Franken-foot

I had my post-op appointment with Dr. Kluesner at 10 a.m today. I was feeling pretty good about my crutch abilities until I got to the front door of Christie (we parked at a spot next to the handicap spots so it wasn't too far away from the door). Then there was an older gentleman there to greet us and he offered a wheel chair, and to my surprise, I took it. And now I'm glad I did.

We were welcomed to our appointment and I popped out of the wheelchair and into the exam chair. One of the nurses asked me health-related questions like what kind of drugs I was on (see how they repeat that no matter how many times you see them). Except that they left off one of the two drugs that I have a problem with, which is weird because I'd been in that office six time to see him and it's always been on it, although the second time, I had to fix it because they'd written down Iodine instead of Codeine. The nurse (she was new) immediately freaked out that I'd had a drug problem and hadn't told anyone before surgery. When I said that it was on the list for every prior appointment and that it was on the list that I gave both Carle and Kluesner's offices (that they repeated back to me) several times the prior week, she just went silent.

Then another nurse came in and started cutting off my splint. She left the last bit of cloth for the doctor to do, because I guess some people pass out.

I'm not a terribly squeamish person. Blood doesn't bother me. Needles don't bother me. But for some reason, I always thought that when I was getting a shot, I shouldn't watch. So I look away when they take blood or I get a flu shot. But today, I was reclined while they cut the heavy splint off and I didn't look. But I had MacTroll take photos.  you an a see that I did a pretty good job of keeping the swelling down. My little toes look like sausages, but that the incision's pretty long. Still, I don't think I look too crazy.

The close up reveals many, many staples. He had to restructure both my peroneal tendons, remove my extra bone and he ended up finding that I had two ligaments that were totally torn and had to sew them back together. He took (or had someone take) pictures of my surgery. I think when I go back in two weeks, I'll see if he'll share them with me. I'm kind of curious about what it looked like in there versus what I've seen on the Internet.

The doctor pulled out my drain, which was an odd feeling. There's this tube hanging out of your body, and so I breathed in and when I exhaled, he quickly pulled a few inches of tubing out. He put pressure on it to stop any bleeding and then it was done. But there was kind of this "zip" feeling during the pull and a slight burn, as things inside my leg that I'm not used to feeling actually touched a foreign object inside my skin.

The hard part about this appointment was actually the casting. The nurse raised the chair and had me dangle my legs off of it. This was the first time besides going to the bathroom and my two quick shower chair situations, where I had my leg below my heart. She moved my foot back so that my knee and my ankle were both in a 90-degree angle so she could cast. Everything in my leg just got tightened. And it protested. It didn't hurt, it just felt like it couldn't move any further, but then it did. Suddenly, I got really hot and lightheaded. I told the new nurse, and she ran and got me a cool rag to put on my head and a glass of water to drink.

I leaned against the chair back sideways for support while the nurse wrapped my leg as quickly as possible. I chose a blue cast. Then I chilled out in the office until I felt like I wasn't going to pass out. I'm not sure if it was the feeling of getting my foot pushed to its limits, that I hadn't really been upright in a half of a week or being high on the pain meds that did it, but it was a bit disconcerting.

Overall, I've been kind of drugged a lot for the pain. I'm still supposed to remain on bed rest with my foot up to control the swelling for four. It was been nice that my aunt and uncle came over and brought dinner last night. KTDID has been over twice. I feel like a normal person when she's around. She makes me laugh and always has such good stories. A woman on the library board sent me a little get well book to read today, which was also very sweet. But mostly, it's been me watching Mad Men and rotating my leg a bit so it "cooks" evenly. :-)

Hopefully, MacTroll will run out and get a sharpie so any visitors can swing on down to the basement and sign my cast. I've never had one before. This is new to me. Although, I think we'll avoid putting any pressure on the outside of my leg near the incision. The cast is not as cushy as the splint, which is good in that it's not as bulky to haul around on the crutches, but bad in that any misplaced touching near the tender side is uber painful and makes me jump or shout (as MacTroll found out when we got home and I was trying to maneuver it out of the back seat effectively and touched it against a metal bit on the back of the driver's seat.)

This is my Big, Big Foot

I reported for surgery at 6:10 a.m. at the Carle Surgery Center. They immediately gave MacTroll a number and a pager. The number would let him track where I was (pre-op, surgery, recovery, when the doctor would be coming to see him, etc.) on a big screen TV. The pager was for when he could come see me. 

I believe that nurses and medical assistants make or break your stay when it comes to health care, and the staff there was very, very nice. The first thing they did was have me undergo my second pregnancy test of the week because apparently there have been people who have popped up pregnant between their pre-op appointment and their surgery, but I'm getting used to how repetitive things are just to catch when people aren't getting their stories straight. By surgery date, I'd also realized when they got to the drug list to just say, "I'm only taking my iron and Vitamin D supplements. I stopped taking everything else a week ago."It was the fourth time in the last week, I'd been asked those questions and it goes faster than running through each individual med I might "sometimes" be on like Claritin or Exedrin Migraine, etc. 

I got undressed and into my hospital gown. I had chosen to wear an elastic wasted band skirt and a tank top with a built-in bra that day to make life after surgery easier. And it was a good choice, but you'll see why in a minute.

I met the anesthesiologist, Dr. Mendenhall. He asked if I had any questions or concerns. I told him that I didn't get sick the last time I had anesthesia, so I hope I wouldn't this time. They gave me some anti-nausea meds in my IV just in case. They also gave me an antibiotic. I did mention to the nurse that I got really cold, like to the point of my teeth chattering and my body shaking, when I woke up last time. 

Dr. Kluesner came in and met MacTroll. Then he had me repeat to him what work he was going to be doing on my foot that day. (He said he knew, but he needs me to tell him to be sure I understood what the procedure included.) I go through the items we had listed the week before and he seemed pleased that I understood what was going to happen so well. He marked up my leg and signed it. He expected the surgery to take two hours. 

Then they wheeled me down the hall into surgery. Kluesner was already there setting some things up. I transferred from the gurney onto the operating table. He asked me who was taking care of X-man today and I told him KTDID. Then they put a mask on my face and three breaths later I was pretty much out cold. 

I woke up to another nurse at my side in recovery. She was talking to me very gently. I could hear a little boy on the other side of the curtain waking up from his procedure. He was very sweet and happy with the nurses, and he was making me smile. My nurse got me some crackers and some water and then my teeth started chattering, so she blew up this giant plastic blanket of hot air over my body. I ate another cracker and then I fell asleep again. I was kind of in and out of it. And she'd ask me to tell me how my pain was and encourage me to eat another cracker and help me drink some water. I was at a 7-8 for a while after I woke up, so I got some morphine when the oral stuff wasn't enough. 

At 12:10 p.m., MacTroll got to come see me. My surgery had taken longer than they thought because the damage was worse than the MRI showed, and my muscle in my leg had moved into the area where the tendons were supposed to be, so the doc had to not only cut away scar tissue and recreate both my tendons, but he also had to cut away some muscle. MacTroll said the incision was longer, too. But Kluesner said everything came together well, so he expected me to have an excellent, but slow recovery. 

MacTroll helped me get dressed. This is what is on my leg and there's no size pants that I own or underwear that would allow this massive foot to go through the leg hole, so you know -- I went commando, no problem. 

The "Loosey" room in the basement is working out great. I had trouble getting up the one step in the garage to get into the house, so I just turned around, put down my crutches and skooched on my butt while dragging my leg along the floor from the garage to the basement stairs. Then I slowly skooched down the stairs. When I got to the bottom, I used the railing to pull myself up on my good leg, because hopping down those stairs would have been painful. 

Mactroll handed me the crutches and I made it to the bed with my wedge pillow, put up my leg, put a ice pack behind my knee (it cools the blood that then goes down to your ankle) and then took my pain pills. That plastic bulb on the top in the picture is drainage. MacTroll is draining it into a hospital-provided measuring cup and then writing down what's coming out of my leg. 

I want to thank Allison for loaning me her mini fridge. It's come in very handy. I also want to thank Janet from the library for bringing us lasagna dinner last night, and to Meghan for dropping off the awesome get well present this a.m. Chocolates and Fozzie Bear mugs are always welcome. It's also very nice that our neighbors have been offering to help by setting up play dates with X-man. My mom is here this weekend so the boys can go to Orchard Days and jump on inflatables, while I rest. But I want to give a big thanks to MacTroll and again to KTDID for taking such incredible care of me and X-man yesterday. 

I have no mobility right now. It hurts to get up and crutch my way over to the bathroom and back. Plus, I'm a little dizzy on the crutches because of the pain meds. But I think I'm getting it down. I'll be kind of in this haze for two weeks or so. If my blogging is sporadic, you'll know why. 

Right Appendage and Running the Halls

This is the last week before I have surgery on my peroneal brevis and peroneal longus tendons in my right ankle and foot a week from Thursday. I am not allowed to take any over the counter anti-inflammatories this whole week, so I'm going to be in a bit of pain. It'll be me and the ice pack hanging out on the sofa with my foot elevated -- a lot. It'll be good practice for the stupid amount of pain I'll be in when my foot swells up to the size of a basketball post surgery. Dr. Google sucks for things like this. Yes, I know what to expect, but I'm really not looking forward to the first week or so post surgery. I did, however, drop off the prescription for seven days worth of pain pills at the pharmacy today.

The rule is, and I promised my soul to Dr. Kluesner that I wouldn't break it, is that for two weeks, my foot is to be elevated above my heart except 1) when I go to the bathroom, 2) when I go to take a shower and 3) when I'm in the car going to my post operative appointments. So, I'll be stranded in my basement for two weeks. If you want to come on over and watch some TV with me or chat, feel free. We'll be in the pet-free, kid-free basement, which will be like my own private apartment until I'm off of crutches, which will be at least 4 1/2 weeks after the surgery. (4 days with a splint, 2 weeks in first hard cast, then suture removal and then 2 more weeks in another hard cast, followed by an air cast -- which I may or may not be able to stumble around in, it depends on the healing.)

But I'm kind of excited and -- dare I write it -- hopeful. Will this surgery finally end the 16-month ordeal? I mean, I can't even call it "the broken foot 2012" because it spilled over into a two-year period.

But I am also very nervous. Going into surgery is a bit like having to hire a lawyer. You always feel like you're in deep doo doo when you have to use their services.

On the other hand, it means I'm probably 97-ish days from getting in a running shoe again and maybe actually running (very slowly with lots of intervals). And holy cow have I missed that hour. Walking, though I like that alone time, just doesn't get the chemical rush in the brain that running does.

Plus, X-man has picked up a bit of the running bug lately. His favorite times to run are a) when he's having a squirt gun fight or b) when he sees striped carpets. (No lie!)

I bought new hallway rugs from Amazon.com last week. They're long and striped and cover the hardwood floor on our second floor. As soon as I got them in place, X-man started sprinting up and down the hallway between his bathroom and our bedroom.

Yesterday, while I was getting dressed for my Library Board meeting, X-man ran up and down the hall four times. After the fourth time, he pumped his fist in the air and said, "Yeah! I did it!"

My kid doesn't wear a watch, so he wasn't worried about time. I wanted to ask what he was celebrating, because it probably comes with some bit of enlightenment like, "I out ran a bear!", but I didn't want to ruin the moment with my stupid questions.

Let's see if he's as excited about running the 3k at school on Sept. 22nd. Last year they offered a 1k for kindergarteners and first graders, so he might decide to stay with his own age group, particularly since he did pretty okay in the standings among little people. Mostly, I just want him to enjoy the running and give a crap about the times. But that took me until I was injured to really understand, so you know, he's got 30 more years to "get" that lesson.

Ouch!

Today, X-man had a little accident.

He was at baseball camp at Savoy Recreation Center riding on the flat, four-wheeled scooters, you know the kind you had in gym class way back in the day, when someone crashed into him causing him to face plant into the floor and into his own scooter.

When I picked him up today he had a golfball sized bruise on his forehead with a small cut, another marble sized bruise on the other side of his forehead and a small scratch on his eye lid.

He seemed okay, but we took him to Convenient Care anyway, just so he could have someone tell me that he wasn't concussed.

While we were there, they had the CBS news on about the Aurora movie theater shooting. We told X-man what happened when he asked about the TV in St. Louis over the weekend running names, ages and photos of the victims, but we don't have live TV at home, so he hasn't heard any of the descriptions of what happened.

In X-man's brain, this guy has made the crazy violence of the Joker a reality and at the same time as he knows super heroes are fiction. It's hard for him to believe that someone can do something as dire as shoot up a movie theater full of people... but that no actual Batman exists to show up to stop him. It makes him sad.

So, when the news channel was on, he asked if we could change it. I got up to do something about it, but I guess they have the TV wired only to the remote (or the buttons were all broken). After a minute or two of hearing X-man say, "Don't they know kids come here? This is scary. Please get it off!" A woman came around from the desk and turned the channel to PBSkids. And at the exact moment the Wubszy guy game on, X-man got called into see the triage nurse.

Afraid of gross stuff? Don't look!

I have intermediate-level tears in both my peroneal brevis and peroneal longus tendons. The MRI shows loads of fluid and scar tissue behind my ankle bone. Scar tissue that will have to be removed.

So, in the plus column, I'm not crazy. And it might have taken four opinions to get to an accurate diagnosis, but I'm glad I advocated for myself.

Right now, it looks something like this inside my foot:

Dr. Kluesner won't know how bad it is until he gets in there and sees it. I was also apparently gifted "extra bone" with a sharp pointy bit in my foot, which could also be causing some of my issues. He'll have to go in and sew up the tendons and if they're over 50 percent damaged, he'll have to sew them together. My condition is chronic, so putting me back in a boot won't do anything for the long-term. I'd start doing normal Loosey activity and "ouch." And there is usually an 85 percent success rate. It won't ever be perfect, but feeling even 50 percent better than right now would be awesome.

I'm trying to schedule my surgery for September. But it also means that I'll have to find someone to help with X-man after school when MacTroll's not here. Some place where either there's a babysitter after he gets home from school or he goes to someone's house in the neighborhood within walking distance.

And I now have to go back to getting my house ready to sell, because apparently, if I have the surgery in September I won't be wearing a NORMAL-sized shoe until just before Christmas.

Until then, I'm to wear my ankle brace as much as possible and to stay on even surfaces doing whatever doesn't hurt.

The fear is that if I tried to do anything high intensity I could rupture both of the tendons.

Could this be it?

Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. I see Dr. K about my MRI results. I'm all a-twitter. Could this be it? Could this be the day I finally get an appropriate diagnosis? I've only been to four medical care providers since my foot started hurting in April 2011 -- back when I thought myself a runner. When I did 20-25 miles a week. When I ran to Body Attack classes and then back home? When I felt like an athletically inclined person rather than a mess?

It might not be the end of foot drama... in some real ways it may only be the beginning. But I'm kind of excited about it.

Loosey's First MRI

My 20 minutes in the MRI machine were very uneventful. The report of my images gets sent to Dr. K on Tuesday and I have an appointment on Wednesday with him after dropping X-man off at Lego Camp at the Orpheum. And then I'll know what the deal is with my foot, which DID NOT like to be straightened out and compressed in "proper form" for the MRI machine.

Pain in the foot

I had my follow up with Dr. Kluesner at Christie regarding my sore foot, which has now become a sore leg, knee, IT band, SI joint/hip and lower back. Funny how that happens. Anyway, he's scheduled me for an MRI. I asked if it wouldn't be logical to shoot the whole leg from back to foot to see what's going on, but he said he wants to start with where the most amount of pain is the back and lateral side of my calf into my ankle and then down the outside of my foot. To him, it sounds like classic peroneal tendonitis, except that I spent 7 weeks in a boot last fall when I broke my foot (the symptoms were very similar, but I had lots of swelling then versus pain mostly on mobility now) and the same pain came back, so he doesn't have much hope that booting me again will help long-term. I also have poor mobility and stability in my right ankle. It is possible that I have some tears in the tendon, so that's why he's doing the MRI.

On the good side, he took x-rays and I didn't break my foot again.

I'm going in for an "injury assessment" at Accelerated Physical Therapy on Friday with my neighbor Gretchen. Hopefully she can take a gander at the soft tissue issues and help get approval from my primary doc to basically beat my gam into submission. If you see me at the pool and I'm bruised from foot to lower back -- that will be Gretchen's work.

Ironically, if I have to go see her a couple times each week, her daughter is probably going to be the one that watches X-man.

I just bought new date night shoes... I'd like the opportunity to wear them sometime this summer.

Which reminds me... I think I'll see about going for a pedicure this afternoon while X-man is at Little Gym camp. I keep meaning to go, but it's been about a year since I actually made it in.

Update: Christie just called. They had a cancelation, so I go in for my MRI tomorrow afternoon. Thus canceling my Accelerated appointment until I can figure out a day where my schedule works with one of their therapists'.

Yawwwnnnn

So, it's summer, and lately it's been cooler in the afternoon. I've been getting up every morning and exercising. Sometimes it's a water-related exercise class, sometimes it's a 6-mile walk, sometimes it's weight training. Whatever it is I make sure I'm active between 60-90 minutes at least six days a week with a rest day. It makes me feel good. Today, I left aqua running at 10 a.m. exhausted. We inserted 30 second sprints and did them 15 times over the course of an hour.

But, I'm finding that after lunch, I'm ready for a siesta. I figure it's no worries because I can ice my foot and stay off of it for a bit. I have been dutifully reading books too. Unfortunately, I keep going back and forth between fiction and non-fiction.

My current non-fiction books is written by a scientist who used the test kitchen at U of I to figure out how people eat more than they think they do. It's called Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink. The fiction book is one I've had on my book shelf for years and for whatever reason (probably because it's a large hardback) haven't sat down and read -- Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen. I think I'd feel more accomplished if I just stuck to one. Alas, my nature has me going back and forth and back and forth.

I played my first sand volleyball game tonight with my team the Blockheads. Out of the six teams in the league four of them are made up of law students. Our team is all made up of people over the age of 30... most of us over the age of 35. But, we did win best of three games tonight, so hooray!

The best news was that my foot didn't hurt the whole time in the sand, but I am noticing foot  mobility issues. When I point and flex my left foot it goes much further than when I do my right foot. I was useless at jumping, but diving was fine. I'm making a list of things to take into the podiatrist tomorrow, and I'm seriously thinking about drawing on my leg with marker to show him where I'm hurting.

After volleyball, MacTroll and I got to eat out together at Houlihan's. It was such a beautiful night to eat outside.

Sleeping and Eating

I have been getting sleep in very short amounts lately. About five days ago, my back and hips started to go sore but only at night when I'm lying down. It felt like when I was 7 months pregnant and had to use my upper body to pull myself into a seated position to get out of bed. Once I'm up I'm fine...

So I called the chiropractor yesterday and he got me in at 3:15 p.m. today. And holy hell, was I all out of whack. I haven't been to the chiropractor in two years. Ever since he did some great work on my foot and general back issue work. My insurance only pays, really, for medical needs. They anticipate something should be fixed in five sessions -- and if it's not, it comes out of my pocket.

What's funny is that Dr. Gray put me in the same position that I've been trying to adjust myself all week. Get to the end of the bed, bend your top leg and then put pressure on the back side to get everything all lined up because as it is now, I have undue stress on my SI joint, which is what is causing the night time pain. I couldn't get it to go back in place tonight, but he sure did. Then I got "lasered."

I made two more recipes tonight. One is a side dish that is nothing to write home about, so I won't bother you with that one. But I made something else called a Tortilla Lasagna tonight, which uses toasted tortillas in place of lasagna noodles, and obviously the tomato and cheese mixture is more southwestern than Italian.

Just as a warning, mine did NOT look as pretty as the photo with the recipe was. It was really more like a casserole, so I scooped it out. I also used zucchini... because I didn't have time to hunt down a chayote.

And that's all about all I have in me. I wish I would have gotten in a run before going to the chiropractor, but it didn't work that way, and now my body is too sore. So, I'll have to try tomorrow in my circuit class to glue it all together. That's at 7:30 a.m., and I have to admit, I'm eyeing the clock, wondering if I took the Aleve for my back now, if I could sleep for the next 12 hours, and then just drive like a bat out of hell to Kari's for my morning workout.

Yes, It's True.

Only I could get hit in the head with a handicapped sign while actually having a handicap (broken foot). (It's okay to laugh -- it makes me laugh every time.)

The injury bled a lot... I won't be wearing those clothes again. But I didn't get any stitches. I have a giant abrasion on my head and am not allowed to drive for 12 hours to make sure I don't have a concussion. But it might take a few days to get the blood out of my hair because any rough scrubbing will reopen the wound and make it bleed more.

This is totally not how I planned on becoming a red head.

I'm sitting there with my walking cast on, sticky blood all over me, a giant bruise on my arm from something this weekend that I can't remember and the ER doc says, "You are a total mess."

This Boot is Made for Walking

Today I had my make up appointment at Christie Clinic Podiatry. Normally, I'm a Carle Clinic patient, but for whatever reason (I'm blaming their new medical records issues), when I called for an appointment in early August, they couldn't see me until October. (Remind me to cancel that appointment, by the way.)

I was going because although the Sports Med doc had said my foot issues were due to sural nerve entrapment related to my degenerative disk disease, I didn't think that sitting around waiting for the pain to stop was really the answer... Mostly because I sat around for 3 weeks waiting to get into see him and then another three weeks after seeing him and the pain got worse and my foot got swollen and my back feels fabulous. His two x-rays didn't show any stress fractures.

The eight x-rays I got today, five weeks after seeing the sports doc clearly showed the stress fracture. So, now my right foot is in a giant boot. Because I don't drive much, she has permitted me to take off the boot to drive, sleep and when I'm at home sitting on the couch without putting weight on it. I have to give it three weeks, if it's not better in three weeks... Well, I don't want to think about that because I'm sure there's either a more stringent casting or surgery and neither of those are appealing.

We'll have to see how this goes at school. I'm kind of hobbling around, but I am on my feet all day long. I'm sure the kids will find it very strange. But then again, the Clownfish are pretty great at being supportive of their friends, so I'm hoping they'll be supportive of me, too.

I go back to the doc on Sept. 29th... we'll see what she says then.

The Foot Doctor

I finally got a referral appointment to go see a podiatrist. The first one that was available during a "convenient" time was Oct. 6, so I guess that's when I'm going. :-) We'll see if I need orthotics or not. As it goes, I seem to be walking around fine (minus the first four minutes after I get up). And I'm great in the pool, on the bike and doing the Nike Training workouts. The elliptical also works (but is boring as all get out), but running outside and the treadmill tend to cause pain, so I'm avoiding.

In other news, I'm participating in a charity event this Saturday at the County Fairgrounds and Crystal Lake Park. It's one of those 5k romp in the mud things called CrazyK. I'm doing it as part of a team with a friend/neighbor of mine and 8 of her other friends. We'll have a team tent and bright orange shirts and green hairsprayed hair. I am happy in the fact that it's for charity, so I feel no need to go fast, just to have fun.

Because that's the point, right?

At the same time X-man and MacTroll are going to head down to Charleston/Mattoon to check out the airshow. And then Saturday is Parent Date Night at the Recreation Center. We were going to go see Harry Potter, finally, but the times don't work, so we'll have to check out something else.

What Would You Do?

On Sept. 30th, I'll be on a flight to Florida. I am supposed to participate in the Disney Wine and Dine half marathon on Oct. 1. But I've got this injury. I have to call Disney tomorrow to finish my reservations. Since I have a non-refundable ticket and $250 into it, the least I'm getting is a vacation with my two other runner friends.

My plan right now, since I'm totally fine walking. Is to work on getting to a place where I try to run/walk 1/2 of it... and then totally walk the rest. I should be able to maintain less than the required 16-minute per mile pace that way. On the other hand, if I can't maintain it, I'll be picked up by the slow bus. 

I'm also thinking about seeing if I can come up with some kind of running shirt that has the slow moving vehicle triangle on it with a Tigger Tail and the word "Injured" across it. :-) 

The truth is that instead of treating it like a race, I've started to think of it as a fancy place to get in some physical activity, rather than pulling out completely.

Does that make sense?

How We Roll

For almost the entire 20 years MacTroll and I have been together, we haven't spent a lot of the same time living together in the same place. For the first six years we were long distance Rockford to Peoria, Rockford to Champaign, Decatur to Champaign, Decatur to Saginaw, Decatur to Lansing and then boom -- we moved in together when we moved to Falls Church, Va. These were back in the days pre-e-mail for the most part and when long-distance calls were cheap at 20 cents a minute.

When we lived in D.C., we thought we'd see more of each other, and for a while that was true on the weekends. I'd get up and head to the metro at 7 a.m. and three nights a week, I'd be home by 6 p.m. The other two nights though, I'd be at school until somewhere between 8:30 p.m. or 11 p.m., when MacTroll would pick me up. I, on the other hand, was usually home all weekend unless I had to cover a weekend event at the Newseum, where as his job as a free-lance photographer in Washington, D.C. woke him up at all hours and sent him on assignment.

By the time I was working for Arlington County Government and he had moved on from photography and started his own computer company, we rarely saw each other at all. He was traveling M-F three weeks a month and I was working 50+ hour work weeks. So, we decided to move to Champaign. His business was mostly travel and it made good money. It made better money when he started working for the fruit. And I became the woman who could do anything as long as it was part-time. Then we had a baby, and I threw myself into that for a while. There was a very steep learning curve. Even though MacTroll was promoted and cut back on his travel schedule from 3 weeks of travel a month to 2 weeks, I still felt alone a great deal of the time, so I took over my parent group and was doing a bang up job at it. I thought maybe I'd do well working somewhere doing children's programming, and I started taking classes at Parkland in Early Childhood. I also started at weight management.

Three years later, and I'm about to start the most permanent position I've had since I moved here. I'm getting to be an Early Childhood Educator at MMO in the Clownfish room. I'm excited about it. I've loved floating and subbing there the last two years. But I'm worried about how this is going to go in terms of my family life. Because when I work, I tend to throw myself into things and put the work before home life, and let's face it, MacTroll and I always tend to put parenthood before marriage, which feels natural (and easy when your spouse flies in and out and you haven't really spent any time alone together in at least 30-day increments). I've scheduled my day so that I drop X-man off at 7:50 a.m. and report to work by 8:10 a.m. Then I get off at 12:30 p.m., eat lunch and then go to the gym or do the grocery shopping or run errands from 1:15-2:15 p.m. X-man's day ends at 2:15 p.m., and he'll get on the bus to come home. I'm estimating he'll be home by 2:45-3 p.m., which gives me time to shower or do some light housework.

I don't have him signed up for anything in the fall, but he said he does want to go to the Savoy Rec Center on Tuesdays afternoons from 3:45-5 p.m. So, we'll bike over there for as long as the weather will allow us after an after-school snack and he can attend the rotating after-school drop-in Lego Club and the  Rec Zone program, while I do a work out.

It sounds perfect. But what if I show up at the Sports Medicine doctor and he puts me in a cast? Or worse what happens if I have to have surgery on the tendons in my foot or something like that? Now that the fascia is better, I still have issues in the back part of my heel toward the lateral side. I do nothing but walk on it at this point. So it's me mowing the yard or walking around the neighborhood or excavating the Rotary Park site with a shovel. All do my foot in after a short time, and I'm icing and stretching and elevating it for pretty much the rest of the day.

And the worst part is that it's my right foot... If it gets casted... no driving. And how am I going to work with a room full of 2.5 year olds? Or hop up and down the steps at MMO? X-man will have to take the bus to school, too, if that happens.

It's days like today, when I totally hate Dr. Google. All I can do is sit back, relax, and wait to see the Sports Medicine doc next week.

So, see, it doesn't matter if you're a cat or a human over at our house, we're all kind of medically nutso this week.

The saddest part is, I know that my spouse has to keep traveling... so I have the mindset that when he's around to help, it's an exception rather than the norm.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

I go to physical therapy for my plantar fasciitis issue. They're the same therapists I saw when I found out I had Degenerative Disk Disease. As far as physical therapists go, they're thorough, enjoyable to work with, knowledgeable and really go above and beyond in following up and chasing down physicians for me and contacting my insurance company so that I don't have to deal with that and my depressingly stupid pain. I like them. Plus, it doesn't hurt that according to United HealthCare they're the only approved, in-network PT provider for 40 miles. But perhaps they're the approved provider because they are a tiny little clinic in town, but they are part of a giant corporation of physical therapy clinics. So I'm going to call that giant -- Thing 1.

As it turns out the same time I started therapy for my back last fall, I got a new neighbor. She is the manager of another large corporation for physical therapy that has an office less than a mile from Thing 1. I've only chatted with her a few times, but she is a very nice woman. She, therefore, runs Thing 2. 

Last week, I ran into her out and about on the town. She asked how I was doing, and I mentioned that I was well and some things that were going on in my life, which included that I have plantar fasciitis. And something strange happened. My nice conversation with my neighbor suddenly felt like it was becoming her trying to sell me her skills and practice, which made me horribly uncomfortable. I'm sure she's a fine physical therapist. But really, the hard sell stuff totally turned me the wrong way. 

And now I'm scared to glance in the general direction of her house in case she wants to pop outside to offer me freebies on my foot with her Thing 2 tools and recruit me away from Thing 1. 

I know PTs aren't doctors, but they are medical practitioners. And I get scared when there are corporations like Thing 1 and Thing 2 competing down the road for patients. Rather than focusing on the patient's issue and respecting a patient's decision about choosing a practitioner, it suddenly becomes about grabbing patients from one another, and I hate it more if I suddenly feel like some kind of pawn in the stretching game, where everyone claims my foot comes first, but really it's all about them and their competition. And I will have to admit, PTs are some of the most competitive people I've ever met no matter where I've met them from (Rockford, Champaign, Alexandria, etc.)

The killer part was that when I injured my foot, I rechecked the UHC web site to see if Thing 2 was available. I thought maybe it would be a chance to get to know my urban-shy neighbor better. (Urban-shy is the name I give to folks who move here from big cities and don't wave at their neighbors or come out of their houses because they're not sure how to deal with people -- or don't want to deal with people.) Thing 2 wasn't listed as being in-network, so I called Thing 1.  

That night she kept insisting she is approved and had UHC clients and I should call the insurance agency and check and come on in to have her do her magic... But at Thing 1 -- they do that for me, don't use a hard sell and get the job done. 

So I guess I'm happy. It could be worse, right? I could have gone for the totally unapproved and super expensive Cat in the Hat (i.e. Carle). :-) That would have been way more than my $30 copay. 

You're Guess is as Good as Mine

On Oct. 1 at 10:30 p.m. I should be lining up in a gated corral with a couple thousand random people to do the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon. But I'm a little nervous. You see, I should be officially starting to train this weekend, but instead, I'm still gimping along.

The fascia pain has moved from the lower arch of my foot to the back of the heel and (yikes) a bit into the achilles and the calf muscle. I've stayed off of it running for the last week. And I've been barely breaking 5 miles in walk/run per week. Therefore, I made an appointment with the Sports Medicine big wig over at Carle for 11 a.m. on July 26. He'll do an X-ray and tell me what's up.

I have to tell you. I'm a bit scared. But we'll see. Maybe I'm just a big impatient whiner... but if he cancels my half marathon, I'm still freaking going to Disney for the weekend with my friends. I have a plane ticket and a hotel room... so, um, I'm there.

Weeds: Televised and Reality

I love rainy mornings. On rainy mornings my child sleeps forever. This morning he slept until 9 a.m. That's insane. He usually wakes up at 7:15 a.m. He was asleep so long that I got to finish the Netflix DVD of Season 6 of Weeds that's been at my house for 10 days or so. I know others keep theirs for months, but seeing it on my nightstand every night was driving me nuts.

Then the rain went away and I went out and weeded the garden for three hours and did some mulching on the east end of the house. It was toad mania: Tiny toads, fat toads, green toads, spotted toads, brown toads.

I looked down into the window well to the basement and indeed, there were 9 toads hopping around, so MacTroll went into the grate and handed the toads up to X-man and I who put them over by the fence to jump away. Sadly, we still have a bunch of mulch to do, but it's a pretty pleasant job to do after 7 p.m. these days.

Update on the foot: I ran for 25 minutes tonight. Well, I ran and walked, per the PT's direction. It was totally do able, but I don't usually run at the end of the day, so my energy was way down. I was out of breath from not really doing non-cycling or non-walking cardio for pretty much the last month, and it was 30 degrees warmer than the last time I ran. So, you know, it sucked. :-) But at the same time, I was happy to be out there. Maybe next time I'll get to do it in the a.m.

Pain and Pleasure

Okay, I'm going to have to admit something personal here. I don't usually find pain to give me any sense of pleasure. But today, at Bodyworks, the massage therapist totally found some crazy line between pleasure and pain, where my brain said, "Ouch" and "Ohhh" at the same time.

She worked on my right calf, achilles and my plantar fascia for 30 minutes and I have to say that it felt ferociously better at the end. The pain is mostly in the sides of my calves, rather than the center of the muscle. The pain comes together around my achilles tendon, which is super tender and then spreads into my heel.

I apparently have pretty high arches according to the therapist, and my over pronation is probably the cause of my issues. I do wear moderate level motion control shoes with extra cush. But I might need to change brands to a heavy motion control shoe. In addition, she wonders if I might have some unevenness in my legs, which might be corrected via chiropractor and help prevent its return. I've still got work to do, but it was nice to get some relief today.

Next week, I'm excited to start back at The Fitness Center for the summer to take Melissa's Body Attack class. I should be there on MW and hopefully Saturday mornings.

As for X-man, he is either a complete pain or a complete pleasure. And it changes every 3 seconds. :-) Our first "at-home" week has gone interesting. We'd been planning to be gone, so my summer schedule doesn't start for another two weeks. I may have to do some work on it so it starts on Monday. We'll see if I can get it together by then.

Oops!

So, when my physical therapist said it would be okay to run a 5k... he meant in the context of our conversation where I said, "I should be okay to run the 5k at the end of my mini-triathlon in June, if everything goes well in therapy, right?"

"Yup."

And I interpreted this as, "Go out and run a 5k this weekend."

I tried to stress that after a half marathon, a 5k seemed like a short training run. He gave me a stop whining, and I know you're smarter than that look.

Halfway through our session today, I said. "So besides the icing and the stretching and the massage and the splint there's not much else I can do?"

"Nope."

"This sucks."

"Yup."

"I hate patience."

"Well, you're going to need it."

But the visits are a lot more humane than when I hurt my back.

Poor me. I have a warm end of a flat round thing that sends soundwaves into my foot massaged over the injured fascia before having a 15-20 minute foot massage, where I ooh and ahh, and things in my foot crunch around until they work themselves out like dominoes falling. Then there's the stretching. And then I get iced. It's really quite a lovely 45 minutes -- right now.