My Road to Recovery

6/14: 13 mile run, followed by left groin pain. Iced it and popped an anti-inflammatory
6/15: Tried to run. OUT OF CONTROL pain. Cross trained instead. Taking Aleve RTC (round-the-clock)
6/16: Still couldn’t run. Decided to switch up my marathon training schedule and take off the week of 6/15-6/21 instead of 6/22-6/28
6/18: Now having pain without activity. Decide to try acupuncture-minor relief noted.
6/20: Acupuncture session #2. Again, short lasting relief.
6/22: Attempt to run. MISSION FAILED, the pain is excruciating. Cross training is boring as all hell. Emotionally distressed. Leave for Philly for a few days.
6/23: Cross train in the AM, minor discomfort. Go to playground with the boys and make the mistake of chasing after them. (Hey, what fun is hide-n-seek if you don’t chase them??). Pain sets in and doesn’t leave.
6/24: Wake up really stiff, unable to bend/squat to put on my sneakers. Cross training is now downgraded to Yoga and Pilates. Ugh! Decide that I need to be seen for this pain. I start a frantic search to find an sports medicine orthopedist who takes my insurance. By some miracle of god, I get an appointment with the guru on running injuries for the following day. Sad that my trip to Philly is over, but relieved to be getting my pain checked out.
6/25: Appointment Day! Before the MD even sees me, I’m sent for x-rays. Within 5 minutes of speaking to the MD, he’s 99% sure it’s a stress fracture on the neck of my femur, but only an MRI will confirm. Must get that scheduled. In the meantime, no running, no strenuous activity, “nothing that causes pain” (direct quote), and need to get fitted for orthodics.
6/26: Sweet! Get an MRI for 7pm tonight! Wow, that was a long 90 minutes.
6/27: Call to speak to the “Guru.” He can’t see me and he’s going away for the entire upcoming week. Next appointment I can get? 7/10.
6/27-7/10: Agony (emotional and physical). Waiting. Bitchyness.
7/10: Follow-up appointment. So the diagnosis surprises the doc and myself…it’s not a femur fracture, it’s a pelvic fracture! Which means: another month of no running, no cycling, no stairs, minimal extra walking; swimming pool here I come; PT 3x/week; a bone scan; and Tylenol (yup, Tylenol. Did you know that anti-inflammatories slow bone regeneration.)
7/11: Start PT. It’s brutal. Let my bosses know the test results and find out that I don’t qualify for medical leave because I haven’t been employed for a year (2 weeks short).
7/12: Make the emotional plunge back into the pool. Not as bad as I thought.
7/14: Start my 2 weeks of “desk duty” at work. ( QA , chart review, and protocol compliance)
7/17: Bone scan day.
7/18: Day without pain. WOW.
7/19: Climbed stairs without pain. Able to bridge on left leg (5 PT sessions in the making!)
7/20: No pain medication! Making progress.
7/21: Finally seeing definition in my quads and hammies again. Still really tight. Finding alternate ways to stetch, haha. No comment. Marks 5 weeks since initial injury.
7/25: Desk work completed. Will resume patient care next week.
7/26: No pain today. 70 minutes of cardio! Getting strong one day at a time.
7/28: Wore heels ALL day. First time out of flats in 6 weeks! No pain.
7/30: Fist night back at work taking care of patients.
8/2: Sqautted to check a foley catheter...ouch, that hurt.
8/3:Ran across the street to make a red light, NO PAIN! Alleluia!
8/4: Crossed my leg (horrible habit, I know). Holy moly! I've got a decent range of motion!
8/6: Begin my 7 night straight stretch.
8/8: 8 Week Follow Up! Bad News: I've got osteopenia. Good News: I'm CLEARED TO RUN AGAIN! PHILADELPHIA MARATHON 2K8 HERE I COME!