Redman Half 2013 Race Recap Part I

On to Part II…

When we got back to Saint Louis we stopped by my dad’s friend’s house who is a well-respected Orthopedist in the area for his opinion of my x-rays (the hospital sent me home with a disk).  I knew it was bad but deep down inside I was still hopeful that IMAZ was a possibility.  When he pulled up the image I couldn’t believe what I saw.  Yeah, it was definitely broken, and one part was pushed forward and the other pushed back towards my back.  Yuck.  He noted that I also had several broken ribs.  He said I would most likely need surgery and had a Dr in his group that he recommended for the surgery.  When I asked about recovery and he said that I could probably start doing ‘light strength training’ six weeks post surgery, I asked him if swimming 2.4 miles would be considered ‘light’, and he said ‘absolutely not’.  And that was it.  IMAZ was officially out.  So I moved my thinking forward and decided I would just focus on recovery and that was all I could do at this point.  There wasn’t even a small chance of IMAZ happening anymore.

The next day I met with his partner, Dr. O, where he looked at my x-ray and explained what was torn/broken (I broke my left clavicle, a few ribs and I tore several ligaments) and his recommendation, which was surgery to put in a plate.  I agreed to the surgery because he said without the plate the bone would most likely heal with a huge bump.  No thank you.  He responded and said that he wanted to operate the next day at 7:30a.  Woah.  Really?  Things were moving fast.

Before I knew it I was headed to the hospital for surgery Tuesday morning and getting prepped in the pre-op room.  After the big shot they gave me to knock me out, the next thing I knew I was being wheeled out of surgery and back into my pre-op room (I’m sure the name isn’t pre-op because I went back after surgery, but let’s just go with that). JMR and my mom were waiting for me and as soon as I seemed to be fully awake we went home to my parents house where I was staying for the rest of the week.  Other than being pretty uncomfortable for the rest of the week it was pretty uneventful – I slept a lot and didn’t eat much.  Not very exciting.  Finally on Saturday JMR picked me and Patrick up to go back to my place.  Home at last, hooray!

My view for the first four days after surgery since I slept in a recliner in my parents tv room. Note the special ‘non slip’ socks my mom wanted me to wear.

Doggie flower arrangement from my coworkers. So cute!!

The first week after surgery I only worked half days because I was still in a lot of pain and was still really, really tired and worn out.  The following Monday (two weeks post surgery) I went for my post-op visit.  Dr. O said I was healing fine, they took out my stitches (I had regular stitches and also dissolvable ones, they took out the regular ones) and I also got the good news that I could now drive and shower!  Hooray!  Taking baths and washing my hair in the sink for the past two weeks was not as much fun as it sounds.  Plus as much as I enjoyed being driven to and from work (and as grateful as I was), it was nice to have that independence back.  I was also cleared to ride the stationary bike (my trainer at home is too wobbly and using only one arm to get on and off isn’t safe), do the elliptical and walking.  Hooray!  However that week was also my first week back to working full-time so by the time I got home at night I was too tired to hit the gym. 😦

This past weekend and week (3 weeks post surgery) has been much better and I even managed to walk a 5k on Sunday!  I also went to a spin class after work on Tuesday (well, modified, I won’t be able to stand up, but it’s better than the boring gym bicycle), and oh man did that kick my butt.  My sling was also drenched in sweat, pretty gross.  Note to self, I’m going to need to buy a second one just for working out!

My next appointment is November 4th, so until then my posts will be pretty much uneventful as far as workouts go, since I will mostly be doing the stationary bike and walking.  I am baffled that I was cleared to do the elliptical?  Sounds dangerous…I could just see myself losing my balance and falling off since I only have one arm to hold on. 🙂

Phew!  So now I’m all caught up finally after a long hiatus from posting!