Two Months

Where the heck have I been? Well... I had a little "accident" at Kona Camp It was more like being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I really, really tried hard to have a GOOD time besides the fact that I was in pain 24/7 and I couldn't walk. I stepped on a sea urchin and the pain was BAD. There were little black holes all over the ball of my right foot. I did go to urgent care on Monday where SAID Doctor told me it was no big deal and in 4-5 days I would be fine. I begged him to cut them out and he just kept saying it was not that big of a deal. So apparently I was overreacting? Well,okay so much for running as I couldn't even walk but swimming and riding were still in. But it turns out I could ride and RIDE I did. A LOT. (side note here. I stepped on the sea urchin on Saturday 8/10 and the long ride 110+ miles was Sunday. It was nothing that 20 plus advil couldn't help! Pressure on the pedals hurt with every pedal stroke as well as standing to climb,etc. I felt surprisingly well riding and was more dreading the fact that we were all going to run after and I was not going to be able to. Thank goodness for our house pool and Moana for aqua jogging and giggles. I became the aqua jogging queen for more than just those few days too.) Bill and I stayed in Kona for a few more days to RIDE some more and enjoy the island. Truthfully it was really hard for me to relax. I couldn't walk around anywhere without limping and the pain was pretty bad. I was also quite the sight as "everyone" had a different potion, antidote or cure for the urchin needles and we drove up to Long's every morning for a new potion. My swelling was REALLY bad on the plane home and hobbling around the airport again was not fun. My thought of course was compression socks. I just need to wear two pair instead of one. Tuesday 8/20 I was still hobbling around and decided I just was not tough enough and I needed to run. I was going crazy. Every night I went to bed hoping that when I woke up I could bear weight on my foot. That morning I decided that "I just needed to get over it" so I hopped on my treadmill and using my hands supporting most of my weight on the bars attempted to run. I maybe made it 3 seconds. Ouch it still hurts pretty bad. In the meantime my foot is now swollen and I think I am going CRAZY wondering when these urchin spines are going to come out? Your body is supposed to reject them right? I hobbled upstairs pissed off at the world soaked my tweezers in alcohol and pleaded with Bill to perform surgery on me. Well turns out he passes out from blood so that didn't work. Suffer through another day and next night landed in emergency room. Filling out your forms for admission with "stepped on a sea urchin" is really quite silly. The triage nurse gave me weird looks kind of like "Wimp" that is not an emergency. When I finally was seen two hours later the emergency room doc even said hopelessly "well there is nothing we can really do for you." He did see some purple and red stripes on my foot and I knew I had cellulitis so we were also dealing with an infection, little did I know a VERY BAD one. He thought though before he cut me loose we should take an xray, just to be safe. Well, well, well the first person who is not going to blow me off! SO began the painful process of getting xrays and taking a wheelchair to get them. And waiting. And more waiting. I knew something was wrong because the xray tech came in several times just to look at my foot and when the doctor came back he had several other people with him. He even exclaimed, "Holy Shit" which I think is probably highly unhippocratic but in this situation fit just perfectly. Not only did I have some spines in my foot but they showed up on an xray. All NINETEEN of them. TO make a long story (sorry) short I was referred to a foot surgeon the next morning who tried to take them out in her office. She got one out. It was 5/8 of an inch long. Just to give you a little perspective. I had surgery on Monday 8/26 and they were removed via incisions on my foot. No stitches either to have painful scars. My foot has healed up nicely and I was off of crutches in two weeks. I attempted to walk around my house after that time but was still walking on my heel. It was now four weeks from date of injury and I was ready to try jogging. I walk jogged okay for a few days but 5 days later could not bear weight, walk, etc. I limped around procrastinating more doctors and finally went back to my foot surgeon. Well it turns out if you walk on your heel long enough and then try and walk on the ball of your foot again, you can dislocate your foot. Dislocated foot now. Great. Trust me. It has been two months and I am finally jogging for 30 seconds pain free. I have been seeing an ART man twice a week and will continue that for the rest of the year. I was not a happy camper for the past month. In fact I was very sad. I understand that this is nothing compared to the horrible going ons in the world and peoples own struggles with health, family etc. I debated whether even posting it or not as I didn't want to seem selfish. What I am hoping to gain from this experience is that these things happen and they are out of our control. I withdrew from Ironman Arizona last week. I will come back from this a stronger wiser person. Most importantly I can learn from it. In the past several weeks I have embraced other parts of my life that I never have time for and it feels good. Different for sure but good. A very wise friend who I was complaining about life to said to embrace the things you love, conquer the things you can and plan the heck out of the future. So that is my plan. Stay tuned.....