I have to say this is one of the best birthday's and birthday week. I actually slept the best I have slept in over 10 months!!! I had surgery on Monday and had some anxiety and nervousness about it because when the doctor came in to speak to me and my folks before surgery he explained in clarity how I need a spinal fusion and his success rate with the procedure he decided to do Monday is usually 90-95% but he could not say that in my case. Then I wondered why didn't we just do the fusion...but he spoke before I could ask and said how he knows what my activity level is and he did feel mentally I could not handle the recovery from a fusion and it would be almost a year before I could run again with that. I understood this and he is right...the past 6 weeks of pain and being stuck on the couch caused me to have so many selfish thoughts of not being able to hold on another day but I did - I have a amazing son who called from college and checked on me everyday and told me how much he loved me!
I only told a few friends about what was going on because I don't like people to know when I am in pain or not doing well. I learned a lot from doing that as well....I learned some of those that I thought were close friends really are not -I guess I thought telling those I felt were my closest friends meant I cared about them enough to let them know what was going on and thought they cared enough about me to support me and keep me positive. Instead I learned that there were a few who I told when I saw at a Doctor visit or if they saw me crippled over in the grocery and could tell something was wrong and came to me in concern that those were the ones that have really been there for me more so.
Lets get back to the surgery/miracle for now - We stayed the night in Columbus on Sunday night as I had to be to the surgery center Monday am. I got all checked in and they came to do my IV. The girl doing my IV was rough and kept pushing so hard and the vein popped and I passed out...next thing I was hearing was 3 nurses saying stay with us stay with us and the anesthesiologist asking me questions about allergies while I was just trying not to hyperventilate and at the same time the other nurse starts to put the IV in my other arm. I then remember the anesthesiologist say she will wait a minute LOL...ok yes please do because I can't hear a word you are saying right now. I had to sit up for a minute to get bearings and then the other nurse got my IV in and it bleed everywhere. Wasn't my morning for needles and at this point I am so tired of needles and hospitals and doctors. After that is when the doctor came in to discuss what we were doing and what I need done etc. When I got to the surgery room I guess during the anesthesia I kept fighting it asking the doc if he thought I would be recovered enough to run 100 miles at Nanny Goat in May and all these other events. After the surgery when I woke up I just I started on those questions again. haha. He told my folks boy she's a stubborn one isn't she :) He also told them I have a lot of permanent nerve damage and that a spinal fusion is eminent. He did say no to 100 miles at Nanny Goat in May haha He also say no to even the 25K at Zion in 6 weeks mostly due to it being unstable trail and risk of falling right now. I am planning to volunteer but will get his permission and what duties and hours I can do it.
I got to the recovery room and I did wake quickly and recovered quickly. My surgery took about an hour and I was on the way home by around 10:30. I could feel the incision pain and even though it was a small area it felt like the entire back of my lower back....I could already tell the pain in the glute hip and down the leg was gone. My folks went to get the car and the nurses said I probably wouldn't see him until my follow up because he has surgeries scheduled all day and typically just speaks to the family after the surgery and goes in for the next one. He stopped in to check on me as I was dressed getting ready to leave and I told him I could already feel the difference and again asked him about running LOL. I did this because my mother only heard that he said no to running trails and long events and NO 100 milers..and he said no to 100 miles in May and trails right now because of falling and injuring a disc since everything has just been opened up. Falling now could easily rupture something else so I need to let it heal and be careful. I respect that and I will follow orders but when my mother started telling me I wasn't going to be running I was completely let down because thats why we didn't do the fusion right now and did this procedure so I would recover faster and be at the things I enjoy doing quicker. I was so glad he peaked in before I left because I woulda gone crazy not knowing anything at all about recovery before the 13th when I go back.
My mom came and washed the orange off my back yesterday and then I got into my shower and washed my hair....wow I washed my hair and body without having to hold on to the towel bar crying and praying for the shampoo to rinse out faster!! That was the first in 6 weeks and was an awesome feeling!! I can walk to the bathroom. I can stand and make a sandwich.....all the small things we take for granted and when they are taken away from you its a terrible thing but when a doctor can give them back to you its a miracle!
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Friday, February 20, 2015
Good News
CT for the nodule on the lung...there are actually two of them and I was told a lot of folks that live on the Ohio River it is common for these to appear. I was told to recheck in 6 months and if no growth recheck again in 18. I feel positive about this and the Dr said not to worry.
4 more sleeps and I should be pain free!!! This is going to be the best birthday present ever!!!
In my free time I have been writing out what I want to sign up for as soon as I find out how long the recovery is going to be. If the doc feels he can fix me and that I will be able to train and complete Ironman Louisville in October then I know I will be able to add many more events! Zion is April 11th and like I said I know its not gonna be a go for the 100K as I planned but will see about the 50K and if not I know he should let me hike the 25K!! I will then have 3 weeks till the Flying Pig 4 way. This is a 5K 10K on Saturday May 2nd and then the marathon on May 3rd. I know I won't be as fast as I was not that I was super fast haha but I will be starting my comeback from a month off! Then at the end of May I am really looking forward to Nanny Goat 24 hour event in Riverside California. I do not have a mileage goal in mind...the only goal I have is to have a wonderful time and see old friends and make new. Next on the schedule is in July which is the Capital Reef 50 milers....this one is going to be amazing!! Amazing hard due to the altitude of the event...I think I read 25 of those miles are at an altitude of 11,000 feet! Hoping the scenery keeps that altitude sickness away. It didn't keep it away at Pikes Peak but I don't quit and will get the job done! Next thing on schedule is Ironman Louisville in October.
So I've been writing out what I want to do once I see how my body rebounds and have some awesome things on tap!! I know on Labor Day Weekend I will do The Race of Ages in Tenn...this race is a timed event and you run your age in hours!!! So I will run as many miles as I can in 47 hours! Its kinda a handicap for older runners....those fast young'ens may cover 100 miles is 22 hours which is their age but someone 65 will have 65 hours to go further. I have read there are a lot of older folks going to this one already!! I can't wait.
These are my must do this year list -California International, Flying Monkey - which I can not wait to do!! Last year I had a double state weekend that if I missed I would not have finished my 50th state in December and the 2 previous years JFK 50 miler was the day before and logistics just wouldn't work.
St Judes, Will put in for MCM lottery and hope to get into that again this year. I am the type that loves to do double marathons on the weekends if I have to travel further then 6 hours to get there. I am hoping to do some of the Mainly Marathon series to be able to visit with those extended family members.
4 more sleeps and I should be pain free!!! This is going to be the best birthday present ever!!!
In my free time I have been writing out what I want to sign up for as soon as I find out how long the recovery is going to be. If the doc feels he can fix me and that I will be able to train and complete Ironman Louisville in October then I know I will be able to add many more events! Zion is April 11th and like I said I know its not gonna be a go for the 100K as I planned but will see about the 50K and if not I know he should let me hike the 25K!! I will then have 3 weeks till the Flying Pig 4 way. This is a 5K 10K on Saturday May 2nd and then the marathon on May 3rd. I know I won't be as fast as I was not that I was super fast haha but I will be starting my comeback from a month off! Then at the end of May I am really looking forward to Nanny Goat 24 hour event in Riverside California. I do not have a mileage goal in mind...the only goal I have is to have a wonderful time and see old friends and make new. Next on the schedule is in July which is the Capital Reef 50 milers....this one is going to be amazing!! Amazing hard due to the altitude of the event...I think I read 25 of those miles are at an altitude of 11,000 feet! Hoping the scenery keeps that altitude sickness away. It didn't keep it away at Pikes Peak but I don't quit and will get the job done! Next thing on schedule is Ironman Louisville in October.
So I've been writing out what I want to do once I see how my body rebounds and have some awesome things on tap!! I know on Labor Day Weekend I will do The Race of Ages in Tenn...this race is a timed event and you run your age in hours!!! So I will run as many miles as I can in 47 hours! Its kinda a handicap for older runners....those fast young'ens may cover 100 miles is 22 hours which is their age but someone 65 will have 65 hours to go further. I have read there are a lot of older folks going to this one already!! I can't wait.
These are my must do this year list -California International, Flying Monkey - which I can not wait to do!! Last year I had a double state weekend that if I missed I would not have finished my 50th state in December and the 2 previous years JFK 50 miler was the day before and logistics just wouldn't work.
St Judes, Will put in for MCM lottery and hope to get into that again this year. I am the type that loves to do double marathons on the weekends if I have to travel further then 6 hours to get there. I am hoping to do some of the Mainly Marathon series to be able to visit with those extended family members.
Monday, February 16, 2015
update
I haven't posted much because I have just been depressed and kinda stuck on the couch. I did the New Year's Eve and New Year's Day Double Double which consisted of a 5K at 7am followed by a marathon at 9am each day. It was in Allen TX with unseasonably cold temps. NYE was just cold and windy and NYD was an ice storm. I still felt better when I was running and would get up a couple hours early to take my medicine so that when it gets closer to time to leave things start to kick in a bit and its a little easier to get dressed and put shoes on and move. After the Double Double I had 2 weeks off and then was a pacer at Mississippi Blues on Jan 10 and ran First Light in Alabama on the 11th. This was my first pacing gig and I had a blast. I think knowing I was going to be having a new experience helped me keep the pain at bay. I had 8 folks start with me and 8 finish with me. 7 were original starters. At first light I really was hurting and had to take a lot of pain meds....running with a group of anywhere from 6-18 and I had everyone high fiving at each mile like I did the day before makes the time go much faster. We were hooting and howlering and really had a fun time! When I returned home I was scheduled for a myleogram since the week before we tried one last injection...this time in the L5....it didn't help at all either.
The myleogram was a test where contrast dye was injected into my spine and a CT scan was done after. The results of this test showed why the other options had not been working because things are much more severe then what the MRI even shows. There is severe spinal stenosis in 2 places, a synovial cyst near the L5, severe arthritis and a couple disc are blown or something? After the myleogram I had some spinal fluid leakage and was ill and on bedrest for almost a week. The pain in the hip/glute/leg has become unbearable and pain medication doesn't even touch it.
My doctor got my appointment with the surgeon moved up because I was almost at a point to drive to the hospital in columbus and see if I got lucky with that surgeon being on call. I have never experienced pain like this in my life and each night I don't want to go to bed because by 8 or so in the evening the pain has subsided some and I know around 2or so am it will wake me up and start all over.
I got to see the surgeon and his first impression after seeing my test results were that I need a spinal fusion...this scares me. We discussed this option and he became aware of my activity level and could tell what it means to me at this point of my life and then he decided he would like to try a minimally invasive surgery first to relieve the pressure on the nerve ending with hopes it will work and buy me 3-5 years before a fusion. I now am hoping this works and I again will be a medical marvel and not need the fusion in 3-5 years....remember 4 doctors told me I would need a new knee by 2012 if I continued to run and at that time I had only ran a couple marathons. I have to be hopeful even though it is unlikely as what I have are not injuries but conditions that are most likely hereditary but we don't know where they came from. My fathers parents were in there early 50's when they passed away..he was still in high school and my mothers family didn't have any issues and actually lives forever. I do however have those genes of my mothers side of the family with health related issues when it comes to cholesterol levels, sugar, blood pressure etc.
Just when you think you can't worry more I had to have a pre op chest X-ray....this X-ray shows a small nodule on my right lung which is recommended to be checked better. So they have told me that being small it is probably nothing to worry about and that 1 in 500 people will have a nodule show up on a chest X-ray and 60% are non cancerous - but being a formal smoker of 3 packs a day - stopped 14 years ago - we are not just going to monitor it to see if it gets larger in 6 months they are going to do a chest CT with contrast this week.
My back surgery is scheduled for monday the 23rd...2 days before my birthday. I have no clue what the recovery is but when I told him I was signed up for Ironman Louisville in October but I did buy the insurance because of my shoulder issues and not knowing if I could swim as well as when I signed up I was just getting my hip and back issues looked at and had no clue what was really wrong but knew the pain I was in things were not good. The good news is he felt that the surgery he is going to do will work and that I will be recovered to be able to train and do the Ironman - this is positive however I have not registered for any other events that I had not already registered for until after the surgery and I see if it works and how recovery goes. I can't wait to wake up after the surgery and see if the pain is gone!!!
I am schedule for Zion 100K which is only 6 weeks after surgery and I haven't been able to really move since Jan 15th. I am still going but they have a 25K and 50K option which depending on what the doctor says I will drop to one of those...I can hike them - I know I won't be able to run the mountains and jerk the back around that much that soon but I would hike out there all day long!! I am staying a week and my friend Amber is coming down from Montana so we are planning to make it a girls week getaway....not focusing on the event at all rather then checking out the area and hiking lots of cool places. I think that will be great for recovery!!
The downfall is weight gain....Im unable to do anything but sit on the couch in a certain position. I can't stand longer then a few minutes at a time without wanting to cry so Im not cooking anything healthy and grabbing what ever is easy. Being on different types of medicines trying to find something to help with the pain has it's side effects but right now I don't really care. Somedays I don't eat hardly anything because my stomach hurts because of the pain and then somedays lots of ice cream and comfort food is what helps. I know once I get fixed I will be back stronger then ever and will get the weight off...sometimes I tell myself the more I gain the more I have to lose but it just seems to be the less of my stresses now.
The myleogram was a test where contrast dye was injected into my spine and a CT scan was done after. The results of this test showed why the other options had not been working because things are much more severe then what the MRI even shows. There is severe spinal stenosis in 2 places, a synovial cyst near the L5, severe arthritis and a couple disc are blown or something? After the myleogram I had some spinal fluid leakage and was ill and on bedrest for almost a week. The pain in the hip/glute/leg has become unbearable and pain medication doesn't even touch it.
My doctor got my appointment with the surgeon moved up because I was almost at a point to drive to the hospital in columbus and see if I got lucky with that surgeon being on call. I have never experienced pain like this in my life and each night I don't want to go to bed because by 8 or so in the evening the pain has subsided some and I know around 2or so am it will wake me up and start all over.
I got to see the surgeon and his first impression after seeing my test results were that I need a spinal fusion...this scares me. We discussed this option and he became aware of my activity level and could tell what it means to me at this point of my life and then he decided he would like to try a minimally invasive surgery first to relieve the pressure on the nerve ending with hopes it will work and buy me 3-5 years before a fusion. I now am hoping this works and I again will be a medical marvel and not need the fusion in 3-5 years....remember 4 doctors told me I would need a new knee by 2012 if I continued to run and at that time I had only ran a couple marathons. I have to be hopeful even though it is unlikely as what I have are not injuries but conditions that are most likely hereditary but we don't know where they came from. My fathers parents were in there early 50's when they passed away..he was still in high school and my mothers family didn't have any issues and actually lives forever. I do however have those genes of my mothers side of the family with health related issues when it comes to cholesterol levels, sugar, blood pressure etc.
Just when you think you can't worry more I had to have a pre op chest X-ray....this X-ray shows a small nodule on my right lung which is recommended to be checked better. So they have told me that being small it is probably nothing to worry about and that 1 in 500 people will have a nodule show up on a chest X-ray and 60% are non cancerous - but being a formal smoker of 3 packs a day - stopped 14 years ago - we are not just going to monitor it to see if it gets larger in 6 months they are going to do a chest CT with contrast this week.
My back surgery is scheduled for monday the 23rd...2 days before my birthday. I have no clue what the recovery is but when I told him I was signed up for Ironman Louisville in October but I did buy the insurance because of my shoulder issues and not knowing if I could swim as well as when I signed up I was just getting my hip and back issues looked at and had no clue what was really wrong but knew the pain I was in things were not good. The good news is he felt that the surgery he is going to do will work and that I will be recovered to be able to train and do the Ironman - this is positive however I have not registered for any other events that I had not already registered for until after the surgery and I see if it works and how recovery goes. I can't wait to wake up after the surgery and see if the pain is gone!!!
I am schedule for Zion 100K which is only 6 weeks after surgery and I haven't been able to really move since Jan 15th. I am still going but they have a 25K and 50K option which depending on what the doctor says I will drop to one of those...I can hike them - I know I won't be able to run the mountains and jerk the back around that much that soon but I would hike out there all day long!! I am staying a week and my friend Amber is coming down from Montana so we are planning to make it a girls week getaway....not focusing on the event at all rather then checking out the area and hiking lots of cool places. I think that will be great for recovery!!
The downfall is weight gain....Im unable to do anything but sit on the couch in a certain position. I can't stand longer then a few minutes at a time without wanting to cry so Im not cooking anything healthy and grabbing what ever is easy. Being on different types of medicines trying to find something to help with the pain has it's side effects but right now I don't really care. Somedays I don't eat hardly anything because my stomach hurts because of the pain and then somedays lots of ice cream and comfort food is what helps. I know once I get fixed I will be back stronger then ever and will get the weight off...sometimes I tell myself the more I gain the more I have to lose but it just seems to be the less of my stresses now.
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