Just Can't Stay Down.....

I can hardly leave my last post up for too long because it is so out of sorts from the "normal" me. The headache is finally behind me and I am looking ahead. When I take a moment and think about what I have been through in the last year it makes me take pause and "get off my own back"! I feel like I have just played poker and all of my chips have been thrown up in the air and they are just starting to fall. Where they fall is the question. Where does 2 hip surgeries, 4 knee surgeries, and lumbar disc issues leave me. Athlete? Spectator? If athlete, what kind; swimmer, triathlete, cyclist, any of the three. I know one thing for sure.... I feel this fire building inside of me and training is the oxygen to fuel my desire. I am that much closer to getting control back of this body and remolding it into whatever athlete I want to be. One things for sure; when I set my mind to something there is NOTHING that can stop me. NOTHING. Now that I have new hips I feel like a bull waiting to get out of the gate. Yes, it is still a long road ahead. Lots of time retraining the 27 muscles that attach to the hips how to do their job again. Some of them have been "laid off" for a LONG time and need a swift kick in the ass....... pun intended. If there is one thing I have taken away from this past year it's patience. As solid as my commitment is to training, the vehicle that is going to get me there deserves a little more respect because it does have limitations. No athlete wants to hear that word....limitations. Sucks quite frankly. But I am going to turn that word into a positive and rock it within my little box of limitations. Chips are in the air..... falling slowly but surely. I am ready to pick up the pieces and make the best out of what I have left!!!! Let the training begin.......soon :)


This picture just makes me laugh. Joe, my PT in Vail, decided to take one for the team and throw on a pair of disposable shorts and rock the look with me!! Just funny.... Notice the two other therapists looking over their shoulder.... just jealous!

No Tolerance For Feeling Awful

Day 6 and feeling SORE


I woke up on Tuesday in Vail and wasn't feeling so hot. The headache I had after surgery #1 was beginning to rear its ugly head again. There is no pain so real than nerve pain in the back of the head and behind your eyes. I was in horrible pain and extremely nauseous. I just cried and cried. I took some meds and drug myself to PT where I laid there and cried under my little purple hat. It was pathetic. I have never officially had a migraine but have been told that this is what it feels like. I had to wear sunglasses inside to prevent the light from making me vomit. My PT Brad was great to me. He tried to calm the nerves at the base of my skull but they were just too angry. After massive amounts of Phenegran (anti-nausea medication), James and I drove back to Denver. I planted myself on the couch and tried to make believe I was better, but it didn't work. When I woke on Wednesday morning I officially wanted to go to sleep and not wake up. The pain was like nothing I have ever experienced. The nausea was even worse. I was balling uncontrollably. I had officially forgotten I had had hip surgery and was walking around in a complete daze. James took me to the chiropractor where we found my cervical vertebrates were completely compressed. He could barely even adjust me. I had three treatments in 24 hours plus 2 PT visits focusing on releasing the occipital ridge if muscles. I have had maybe 1000 kcal of food in 3 days and am very woozy. Nor have I had any PT on my hip due to my lack of coherency. It has been unbelievably horrible. The surgery was NOTHING compared to this obstacle. It's now Thursday evening and I am finally feeling some relief. I woke up this morning and told myself that today was going to be different. I will feel better. I will make myself go out and move my body. I will think positive. I will get back on the right track and breed positive energy into my healing body. Here's to change.

It's Sunday afternoon and it's snowing in Vail, absolutely gorgeous outside. Yesterday I was feeling so good I thought I would take off the anti nausea patch and see how it goes. I had a great night sleep, however when I woke up I was immediately very nauseous. I hate being nauseated. I'll take pain any day. So I went to PT and kinda laid low....I have another patch being ordered and will take oral meds in the meantime. Ugh. There are some really neat people here rehabbing their hips; one guy just finished Worlds in Kona, super nice guy.
My hip is doing pretty well. The swelling is pretty funny. It is HUGE!!! I have no knee cap. There is also substantial bruising. To be expected... I was just spoiled last time with no visible marks aside from the stitches. There's not much new to report. I will go home on Wednesday and chill for another 8 days and then the real fun starts. Train....Train...Train... Anything I can do I will. Swim, lift upper body, Pilates, I'm ready. I know...breathe. It's only been 3 days. One can dream!! Game on!

Operation Day

Pre-op..getting loaded with goodies to make me feel good!!

After the surgery and in my room

Ahhh...the 3 hour post op bike ride

The fun anti-rotational boots. Try sleeping in these suckers!!

James getting my calf pumps all set!!

What can I say... I love socks

Ouch


Wow, what a journey. So many things went differently this time around. To begin I was the lucky first surgery!! Oh ya baby. Checked in at 6am and was being operated on by 7:45. I was so scared to have the terrible nausea so the anesthesiologist gave me a patch behind my ear to control any feelings of sickness. They also switched the protocol in the past month and so I had an epidural for the first 24 hours. Worked like a charm. No vomiting what so ever. Yeah!!
The actual procedure was slightly different from hip #1. I had a posterior tear to the labrum and there was a flap of cartilage/labrum that was "delaminated". In other words the labrum became unattached from the acetabulum and was folded over on itself like a pancake. So that was addressed. Also a large synovectomy; the synovial sacs were red in and inflamed so he uses a heat probe to burn off the inflammation. I also had fraying of the ligamentum terres, it too was taken care of. He re-shaped my femur head and shaved down the spurs. So this one was a bit more involved than my first. My time in traction was double from the right hip. And I am a walking bruise this time. Not to mention my leg is the size of a watermelon. Bummer!!I will be on crutches and the brace for 15 days and then I get to wean off and get rehabbing!!
I am SO happy I stuck it out this summer and waited for Dr. Philippon and his awesome support staff. I have always felt completely taken care!! I am already on the mend and look forward to having pain free hips and getting back to exercise!!I cannot say enough about the people who have been so wonderful; Penny my OR nurse, Meghan G. the surgical coordinator (I think I wore out her voice mail this summer trying to get in earlier), All of the incredible PT's both in Denver and Vail, the night crew nurses who have extreme patience, and most importantly Dr. Philippon, you have no idea the gift you have given me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!
Now...lets get these hips rehabed so I can get back to my life of fun adventure!!

Here are some of the pics from the surgery.... the last one is kinda creepy (looks like a face).

Game on.......

Me and Mary showing off our new hips.... Look what they can do!!


Me and Mary with some freaky statue in Vail


James, Mary, and Bethie...my little possie


Dinner at Sweet Basil

It's finally here. Pre-op is done. Prescriptions are filled. Measurements are taken. Bag is packed. And I have butterflies in my tummy. James and my good friend Beth came up wth me and we are all looking forward to tomorrow. Beth will be here until Friday when she gets picked up by her crew and they head to Moab for a 50k run....that's right....50k...thats 36 miles!!! Sheesh. Could I pick more sedentary friends so I didn't feel like such a couch potato?? The most exercise I have gotten is hip abduction and walking forwards in the pool..nice. Interestingly enough my left hip is starting to bark at me; sharp, stabbing pain in my hip flexor and groin. So I am happy to get this behind me.
During my first hip surgery I met a sweet woman from Miami who was having her 2nd surgery; well she's back for her 10 weeks post-op and we got to all go out to dinner. It was great. A little laughter goes a long way!! So, tomorrow I wake up at 5:30 and check in at 6am for the FIRST surgery of the day!!! Lucky me!! So off to dream land I go....See you on the other side!!

Round 2 and THEN I get my LIFE back!!! And Playoff Football!!

Zachs' Support staff....Thank you all SO much!




It's hard to lose.



This weekend has been very bittersweet. Zachs football team played their playoff game and lost. In fact, it was a shut out. It was incredibly sad for everyone. They have been undefeated and were so close to a Superbowl spot. Zach is the quarterback and plays on the defensive line. He is one tough kid. I am so thankful to so many people for coming out to support him and watch him play. We are blessed! Now, I am NOT one for excuses, EVER. But, this is one for the books. Yes, they were out played. No doubt. However, the refs had it out for one of our key players from the beginning. There is a kid on the team thats about 6 foot 2 and 140lbs. He's HUGE and extremely athletic. He's the key defensive player. EVERY play the ref's threw flags if he touched someone. It was ridiculous. Even the parents from the opposing team were saying it was out of control. It was awful. They eventually threw him out of the game. Yes, the boys lost because they were out played, but it's unfortunate that they were being picked on by the referees. The best part of the game; one of the dads pulled Zach aside and thanked him for being such a great role model and player. He told Zach how proud he was to have his son playing side by side with such a stellar player/athlete and that his son learned A LOT from him this year. I'll take that over a game win any day!

Now.... next week......

Well it's finally here. This week I travel once again to Vail for 8 days and have my second hip surgery. I cannot believe it's already here. There is a different level of anxiety for this one because I know what to expect, the good and the bad. I do know some things I will do differently this time;

1. NO Epidural!!!! It made me INCREDIBLY ill last time. Threw up all over for hours!
2. Get sleeping medications!!! Sleep is so hard because your feet are tied together and you cannot move. Bring on the Lunesta!!
3. Make pre-made food and bring it up to have ready to eat!! There's no time for the care takers to cook :)
4. ** Come back to teaching my classes LATER...not SOONER** Go a little slower and try to be patient

I am SO ready to get my life back in order. I have been out of exercise for a almost 10 weeks now and am feeling it BIG TIME!! I think I'm going to conduct my own science experiment..... see how long it will take to get this weight off?? I haven't had this much time off exercise in over 10 years!! Seriously. I used to think taking off two days in a row was a bad thing. Damn.

So Wednesday morning at 6am I jet off up the mountain for a day of pre-op evaluations and look forward to Thursday when I FINALLY get my life on track with TWO new hips!! YIIPPPEEE!!!

Knock Knock..Who's There?? NOT my glute thats for sure!!

Beth and I having a blast playing in the snow!!






What an adventure this week has been. With the weather moving into Colorado I decided the best thing to do was to leave for Vail On Tuesday for my Wednesday 8 week check up with Dr. Philippon. James stayed back and Beth took the trip with me. What I didn't expect was getting trapped in Vail due to the massive storm in Denver. If you have to be trapped...what better place to be. It felt like we were in our own personal snow globe village. We had a lot of laughs!! One thing I learned about my friend is that she never watches the news. We had 9 news on and Kathy Sabine was doing the weather forecast from the "backyard". 5 minutes later when the news was winding up and Kathy was back inside giving the synopsis, Beth said "how did she get back to the studio so fast....I thought she was in someones backyard!!!" I almost wet my pants!!


Ok...back to the reason I was there. I have been having tightness in my hip and lack of passive abduction. Dr. Philippon did his evaluation and came up with this; my glute is still not firing and it's causing tightness in my hamstrings and hip flexors. He asked me what exercises I have been doing so I started naming them and he stopped me abruptly at lunges!!!! He said STOP doing that. Too early for MY hip. I have been reduced to single leg glute squeezes and standing abduction. He was going to give me a shot in the hip but I requested we wait until I had my next surgery and I was sleeping. He agreed. So until them I am on a mission to connect my brain to my glute and fire away. I need to decrease my activity level by 25% and once again "chill out". It is abnormal for my glute to be "inhibited" at 8 weeks. Its possible that it was dormant for so long because of the severity of my hip injury that it is going to take that much longer for it to "reconnect". I have no problems engaging my glutewhen I'm lying down, but the second I weight bear it lasts about 5 seconds. Damn.

All in all it was better that I was stuck in Vail and not at home because it really gave me a chance to focus on physical therapy everyday and get organized about what needs to happen before November 12th.

So here's to glute activation!