbs, and all the other foreseeable obstacles one could encounter), a long check-out list with a bag full of drugs, and they sent me on my way! I’m staying at my mom’s house for about a week, or until I can drive again, whichever comes first. ;)

Step #3: Physical Therapy

half check…

I’m trying to channel my inner JuliaGoBigGreen here. This stuff is hard! Knowing me, I of course saved my last big leg workout for the morning-of. (Side: my friend at the gym told me he got hell from his surgeon for running the morning of… told me you bleed a lot more. Dr. Van or anyone else… true? BS?) Anyways, did my last big legs workout and hit my heaviest squat to date. Two days later, my PT is helping me to do a simple [body weight] leg lift. Oh my GOODNESS is that ever frustrating when something so simple feels so unbelievably hard!!

   

The exercises she has me doing are the same ones a patient would do after a total hip replacement… something I’m trying to avoid as long as possible! I am doing (1) quadricep contractions (thigh squeezes), (2) gluteal contractions (butt squeezes), (3) heel slides (photo left, just sliding the heel up towards the butt and back down), (4) straight leg raise (sounds so easy, and this is by far the hardest!), (5) abduction / adduction (photo right, sliding the heel out away from the body and back in), and (6) short arc quads (place a can or rolled up towel under knee, try to raise foot off ground… second hardest).

I have to keep reminding myself that they did cut through all these muscles along the lateral side of my leg, and had to sew them back together. It’s not just the bone that needs to heal, but also a ton of muscles! I do these 2x per day, and trust me… it feels like a “workout.” So funny to think that!

Step #4: Ride power-cart at Target

check!

You bet I did… as a kid I always wanted to ride the power chairs whenever we went to target or Costco or something. You know what? They go like a quarter of a mile an hour and make you feel bad for holding everyone else up. Not all it’s cracked up to be.

What I really want is one of those ride on Power Wheels Fisher Price cars… hahha let’s go with the Dune Racer:

Here’s a “friday confession” for you – I used to babysit triplets that lived across the street from me, and they had this ride on Jeep. I’d always convince the boys that they wanted to ride their scooters or something so I could ride the Jeep. And it did go faster than .25 mph. :)

Step #5: Get off meds and DRIVE!

Next Friday.

Hopefully! I can’t drive until I’m off all narcotics (vicodin, oxycontin, roxicodone), and until I have the follow-up appointment with my doctor on December 23rd. That’s just next Friday! Being independent is something that has always been important to me, and obviously being on crutches there are a lot of things I simply can’t do because I don’t have two hands. Carry soup to the table? Nope. Reach anything out of an upper cabinet? Nope (oh wait, I couldn’t do that anyways…). So it’s going to be quite a while before I can do any of that two-handed stuff, since I’m estimated to be on crutches for the next six weeks. BUT I would sure as $#!& like to be able to drive myself to PT. What else is this handicapped parking tag good for? ;)

So chicos… I made it. It wouldn’t have been without my amazing medical team, and my supreme friend/family support squad! Your prayers, texts, emails and facebook messages of votes of confidence truly mean the world to me. You are all angels, in every sense of the word.

-E

Category: Medical Monday | Tags: , ,
The Triathlon Rx | December 9, 2011
14 comments

Friday Confessional is back! 12.09.2011

Friday confessionals returning with a vengeance!! If you’ve never played before, do a quick check of the 101. Anything is fair game, and it really is more fun to play along! ;)

1. Sick chick.

And I don’t mean sick in the way cool / sick / tight / wicked / sweet / dope / fresh / anything that doesn’t actually mean “awesome”  but yet is somehow used interchangeably. Between last Wednesday (on my birthday. Not sweet, nor dope.) and this Monday, my temperature was bobbing between 102.5 and 100.7. What started out as a Dx of strep throat turned to a prescription for amoxicillin that wasn’t making me feel any better (or cooler). Turns out that I had pneumonia, which may or may not have been due to the strep that was or was not even there to begin with. So I’ve spent a lot of time here:

   

Influenza test -> Strep test -> cute note from “Kathryn” en español!

By the fireplace, under the covers, in the dark. (Creeper.)

Thankfully, since going back to the clinic on Monday and confirming pneumonia with the chest x-rays, they switched me to levoflaxacin and I’m feeling 97% better. My grandma has had pneumonia so many times and I never had any idea how miserable she felt!! :( It was I imagine a collapsed lung feels like. (My surgeon would not have been impressed with that come Wednesday….)

2. Five days until they cut my leg off.

Yes, the countdown is going strong. With all this sick business over the last week, I can tell you I was pissed bummed about missing gym time. And I have no problem fully admitting to hitting the gym the second my doctor said “I guess if you’re feeling bett…..” I have been asked multiple times by several friends:

You just can’t give it a rest, can you?!

Not today my friend. And I will tell you what… when you have two months of ass-to-couch time staring you down, you can make whatever decision you want concerning your last five days. But as long as I have been given the green light to exercise, and am not by any chance contagious, I will sweat it out until the very last possible minute.

3. I am actually scared to death for surgery.

Sure, it’s easy to look brave behind words… to say well, you can’t always chose the cards you’re dealt and there’s no way around it, so let’s do this thing! Slowly over this last week, the reality of the lifestyle changes I’m about to face has really started to set in. We have such a small amount of snow right now here in Minneapolis, and I know it’s only a matter of time before mother nature decides to unload 2 feet on us. Thinking about crutching out to my car and trying to scrape it off… thinking about crutching downstairs to/from my apartment… thinking about how the DUCK do I carry a coffee cup!?!?! All hitting the fan.

This is a rough estimate of the procedure they are doing… which I wrote more about in this post.

The wedge that you can see gets removed, leaving a brand new, fresh surface that needs to heal together. Along with the bone healing around the screws. And plate running along the lateral side of the femur. Not to mention there is a big unpredictable tumor chunk that has, until this point, proven to do whatever the heck it wants…

It never asked me if I liked the question “Why do you walk with a limp?” (No.) It never asked me if I wanted to run just one last marathon. (I started my list when I was 10.) It never asked me how I felt about crutches when it’s -20°, icy, and snowing. (Can I take coffee with me? No? Ok, angry.) It never asked me if ever wanted to sleep on my left side again. (How about just through the night?) It never asked me how I felt being left out of any/all plyometrics. (Like I’m defective.) It never asked me how it feels to explain what fibrous dysplasia is 100billion times and have every single person you just explained it to look at you and still not get it. (#GTFOH)

4. I feel super selfish.

Reread last paragraph. I can think of an equal 100billion ways it could probably be worse.

5. The Hand Crank…

- Is really kind of harder than you’d think.
- Burns like 1/3rd of the calories you can burn while running, and still feels kind of harder than you’d think.
- Is quite possibly more boring than pool running…
- Unless you find a good song that you can get krunk to crank to… in which case it might not be so bad.
- I’m going to need a lot of new songs on my iPod.
- Is kind of lonely, since there are only two in the gym (attitude correction: there are two in the gym!) and I don’t see anyone else on them.
- Which may be a blessing in disguise because I’ll never have to wait for it.
- Unless it snows two feet, in which case my butt ain’t gettin to the gym in the first place.
- Mmmm yep, still waiting for that attitude / perspective / expectations adjustment.

And that my chicostix… is about five things more than I’ve ‘fessed up to until today. And it does feel BETTER. :) Especially number 4. It’s good to get things off your chest….

#feelsgoodman

(1000 bonus points for the right reference.)

Reader Qs: Your turn!

-E

Category: Friday Confessionals | Tags: , , , , , , ,
The Triathlon Rx | December 5, 2011
12 comments

An open letter to the Yoga Instructor Wearing Aladdin Pants.

Dear Yoga Instructor wearing Aladdin Pants*, ***

I will be honest with you – I really don’t love yoga to begin with.  But in attempts to appease my coach, I do put out my finest effort to attend class one time per week. In fact, I sought far and wide for months on end, solely to find the perfect instructor. Oh this wonderful woman, bless her heart. As this is not Acts 2 in which we are enabled to converse in many tongues, nor do we all live in Uttarakhand, she refrains from speaking in pure Sanskrit. She makes us work, because that’s what a workout typically strives to accomplish. She does not whisper for us to relax while assuming “happy baby”, because I am slightly past the infantile stage, and remember? I did come here to work out.

But today, my dear friend clad in the trousers of Aladdin, she was not here. And instead I found you. Ill-mannered, offensive, tactless – these are not atributes I like to associate with myself. So I decided to remain upon my mat of imminent doom and wait it out. You could in fact have been quite similar to my wonderful instructor who does not end every single word with –sana, or blow sweet hot breath in my ear. However, it was quickly apparent that you indeed were not.

Your opening chant – which I am quite sure carried on for roughly 37 minutes, though the studio sanctuary clock insisted only took 2 – should have been my cue to say Punardarśanāya Sucka!! But no. In fact, you seemed to be so entrhalled, so mezmorized, during that that 37 minutes sans oxygen brief hymn, that I decided to come home and translate. I was simply dying to know of this magic placed upon me. This is what I came to find:

I bow to the lotus feet of the guru
who awakens insight into the happiness of pure Being,
who is the final refuge, the jungle physician,
who eliminates the delusion caused by the poisonous
herb of samsara [conditioned existence].

I prostrate before the sage Patanjali
who has thousands of radiant, white heads
[in his form as the divine serpent, Ananta]
and who has, as far as his arms,
assumed the form of a man holding a conch shell [divine sound],
a wheel [discus of light, representing infinite time]
and a sword [discrimination].

Though not quite sure where to begin tackling this sailors knot of nonsense, I will send my regrets to the sage/serpent/man holding a seashell with many heads/swoards/arms/wheels. I will not be consuming any poisonous samsara, and he will not be receiving my bow.

When you asked me to look to the sky (while indoors) and relax my eyeballs, I wanted to ask you to relax your jaw and clock you in the face. It should be known that you must in fact contract your superior rectus in order to move your eyeball in an upwards direction. To the particle board ceiling. Sans[ana] any clouds.

I understand that it is hot in your sanctuary, which may cause you to become a tad loopy. Perhaps this is not your typical conduction of this sacred practice of breathing in through both nostrils while holding the glottis partially closed. Perhaps you don’t truly believe we are changing the world by acquiring ustrasna, for it more closely resembles a stripper than a camel. Perhaps you don’t frequently burglarize young lads by the name of Aladdin for his single pair of pants. Perhaps you simply thought – damn yo, those pants are hot! – and went to Joann Fabrics to construct a pair for yoruself.

I part from you, Yoga Instructor Wearing Aladdin Pants, with a small request: to simply notify me next time your nadi(s) – your great yogic nerves conveying the life force; Ida, Pingala and Sushumna – will be occupying this particular studio on this day at this time. I will reserve this spot in the sanctuary for one of your fellow yoginis, and kindly refrain from assuming Virabhadrasana [warrior pose] and sending an arrow in your direction.

Santi out, homeboy. Give those pants back before you go home.

-Erika

*Hopefully this goes without saying, but of course I have nothing against those who fully enjoy yoga, or practice it on a regular basis. This is not meant to offend anyone, and is intended to be taken with a grain of salt. As in the hahaha kind of salt. Mama always said you can’t be friends with everybody**, and Yoga, you and I just ain’t gonna work out.

**OK, she never really told me that. She should have though.

*** Credit to my inspiration and consistent, loyal dose of laughter. http://www.mcsweeneys.net/

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