6 Days Post Op

Today was a great day.  I had my first follow-up appointment and was eager to meet with Dr.Ho again.  I was able to take a shower again and fended much more gracefully this time around.  As I was allowing my incision area to get some air, I snapped a picture.  The was the first real glance I managed to take since I am typically so queasy.  The red area is some sort of reaction to the surgery dressing, it doesn't bother me.  I can hardly believe the surgical skills of the doctors to be able to make such progress with such small entry points.

We made it to his satellite location and played the waiting game, again. 

 Barb, his nurse, removed the sutures, and eventually Dr. Ho saw me and allowed my questions to guide our appointment.  Without my prompting, he informed me that I'd be able to begin physical therapy fairly soon.  This was music to my ears.  I was worried I would have to beg and plead for a more aggressive recovery, but it seemed obvious to him that I was ready.  He let me know that I am probably ahead of schedule in comparison to other patients, but I still need to be very cautious.  He wants me on crutches for another 3 weeks and says I can drive when I feel I am ready.  I've been off the pain meds since Day 2, but I am not ready to give it a try for at least another week.  He believes I will be more than ready to return to work on April 7th, but would like to see my sit 50% of the time, limit my walking during the day, stay out of the hallways, still use my crutches during work, and try to ice with a freezer pack at least once during the work day.  

He also reviewed the pictures that I was given from my surgery and specifically discussed my case.  Dr. Ho said I was lucky we caught this "so early" to which I responded, "2 years is early?"  He said, "Well, whatever you've been doing, you did something right."  I was kind of surprised to hear this since I really did push through a lot of pain over the last few years, but thankfully I didn't do too much damage.  He said that there was noticeable bruising and irritation inside the hip area from the CAM impingement.  

Despite all the rubbing, only a partial tear was formed and with the excess bone now gone, he said the tear should actually heal itself.  I was glad to hear this.  The psoas was also then rubbing from the other side causing more irritation and he was able to release that, which will also make movement much easier for me. I did ask him how likely it is that something is going on with my left hip and was disappointed when he reminded me that the body is often symmetrical and it would not surprise him if I see issues on the left side at some point in my life.  At the same time, however, he reiterated that physical therapy for both sides should help if there are any early signs of problems on the left side.

All in all, I came away from the appointment overjoyed.  I hope to schedule my PT for Monday and will have my first day alone tomorrow.  

First Few Days of Recovery

I am not going to lie.  This is one of the hardest things I've had to do in my life.  While I am not in any significant pain, and even weaned myself off of the pain medication within 24 hours, it is difficult.  I find myself frustrated and emotional at times.  I think I'd pick to go through child labor or run another marathon instead of recovering from hip arthroscopy.  I tell myself that I should feel fortunate that this is what I have to experience.  There are many other people experiencing things that are way worse.  I realize I have a long road ahead of me and that scares me.  I wonder if I've made the right decision.  Will I be better off when everything is said and done?  I hope so.  Until then, I am taking one day at a time.

My days consist of lying on the couch, on the blow-up mattress, lying in the bed, and more recently sitting in a hard chair.  I consider myself a pretty coordinated and athletic girl, but it is taxing thinking through how to maneuver my body and my crutches and such.  I am very careful with my leg, but it seems you can not be too careful.

During the first day or so, I was awake for a few hours and then would sleep an hour or so.  I iced nearly all day and forced myself to pump my ankle, do my heel slides, and on occasion my pendulum swings.  Sleeping at night is the worst.  My back gets tired, I have to interrupt Tony to help me move or get up to go to the bathroom, I get hot, I get cold, etc.  I dread going to bed each night.

Thankfully, each day has gotten a little easier.  The stiffness is a little less, the tricky moves aren't so tricky, and I'm beginning to return to my old self.

Here are a few highlights:

Monday/Tuesday: Talking and texting with more people than I have the entire last year, knowing I'll be off of work for a little while, eating my Frosty

Wednesday: Seeing my kiddos, spending time with my Dad and husband, receiving even more texts and check-ins

Thursday: Easier movement; changed the dressing---wow, that thing weighed a ton!  Delicious food from Mom

Friday: Even easier to get around, less pain, SHOWER, warm weather which allowed us to take the kids to the park and my first outing, a visitor with a delicious quiche, spending time with my sister

Saturday: Less pain, able to sit in chair for awhile, less time icing, quality visit with a dear friend, who brought cookies, reading The Fault in Our Stars (which has been on my to do list for 2 years), sleeping in my son's bed while he (and sister) is away with my loving family



Sunday: Productive morning getting lesson plans done, less pain, SHOWER, outing with hubby, dinner out

Tomorrow I go for my first follow-up appointment.  I have MANY questions for Dr. Ho including how to change his conservative recovery plan to a more aggressive one and the ramifications of only addressing the impingement and psoas release but not repairing the labral tear.

Stay posted as I chronicle my progress..."I am not afraid. I was born to do this."

Surgery Day

To say I am a planner, is a bit of an understatement.  As a teacher, I plan every second of every part of my day.  I factor in all the what ifs and any possible blip that might take my lesson "off course."  When March 18th arrived, I had carefully calculated all of my moves and even the moves of my friends and family in order to adequately provide for my family.  It was a bit surreal when everything started happening and I was a bit emotional.  

I slept fairly well the night before and since we didn't have to be to Chicago until 11:30 or so, we had time to see both kiddos off to school, I swung by school to drop off one last bit of paperwork, and Tony even voted in the primaries.  We made it to the University of Chicago Medical Center with ease and were PLENTY early.  I had figured this would be the case (I am the planner afterall).  We parked and found our way while I carried my crutches in.  Instead of going directly to the waiting room, we attempted to relax in the nearby cafeteria and caught up on social medial  

Here I am pretending to be cool and collected while  Tony had something to eat.  Surprisingly, fasting since midnight didn't seem to be too difficult.  

I knew I wanted to check in around 11:30 as suggested, so we made our way to 2c Ambulatory Surgery.  I anticipated being called back around noon, but it seemed as if Dr. Ho was running behind schedule.  Every other person in the waiting room was called before me and finally around 1pm, they called me back to pre-op.

Immediately after entering the pre-op area, the nurse instructed me to pee in a cup.  I found this a bit ironic since I had been fasting and without liquids for over 13 hours at this point.  I thought to myself, there is no way I'll be able to make this happen, but sure enough, I produced.  I tried to make small talk with the nurse as she asked me a bunch of questions and took my vitals.  "Your blood pressure is a litlte high," she remarked.  I reminded, "I am about to have hip surgery.  I think that is to be expected!"  

Dr. Ho stopped by and initialed my right hip and asked if I had any questions, I didn't.  He told me it would still be at least an hour or so.  By about 1:45 they allowed Tony to join me and then the waiting game continued.  The anesthesiologist made her way in and went over everything.  Apparently I neglected to think through the breathing tube that would be placed in me during surgery and that new information started to worry me, but there was no turning back.  She also mentioned that the surgery could take between 2 and 5 hours...that was another surprise.  

We were waiting for Dr. Ho's fellow to go over paperwork for me to sign and finally around 3pm he arrived and was greeted by my, "Hallelujah!"  I thought it was funny, apparently he didn't.  I asked him how long he thought the procedure would be and he assured me it would be closer to 2 hours.

Pre-Op

Finally around 3:30, it was go time. They gave me a little bit of a sedative and said I could pretend it was a nice glass of wine. I recall being wheeled in and transferred to the operating table. There were about 5 people in there and they began prepping me. Before I knew it, I was out and in the recovery room. The surgery was complete by about 5:30 and Tony was back with me by around 6pm. I must be quick to come out because they said typically patients take closer to an hour. I was happy because I knew the delay would make it harder for us to return to Champaign the same night like we had wanted to. I wasn't in too much pain and I even was able to talk to Dr. Ho. He assured me everything went well and informed me that he was able to release the psoas and trim the bone, but was unable to repair the tear because it would have caused more damage.

I continued recovering well and the nurses were okay with us traveling back to Champaign.  They gave Tony the post-operative care guidelines and showed him how to use the ice machine.  I decided I had better try to go to the bathroom before leaving because doing it at the hospital would be  way better than doing it at a gas station.  I didn't really have to go, but was worried I would regret it a couple hours later.  In classic Jill form, the bathroom trip may have involved a fainting episode on the toilet accompanied by two nurses rushing to my assistance.  Other than that, we made it back home safe and sound by around 10:30.

Tony treated me to some Cheez-its, a Wendy's Frosty, and some french fries.  For the first time in my life, I didn't finish my fries.  

Years Later

Hello there!  It's been nearly two years since I updated my running blog.  This is due to being lazy as well as a change in my physical capabilities.  Since the last posting, I've managed to run at least one more half marathon and some shorter distances.  I did take a hiatus and focused solely on yoga.  I became quite the yogi and the instructor even suggested that I become certified.  All of this was as a result of the continued ITband and hip pain that I was experiencing.

I continued working out and stopped running July 2013.  When the pain continued even after stopping running, I returned to physical therapy and my sports medicine doctor.  After a few sessions of physical therapy, I was not improving.  I stopped all impact activity and began swimming only in October.  The sports medicine doctor, Dr. Zimmermann, finally agreed that there was probably a bigger issue than the ITband pain and the hip bursitits he had diagnosed me with and scripted me for an MRI.

In November of 2013, to Zimmermann's surprise, he suspected there was a small tear and noticed abnormal shape to the femoral head of my leg.  He discussed my options and referred me to get an MRI angiogram that would better show the tear and see if his suspicions were correct.  By December, I learned that I had FAI impingement and a partial tear.  Nobody in the area performs hip arthroscopy, so I would have to go to Chicago.  Dr. Zimmermann also prescribed a lidocaine injection because he said surgeons like to see that step taken before considering surgery.  I got the injection at the end of December and it was HEAVENLY.  I had no pain whatsoever.  Unfortunately, it wore off, like I knew it would and the constant pain in my groin and hip returned.

The very condensed version of the story is that due to some health insurance delays, I wasn't able to see Dr. Shane Nho until January and only learned that my insurance wouldn't cover him anyway.  He was my preferred surgeon, as it seems everyone I've talked to has gone to him.  He practically does this in his sleep.  After some emotional strife, I moved on and got my second opinion from Dr. Sherwin Ho out of University of Chicago.  I was very impressed and he spent a significant amount of time with me.  He confirmed what Dr. Nho had said about surgery and agreed that my case was less severe than others he had seen.  I scheduled my surgery for March 18th and discussed recovery with Dr. Ho.  Given the length of this injury, I have read A LOT about this.  I was completely caught off guard when I learned that Dr. Ho's recovery regime is very conservative in comparison to other top surgeons.  This caused yet another freak out, but I was able to talk with him over the phone and this helped ease my concerns.  He scripted pre-op physical therapy and Andy Eheart and I worked together again after our stint in July.  


These bands became my best friends and I continued my swimming and core strength exercises pre-surgery.

Along with organizing pick-ups, drop-offs, time-off, lesson plans, etc., I prepped the house for my surgery.  This included getting crutches, an elevated toilet seat, a shower seat, and a gripper.

Before I knew it, the long awaited day of the surgery arrived.

Santa Hustle Half Marathon

After the October marathon, I signed up for this race to keep me honest and provide an excuse for the family to get away.  Indianapolis is about a 2 hour drive from Champaign and I had been wanting to check it out and have the kids try the Children's Museum.  This race accomplished both and was just the medicine our family needed to reconnect and enjoy each other.

The kids loved the race swag and couldn't get enough of the Santa hat and beard.  They both wore it and I decided to not join the rest of the crowd and wear it during the run in order to preserve it for the kids.

I also for some reason decided to wear this green shirt, even though almost every other runner wore the race shirt to  look like Santa.  Note to self: where the Santa shirt next time!  I stood out as the grinch with a lovely tutu that Cass lent me.

I ran the race with Mike.  We weren't sure if we would stay together, but our paces were in tune today and we brought each other up.  He seems to be my good luck charm.  I was moderately trained for this race, but was definitely far from PR shape, we came in at 2:16  with a 10:26 average.  We had a few slow miles and some others that were pretty quick (for me at least).  They  had cookies and M and Ms along the course, which were both great for me!  Overall it was a fun race.

I made it back to the hotel with 30 minutes before check out to take a shower and then head out to the Children's Museum. 

 

I would love to do this race again next year. 

Grand Rapids Marathon Race Recap

Way back in 2011, I had been determined to become faster and attempt another marathon at some point.  Hoping to complete a spring or fall marathon, I continued my running and it all came to a screeching halt on Christmas Day.  I was struck with ITband issues.  The short version of this is that I fought it until about June with it progressing from my knee all the way into my hip.  Mary, on the left below, had wanted to complete a comeback marathon after having her sweet baby, Ryne, and was eyeing Chicago.  After much debate, we decided Grand Rapids would be a better fit for us and coincidentally, Second Wind Running Club was taking a bus trip for the race, score.  When Cass, on the right, heard of our decision, it didn't take much arm twisting to get her to sign up.  

Our official training began July 1st and even then, I was playing with fire.  Schedules, motherhood, travels, among other hindrances, we were able to find time to complete most of our long runs together.  Some were better than others, but we ventured through the streets of Champaign.  We should put in a special thanks to a few gas stations in town that we frequented, the I-Hotel, and most importantly, Illinois football for providing us with a plethora of port-o-potties to use nearly every 100 feet of our 20 milers.  With my lingering injury, becoming speedier was not an option and we all were just looking forward to crossing the finish long and enjoying the experience...and so we did.

Mary and Cass sporting the new Bondibands that Cass got for us.

We loaded the bus with the other Second Wind members on Saturday morning to take on the 4.5 hour bus ride to Grand Rapids.  Lunch was at Panera and once we got into Grand Rapids, we headed to the expo.  Afterwards we checked into the hotel, got out race gear ready, and waited around to go to dinner with the group.  We enjoyed the only pasta option (or anything that seemed to be promising for my stomach anyway) at Twisted Rooster and got to visit with some of the other runners, mostly with Bob and Gladys, who were a sweet couple.

The bed seemed to be calling our names, so we hit the sack early since we would be up at 4am Central Time and knew we probably needed as much sleep as we could get.  All of us seemed to sleep fairly well and the nerves started settle in more for Mary and Cass than they did for me---oddly this whole marathon experience was fairly calm for me---so out of character!

Mary and Me bright and early on race day

Cass, Mary, and Me in our pre-race photo shoot

After coffee and last minute checks, we headed to the bus for our departure, 6:15 Michigan time.  It was quite chilly, probably barely 40 degrees, so we knew we would be cold until we actually started running.

We checked our bags and hung out in the Y located a hop, skip, and a jump from the start line until about 6:55am.  We joked about what the "Velocity Challenged" start might entail thinking there would just be a couple of us and somebody telling us, "Ready, Set, Go."  To our surprise there were probably 50-100 others taking advantage of the early start.

Before we knew it, it was time to go and we were off.  The three of us agreed to stick to around an 11:15 minute pace and we seemed to hold steady for quite some time. The first few miles ticked away in the dark and we got to enjoy the odd comments and singing of an older man who was also running our pace.  Thankfully he picked up his pace and we didn't see him again.

Miles 1 through 4ish were through downtown Grand Rapids and then we headed into a beautiful forest preserve with fall colored foliage everywhere you turned.  There was a morning fog covering the first few feet of the ground so it made for a gorgeous running path and I appreciated the fact that it made it a little harder to see what was ahead.  I had go to the bathroom nearly right away, but held off until mile 7 when I ran ahead so I wouldn't slow Mary and Cass down.  It was a quick in and out and I caught up to them just after the water station.

By about mile 9, the super fast male marathoners started catching on us and strings of runners passed us the rest of the race.  This didn't seem to bother us much and gave us something to talk about, including the Team Leukemia team (I think) that was pushing people in wheelchairs the entire race, that was impressive.

We easily stayed together until around mile 15 and at that point Mary, Cass, and I started spacing out a little from each other.  This was nothing new, as we had done it throughout our training.  I started playing a mental game at this point really questioning whether or not I would be able to crank out the coming miles.  My leg was holding up partly as a result of the pre-run and 10 mile mark ibuprofen I took, so at least I wasn't playing a mental and physical game this marathon.

Miles 16-22 were a stretch of an out and back through the forest preserve that had aid stations and spectators sprinkled throughout.  It did seem to take forever to get to the turn around near mile 18, but we knew it was in the bag once we reached that point.  I listened to some music and also started thinking about  the support I'd had in getting to race day.  This included visualizing other mile markers from the Illinois Marathon and the people in my life who were at them and even ran with me at points.

Pickle Juice is one of a few "highlights" of this race.  I knew I had to try it just to say I did it, but my stomach wasn't ready for it at mile 15 when it was first offered.  A volunteer tried to get me to take it then, but I promised I would get it on the return and he laughed remarking, "That's what they all say!" I returned with, "I promise, remember me, Orange Shirt."  Sure enough, as I approached it on the return, I yelled, "Hey, it's me, Orange Shirt."  The volunteer chuckled handing me a cup and offered some advice, "Take it slowly and wash it down with some water."  I followed his instructions precisely and paused for a quick picture and confused Mary a little because I took a little time at this stop.  

We were all thankful for Mile 22 and did our own happy dances.

Here we are again trekking along after mile 22 and really just glad we were almost finished.  I was really feeling great physically, much different than the Illinois Marathon.  Despite the fact that my leg injury and schedule had me put in less miles this training cycle, I believe overall I was physically stronger for this race.  I had been going to BodyFlow 2-4 times a week on top of my running and it really helped with my flexibility, balance, and core strength.

Finally we were only a mile from the finish and we came in together, holding hands and feeling high on life.

I immediately drank the chocolate flavored Muscle Milk that they were handing out and snatched nearly all the goodies I could carry.  The post-race pickle was another "highlight" of the race, so I had to join in on the tradition...it was delicious.

We posed for a few pictures, showered at the Y, and boarded the bus within an hour of finishing.  The bus ride home was a little rough for me, but soon enough we made it back home and celebrated with some Texas Roadhouse.

If you had asked me two weeks ago if I planned to do another marathon, my answer without hesitation would have been no.  After I got home from the race, however, I was on the internet within an hour looking for races.  My first marathon provided me with a sense of pride and accomplishment, this marathon brought me confidence in myself and my friendships, I want to see what my next marathon holds.

Still Alive and Running

As you can see by my Dailymile updates, I am still here and running.  I have been keeping track of my miles, but not writing much these days.  In short...

*I'm training for the Grand Rapids Marathon on October 21st.
*I'm cautiously increasing my mileage due to my annoying ITband/hip/leg.
*I have gotten a few massages to help the ITband and discovered it was more of a hip issue.
*I'm still slow---I'm more concerned about staying injury-free because it was not fun to sit out for a few months.
*I have no time goals for the race, just want to finish and stay injury-free.
*My middle toenails are once again on the outs and are quite painful.
*I'm ****GASP****  not really following a training plan.  This is a huge shock since I have Type A tendencies when it comes to things like this and also because I'm not that skilled at running to really just go with it.  The injury has kept me honest, so I'm just trying to do what I can and hopefully finish the race uninjured.