It’s Been Too Long

I haven’t written in ages, and that’s because of all the injuries. Well, really all the surgeries: ankle surgery in February 2014 and knee surgery in December 2014. I felt I had no right to write a blog about running when I couldn’t run. But as someone dear to me pointed out, “You can’t just stop writing because of that, that’s ridiculous.” Direct but true.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized people tend to come to me when they were injured: to figure out what was causing the pain, determine the injury, could they still run on it, how do you rehab it, how can you stretch your IT band? All those questions have a place here. I can’t tell you how many hours I spend looking up stuff, going to doctors, buying books, doing physical therapy, and figuring out everything through trial and error.

Not to mention, I haven’t stopped eating. This blog is also about celiac disease. I am still cooking and baking and going out to restaurants and traveling. And I still have celiac disease and continually learn more and more about it, finding new products or books or blogs that help me. And the occasional oops that always occurs.

Then I recalled the most important little thing we runners have in common: mind over matter. Running is sport that requires you to use your will and your drive to push yourself to places that your brain tells you you cannot go. If you haven’t ever experienced this yet, you will, just give it time and don’t give up. It also becomes a source of stress relief, for all the things we face in life. It’s our “me” time. Its the place we go to reflect on the day and about life overall. I have made some of my biggest decisions and had some of my greatest revelations on my runs.

Trouble is, when you are injured, oh jeez, you have to figure out a new venue for all of these things and it is not easy. You feel like you lost your inner peace, the one thing you always felt progress in, and even your friend. Yes, when I can’t run, I get really discouraged. It is a struggle. It sounds trite to those who don’t understand running like this, but I can assure you, if you lost your coping mechanism and the reliable thing that made you feel good about yourself, you’d hit a wall as well.

Ultimately I forgot. When you are injured, that’s the time you need encouragement the most. Whether it’s the shin splits that has you benched for a month, the sprained ankle that made you miss your half marathon, or the debilitating news of surgery and months of physical therapy afterwards. It’s when you take one step forward and two steps back on that uncertain road to recovery. That’s when we need to know we are making progress, we have to take it slow, and we will get back to what sets our hearts on fire (or at least mine): running.

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The Surgery: Under the Knife

I’m just going to give the rundown on what I experienced and hopefully it will give you an idea of what to expect if you have ankle ligament reconstruction surgery (*Please note: check with your doctor on all procedures and recommendations):

Someone has to be present the whole time so the surgery center ensures you will not drive yourself home. So my family and I arrived at the outpatient surgery center at 9am and full out paperwork. They called me back about 9:30am, while my family waited in the waiting room (to be called back later). They took me to a nurses station to be weighed, asked me what surgery I was having and which ankle ( they ask this a lot) and i asked for one last bathroom break.

I followed the nurse down a hall with lots of bed bays with a curtain front. She took me to my own bay and asked my name and birthdate and surgery questions again. Then I had to get undressed, put on a gown, and place all my belongings in a plastic bag they provided. I laid down on the bed and waited for the nurse to return. She started my IV (stuck me with a needle that was connected through a tube to a bag and taped it to my forearm).
Then another nurse came in, asked me about the surgery, and took my left ankle. She placed a pad underneath it and washed it with an organe-ish soap to have it clean for surgery (leaves a yellowish residue).

I then met an anesthesiologist, who asked about my surgery again. He asked if I wanted a nerve block (which my Dr. recommended). Basically this dulls the nerve that goes down into your lower leg and foot. This was a great thing because it enabled me to sleep for two days after surgery before I felt the real pain. I agreed to have it done, and he left to get his things prepped.

Next, the anesthesiologist’s assistant came in and began setting up equipment. The anesthesiologist returned and the nurse over my IV gave me something to relax. Immediately I felt drowsy and things got a little fuzzy. The anesthesiologist, using a marker, went up from my knee, to the outer thigh and marked the injection spot for the nerve block. A pinch lasted about five seconds as he injected the nerve block in with a large needle. It felt sore, but the medicine they gave me through the IV had dulled my senses.

At this point, the first nurse went to bring my family back for one last hello. I was starting to become more out of it at this point. After about three minutes, the family had to go because the anesthesiologist was back and started to hook me up to the big drugs (anesthesia).

I recall lying on the bed and being wheeled down a hall, through a set of double doors, and eventually to the surgery room. I think they asked me again what my surgery was and which leg (which is like going to happy hour then asked to calculate your annual income taxes). I then had to lift myself off the bed and scootch onto another “bed” (operating table). I know I saw my surgeon, she said hello. Then the anesthesiologist said he was giving me something, and I started to say, I think I feel it now, but only made it to “feel” before going unconscious.

Time passes, I have surgery ……

When I woke up, it was in a corridor with lots of other beds and patients starting to wake. My left foot felt snug, and appeared to be wrapped in a ace bandage with lots of padding underneath It was really a split cast: they cast the leg, then cut it all the way around it so the cast is literally split in half; the cast is tightened or loosened by an ace bandage wrapped around it.

A nurse came over and asked how my pain level was. I said, I didn’t really have any. She said when I had to wait a little while and when I felt awake enough, I could leave. I still felt half asleep and very wobbly 30 minutes later as a nurse unhooked me from the IV. Then they helped me get dressed, carefully getting my pants around my cast.

Then a wheelchair was brought to my bed, and a nurse wheeled me to a room where my family was waiting to take me home. A nurse went over everything that occurred during surgery as I was waking up, and I couldn’t remember any of it. So I was able to ask my family how it went (since the surgeon had spoken to them earlier after my surgery). Then the nurse wheeled me to the pick-up area and helped me into the car. I slept the remainder of the day and tired to have someone put ice on my ankle every 30 minutes.

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The Injury: Back Story

Well I had every intention of starting this blog on a new training regime prepared to share workouts and dinner recipes. But the ankle sprain that I was waiting and re-waiting to heal and get better never quite did. So I’m afraid I will have to start this running blog in a cast, unable to run. And trust me, this is progress.

I sprained my ankle (rolled my left ankle outward and scrapped the ground with it) during a 5k, in May 2012. Yes, I am now writing this in February 2014. It has taken almost 2 years to identify the problem and determine a solution. I really don’t want a single runner out there having to go through that. So here’s to learning from someone else’s experience.

After spraining my left ankle about 1 minute into the race (and finishing it of course like a dunce), I stayed away from ankle rolled outwardrunning about 3 weeks. I did not see a doctor. I began running with or without a brace, and upon the start of some interval training, felt my arch collapse. I ran sparingly and raced twice until August 2012. By this time, my knee was killing me, and if I ran in a way that helped my knee, my ankle was killing me. It was time to see a doctor.

I’d never gone to see a doc for a sports related injury, so I went to my General Practitioner and had them recommend someone: it was a surgeon that specialized in knee and shoulder surgery and had a background in Sports Medicine. I’ll refer to him as Dr. Knee. Dr. Knee diagnosed me with plantar fasciitis, achelies tendonitis, shin splints, and a small stress fracture in my tibia. 6 weeks off from running. Then rehab. Rehab helped a lot. Started running, and barely made it for the Army Ten Miler in late October. I did so well, not only did I finish, I averaged about 7:30min/mile pace. Overly ambitious, I ran two days afterwards and bam, pain in knee and ankle.

The weeks and months that followed were nothing but a series of cycles between being injured and running a little. I just kept getting hurt and spraining that ankle. My dad (an avid runner for over 40 years) suggested that my new hip pain and knee pain, were all derived from my ankle. I went back to see Dr. Knee, who did xrays and an MRI on my knee, only to find no issues. Then I asked him to consider my ankle as a source of the knee pain, and I had an ankle MRI end of July. Again, he said there was nothing to be found. Slightly disheartened, I began running again, slowly.

Less than a week later August 3 of 2013, I sprained my ankle for the 7th time. I stopped running and decided not to run again until I figured things out.

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