Sunday, October 30, 2016

Big Recovery News

I had a little bit of a bombshell on Thursday regarding my injury. The radiologist who interpreted my MRI posted his notes to my Patient Portal and I learned that rather than two stress fractures, I have two stress REACTIONS (no breaks, but weakened and swollen), along with the previously diagnosed osteitis pubis, a partially torn adductor longus on the left side and strained adductors on both sides. Here is more on stress reactions, aka bone stress injuries (BSIs).

BSIs are much less severe than fractures, but the symptoms are the same and immediate treatment won't change - still four weeks of limited activity and then a followup. The only difference is that I'll be able to start with a physical therapist on fixing the causes to the osteitis pubis and (hopefully) be back to full activity a few weeks sooner.

For a week I was operating under the belief I had essentially two broken hips. I visualized the broken ends fitting together like a cracked coffee cup waiting to be glued From the time I woke up until I went to bed, every move was modulated to keep those ends snug against each other, not grating or twisting or pulling apart.  Suddenly my hips were no longer broken - the twinge in spin class was not bone rubbing bone but cranky, worn (or torn) tendons reminding me to back off.

Saturday Kathryn and I went for our usual bike ride - this time starting at the Chickahominy Riverfront Park, east to the end of the Capital Trail, 13 miles on the Colonial Parkway along the James, through Williamsburg and out to Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, and then back after a snack at the Jones Millpond parking lot.  This is one of the older parts of the Cap Trail and the pavement is getting cracked and buckled, but it felt heavenly silky smooth after the jarring composite surface of the Colonial Parkway.

It was a beautiful ride - mist rose off the river and tributaries, and the rising sun caught the misting of dew on the reeds and grass - but mostly I no longer felt broken.  Was this because I've been relatively sedate since my last two mile run/walk on October 17 and I'm starting to heal, or was it mental? I believe it's a combination of the two. I'm much less tentative, but I'm also healing.


Exercise Log

10/22 - Walked 4-5 miles with Christina and took lots of pictures. We walked to Maymont but it had just closed, so we walked along the fenceline and down to the Nickel Bridge and back home. My hips were getting pretty tight the last couple of miles and my left leg started to hurt quite a lot towards the end. I talked later with Dr Lauren and she believes this is because swelling is putting pressure on my sciatic nerve. Hips were pretty sore that night and on waking the next morning.

10/23 - Bike ride with Kathryn - 40 miles on the Cap Trail, from Charles City Courthouse out to the Chickahominy Bridge and back. Minimal pain but not much strength. The ride back was pretty slow - first my left quad was burning and then both quads, and then both legs overall. I was tentative pushing on the hills, and dismounting proved to be quite challenging. Christina came along and rode on her own for 20 miles - new 2x distance PR for her! Both of them made fun of my wobbly gait at the end because they're mean and nasty people.

10/25 - Spin class with Kathryn. I was a bit nervous about this. I've done spin a couple of times before and it was a sufferfest - drenched with sweat, quivering with muscle failure after 45 minutes. It seemed like a lot of stress on my (I believed) broken bones. I decided I could do it if I held back some and didn't push 10/10ths.  Turns out that's easier said than done.  My hips were kind of tender the rest of the day, but they didn't hurt at night.

10/27 - Spin class with Kathryn. Different instructor this time, and a much more specific and varied workout.  I held it back a little more than the previous class - slow cadence on the standing portions, focusing on only applying force on the downstroke - and I wasn't sore afterwards

10/30 - Bike ride with Kathryn - 40 miles of Cap Trail and Colonial Parkway. No problems dismounting this time and .5 MPH faster overall than the previous week's ride. No nerve pain during the ride and just the normal achy quads after. No pain at night or this morning.


Friends and support

It's critical to have a circle of good, trusted friends. I went many years without any, and I discovered that if you wait until you need them, it's too late.

If you have a circle like this, let them know today how much you appreciate them. Give them a hug if you can. If not, call them, text them, anything. Let them know.

If you don't have a good circle you can trust, please PLEASE think about what you need to change to make it so you do. Open yourself up. Trust enough to be vulnerable, and keep the trust of those who make themselves vulnerable to you. Be the person you would want to be friends with. We're social animals. We need each other.

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