I've been down. Not "never change from my sweatpants, need medication" down. But down, none the less.
Since I last reported, I've been to see my physical therapist. Actually, when I got there she'd canceled my appointment, and just "wanted to talk."
Oh boy. I've heard this before.
Yep, I've gone and stumped another person in the medical profession.
We talked for a while about my options.
Well, she talked.
I stared out the window, wiping my eyes and trying not to cry like an overemotional baby.
OK, OK...I failed miserably. There were tears......there was snot. I admit it.
After our talk, I went over to see my doc. We all wanted to rule out compartment syndrome as quickly as we could....and, if that's what it ended up being, get it treated.
He ruled it out.
Quite quickly actually.
(phew)
No surgery, no big needles with pressure gauges stuck into my leg.
Life is good.
Well, kind of. I still have that not being able to run thing going on.
(sigh)
He still sticks with his original diagnosis. SEVERE medial tibial stress syndrome
Don't you like the ALL CAPS on severe? He does that every time he says it, or writes it.
SEVERE
Leave it to me to go above and beyond the call of duty. Do I get regular ole' "ice your leg, rest it for a few day" shin splints?
Nope. I go for "King Kong Hulk Hogan Captain America-sized" shin splints.
He also says that even though it's impossible to tell a runner to NOT run, and have them actually listen....he really really wants me to listen. No running, 2 weeks. Get the inflammation down.
Two weeks?
It had already been over a week when I went in to see him. We're talking 3 weeks of no running???
Nothing, Zip, Zilch, Nada.
Will it mean that I have to change my St Louis Rock and Roll registration from a full to a 1/2? Yes.
Will it mean that I get to start my training all over again, like I haven't been running for the last year? Yes.
Will it make my Graston appointments more effective, and less like torture? Yes.
Oh wait, I didn't mention the Graston thing, did I?
I went in for my first appointment Friday morning!!!
I tell you what.....it would have hurt a TON more if I'd not taken these three weeks off.
(darn doctor was right!)
Graston is, basically, deep tissue massage....but with stainless steel tools.
Ouch!
The only difference between my therapy last year and this year was the therapist. Specifically, her pointy fingers. She hurt me last year!
She bruised the crap out of me.
I'm hopeful that Graston will do the same.
(No, not the bruising part - although chances are it will.)
I mean, it's pointy fingers.....without the human attached. Right?
The therapist doing the Graston to me (sounds a little dirty, eh?) is a soft spoken dude...very nice. We talked the whole time. I asked all kinds of questions, and he gave all kinds of answers.
(side note: those 6 stainless steel tools = expensive!!! holy cow!!!)
During the appointment I got my camera out.
What? (I always have it with me...always!!)
I asked if it was OK that I took some pictures and he laughed. It's not something people often ask of him....but he was game. In fact, he even stopped in the middle, so that I wouldn't have to use my flash (alerting everyone else in the room to my camera), but still have a relatively non-blurry photo.
What a great guy!!!
He used three of the tools on my legs. If you look at the picture of them above, he used the two of the bottom, and the second one from the top left (he's using the third one on my leg above - he was putting he pointy hook edge between the muscle and the bone of my leg).
My legs were pretty red after is was over.
If it hadn't taken all of my courage to bring my camera out in the first place, I would have asked to get a picture of him with some cheesy grin or something. Maybe an evil Dr. Frankenstein look on his face, holding one of the tools?
Darn my shyness!!!!
Anyway.....so, we'll see how it all goes. I plan to run this weekend...come hell or high water.
Hmmmm.....never mind the high water part. There's enough flooding in the area as it is.
(for those of you that don't, or have never lived in the area....this is the interstate I took to and from work everyday, until 4 years ago when I moved into the city...specifically, this is the Honey Creek Exit off of I-29)
Nuts, eh???
So anyway....I've come up with a new training plan for myself....taking into account that I'm starting from scratch. (you can see the plan on my "training plan" tab) It's pretty basic.
There is a surprise or two worked in to my schedule as well....but it's not on there yet. I want to see how it goes before I mention it publicly.
(hehehehehe)
5 comments:
Good news that you won't have to go through surgery.
So you have to start from the beginning but that's okay. If it means you can keep running from now on, it's totally worth it.
And I have no doubt that you will run that full next year.
Thanks for sharing your story. It's hard to read about injured athletes, but nice to see your persistence shine through.
Interesting use of stainless steel too. Anxious to hear results.
Okay, that looks positively icky. Midieval torture, anyone? Well, I admire your perserverence. Your blog title is an apt description here. Kudos!
And seriously, I meant medieval. ;)
@ Fran - Thanks!!! It might be the only full I run...but I'm going to do it at least once, that's for sure! :-)
@ Lisa - it's hard to write about being injured as well. I don't want to seem like a complainer, but at the same time, I use this blog as a sort of running journal. :-)
@ Lori - Icky is right! But not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Glad I took those 3 weeks off!
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