Stitches Removal!

So here are two scars from the portals of my labral repair. I also learned that they released my illiopsoas tendon. I read some articles that suggested that a tight psoas can actually cause the labral tears. One positive aspect of the surgery was that the none of the labrum needed to be removed due to extreme tearing, they just repaired it and anchored it. My bones are "perfect" too, I didn't need any bone work done. I am definitely getting better because I am getting anxious to workout again. I need to sweat! LOL!

Recovery

Everyday is a little easier. I can drive now with only a little discomfort. I can walk and bear full weight with no pain. My gait is still pretty slow though. I can not lift or twist or bend deeply yet. I get my stitches out Monday! WooWoo! I have gained a few pounds which sucks :(

Driving Sucks!

So I am totally fine sitting around all day watching tv or reading and doing my exercises BUT HOLY TOLEDO DRIVING SUCKED!!! Having my knees higher than my hip just caused so much pain. My physical therapy place is attached to the doctor's office which was a terrible 40 minutes away. My pain number went from 1/2 to about a 7 by the end of the trip. THEN I had to do the friggin PT exercises and then drive home.

 It was awful.

Thank goodness, I don't have another appointment until Thursday!

Day Two - Labral Tear Repair Recovery

So here you see two of the puncture wounds for the ports for the arthoscopy. I continue to feel great and have very little pain. My hip is a little swollen and sore but I can bear weight, walk almost normally. I am just sitting around watching TONS of movies while I do my exercises. The big event for today is showering! I can't wait, I really need one!

Successful Surgery!

So I had my labrum repaired yesterday at St Francis Hospital and the doctor says it was a great success. He said I had a big ole tear that he repaired and he has high expectations for my full recovery! Music to my ears. I am still and sore but I haven't even thought of taking pain meds. Physical therapy was tough today though. I am enjoying being waited on hand and foot as well as just sitting around relaxing.

I love blogging

I have told all of my doctors that I have had the hip pain for about 5 years. Well, i have been reviewing my blog and I noticed an entry from 2006 entitled  'Ouch, my hip hurts!' and I described the pain as localized agony. Yup that is the way it feels. I hope I have enough of the labrum left to repair. If it is so cut up, my hero, Dr Joyce said he would use part of my thigh muscle and glue it in place! Wow just like a paper doll !

I am falling apart!

So back to ovarian cyst drama...back in March my obgyn told me stop worrying, it is nothing, our bodies make these things all the time. BUT as a precaution, I should come back to make sure it is gone in a month. That appointment was yesterday...well that dang cyst is PERSISTENT! It is still hanging out in my ovary. I spoke with the doctor today and he said go ahead with hip labral tear repair and we'll check on this stubborn little cyst next month.

Ok on to the search for a solution to my hip pain...I started with a doctor that performs open surgery to repair labral tears. It would involve a 9' scar (right through my runner-girl tattoo, kinda ironic, right?) drilling through my ball of my hip to reach the labrum. He suggested I get some other opinions from doctors that perform this surgery arthroscopically.

Next stop, Dr Lena in Glastonbury. Very nice but suggested I wait for my tear to heal on it's own. He said we take longer to heal as we get older. I almost scratched his eyes out after that comment. LOL I know my hip pain. I have dealt with it for 5 years or so. I know it is beyond my control now. I haven't run or play pain-free since September.

So needless to say I kept searching for answers.

That brought me to the super surgeon of the stars, Dr. Michael Joyce. I love him :) He told me I had a tear that needed repair and he could do it. Then he went on to say the surgery would be easy to perform since I was young and slender. I think I scared him when I almost kissed and thanked him for that lovely comment. He quickly said well I mean you are going to be a lot easier to operate on than a football player. Cmon, Dr Joyce just go with the young and slender theme HEEE HEEE!

So I have a date for the repair on April 4! I am scared! Like wicked scared. But I know in my bones (Lol) that I won't get better without surgical help. I will be back to chronicle my experience...promise!

Pre Surgery Jitters

It has been awhile since I posted and A LOT has happened! After celebrating with Dianna (the girl with orange hat) and Amanda at a friend's 40th birthday, I decided to really figure out what the heck is wrong with my hip. I have had pain in both hips while running for the last five years.I always thought I had tight illiopsoas tendons. I would rest or get massage or go to extra yoga classes and would always be able to recover. Then this past fall, I tried all my tricks and nothing worked. I knew I needed help.

My first stop was to a chiropractor, Dr. Giacolone, recommended by both Dianna and Amanda. He was fabulous and started performing active release technique on my right hip. After three weeks of  treatment, I saw no improvement at all. He suggested I delve deeper and make an appointment with an orthopaedic sports surgeon. After hearing my story, Lance Morgan, PA ordered a hip anthrography MRI.

I went to Open MRI in South Windsor. They were great. A doctor takes an xray of the hip joint, then he places a needle into the joint and shoots dye into the joint. I got to watch the entire procedure, it was so cool! Then I was wheeled into the imaging room and spent the next 45 minutes hearing techno music sounds LOL.

At my follow up appointment with Morgan, he confirms that I have a labral tear in my right hip. The more disturbing news though was that I had a cyst on my left ovary and he told me to make an appointment with my OBGYN as soon as possible. I was SCARED! After a few appointments and ultrasounds, the obgyn doctors said I am fine. PHEW!

So then Morgan tells me the options I have to fix my tear...open surgery or arthoscopic. He said arthoscopic surgery is tough on the hip though and tells me to be choosy and make sure whichever doctor I go with understands that I want the labrum repaired not removed. Then he sends me on my way...he was such a sweet P.A. He made an appointment with his colleague on his cell phone for me for the very next day!

Part 2 of this story will follow...on to the gym with my Travis!

Flying Pigs Here We Come!

My stepdad and I have registered to run the Flying Pig Marathon in May 2013 in Cinncinati, OH. I have registered for the half while Richard registered for the full. I will be happy to finish the half actually. I feel great working out at the gym and practicing yoga but training for a half will really test my commitment to stretching and caring for my areas that are tweaky.

By the way, I have become the Kathy Bates character from The Waterboy - the highly acclaimed Adam Sandler movie from 1998. I have her voice in my head, "Foosball is the DEVIL!" My middle son, Nick, suffered a concussion during his Friday night game. He had all of the symptoms in the book; slurred speech, photophobic, unstable gait, awful headache, cranky...and he continues to have some symptoms but he is starting back to school for half days this Monday so that is good news. I guess I should consider him lucky since this is his first football injury and he is a senior. His senior season is probably over, but he has indoor and outdoor track to look forward too...oh and all those college essays that he is so excited to write ;)

Warrior Dash Race Review

HOLY MOLY that was sooooo much fun! I can not wait till my next adventure race. I know I have increased my strength with weight training and power yoga, but while climbing over those 20feet walls and cargo nets, I really felt how strong my core has become. All of the obstacles were easy for me and I felt so excited to feel so strong and accomplished.

I am totally registering for another adventure race asap!

Mid-life crisis!

Today while I was cleaning the house, I decided I "might" want to complete an Ironman Triathlon in 2018, the year I turn 50! OMG I have a hard time even saying that age! It is more incomprehensible for me to realize I will be 50 in 6 years than for me to imagine completing an Ironman length tri! LOL

Triathlete Data Team :)

Anyone in education right now knows that the new trend is to analyze our student data to help improve instruction (a model adapted from the medical field). After yesterday's triathlon, I decided to conduct my own data driven decision making meeting on my performance...LOL. Let me preface this ridiculous analysis with the statement that I had a totally awesome experience on Sunday and enjoyed myself thoroughly. I loved the race experience(very organized and lots of support) as well as the time with my sweet athletic friends. I just had a blast!

Here is that data:
2007
July Danskin Sprint    16:40swim 43.29bike 22.42run
Sept Women's Sprint 18:44swim 37:52bike(only 10m) 28:01run

2008
July Danskin Sprint    12:11swim 43:38bike 23:08run

2010
Aug Cranberry Olympic  36:41swim 1hr31m bike 1:03run

2012
Sept Women's Sprint   24:50swim 41:36bike 31:55run

So my swim was pretty awful this past Sunday but honestly it didn't feel as slow as the time reflects. I haven't changed anything and my training was great. Oh well...

My bike continues to be consistent and actually has become my favorite part of the tri race as well as my training. I love my bike. I feel like the little pig in that insurance commercial when I am riding down hills :)

I am nursing a psoas injury on my right leg so my running is almost nonexistent so I am fine with the running time on Sunday, especially since the run was on trails that were sandy and wet.

This race is highly recommended; it was well organized and so much fun. The volunteers were very supportive and the water was clean and beautiful. Oh my the bike ride is fast and scenic. The run was hard but also beautiful.  

Pre Race Jitters

Tracey, Cindy and I picked up our race packets at Central Bike Shop in Farmington, CT today and got totally psyched up for tomorrow's triathlon.

We also went to the race site to check on the swim. It looks doable and not so stress inducing. I love swimming but when I jump in the water with all those swimmers, I panic! I keep my eyes trained on my destination and I can usually keep my wits about me.

More details and hopefully pics to follow post race time!

Obituary For: Alfreda Kowalski | McDonald Funeral Homes of Weymouth

Obituary For: Alfreda Kowalski | McDonald Funeral Homes of Weymouth

She was one amazing woman.

I am tired...

On Thursday,  I woke up at the crack of dawn to head to the gym. I spy a strange mark on the floor of my kitchen, it is red and liquid. I am only half awake so I don't really know what is going on. I go to check on my kids and wake the oldest to help me. He starts to freak out that the liquid might be blood and goes upstairs to check on something, I am not exactly sure what he was checking. LOL. While he was running around, I wake up enough to know I need to be the grown up and figure this out. I apprehensively touch the fluid and quickly realize it is not blood, it was too thin and more brown than red. I realize it is probably a leak from our old pipes.It was 5am so I decide to go workout and plan my strategy upon returning home.

I find a nice plumber that says he will come over that morning. I head to work, it is only day 4 of school and I am brand new to this school, so I am very grateful my oldest son, Tommy,  is able to stay home and deal with the plumbers. I have no office at my new school, so all day I am hiding in the bathroom to get updates from Tommy.

The updates are NOT GOOD. The plumber starts with a 5" by 5" little square and has to keep cutting. Now we have a 6' by 2' hole and the plumber still can not find the bad pipe :( The cabinets have to come down to gain access to the pipes. So from the bathroom, I am coordinating and giving permission to plumbers and carpenters as well as hunting down insurance officials! Not easy!

Then at about 3pm, my sister and mother are blowing up my phone, but I have already spent way too long on my phone! So I call from my car in the parking lot at the end of our school day. My sister tells me my 92 year old grandma has passed away.

Too much for one day...

So after meeting with insurance adjusters, plumbers, carpenters, clean up guys, my three boys and I trek up to Boston for our gramma's wake and funeral. It was a beautiful service and wonderful celebration of her full life. My boys were her pallbearers and I was so proud of them.

Now I am back to reality...my kitchen has machines drying out the water damage, half my cabinets are gone, there is no water upstairs so that means no showers till Tuesday....

Oh and tomorrow I am moving Tommy to UMASS for his sophomore year...just one more thing

Thank goodness this is a long weekend, I am lying on my bed all day Monday...well after I grab a shower a some generous friend's house.

Hello blog world...it's high time I revisited my old blog! I have been trying to google my results from my past races to help set a goal for my upcoming triathlon. It is a lot easier to write about my races here and document progress or bumps in the road :)

Currently I am in a slight drought in my racing success. Last year I was diagnosed with a low thyroid and have been trying to regulate it with supplements and diet. My low thyroid problem has effected my athletic performance quite a bit. In the beginning, I was very tired and had little energy to work out...well little energy to do anything but nap actually! Then the supplements increased my energy level, but I still am not competing with the same intensity I once did. It is like I don't have the mental edge. It is very frustrating, but I am glad I do feel better. We'll see what my next blood sample says!

Another exciting aspect of my life is I am starting a new position for the school system I work for in CT. I will provide English language support for children that speak other languages in the 3, 4, 5th grades. I am pretty psyched. This will provide the change I needed both intellectually and physically. Working with preschoolers the last 15 years has taken its toll on my body, that is for sure! No more diaper changing, shoe-tying, nose-wiping, coat-zipping!!!! Yahhhoooooo! No more adorable stories though either...which will be sad but I am pretty sure 8, 9, and 10 year olds are pretty funny sometimes too.

Smuttynose Marathon 2011, Hampton Beach,New Hampshire

"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for 20 years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run." John "the Penguin" Bingham

It was fate that I read that quote right before I embarked on my 9th marathon. Thank goodness I did, because from about mile 18 to 26.2, I am not sure you could call what I was doing running :)

The Smuttynose Marathon was held in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. It looked like a very beautiful beach area with very fun places to visit during the warmer months. Only a few stores and restaurants were open this past weekend, but just enough to feel like I was on vacation.

We had a great pre-race supper at Mama Leone's with a great waitress and great company. On Saturday, the weather was intermittent rain, little wind with about 60'. Well after we filled our bellies with yummy Italian food, we went right back to our hotel rooms to get a good night's sleep. The monsoon/tropical storm winds were a little problem...the wind was so strong, it literally woke me up and knocked furniture around on our little balcony!!!! Not the kind of weather one wishes for when preparing to run 26.2 miles!

We got up early on Sunday, looking out the window and all we could do was laugh. If we didn't laugh, we surely would have cried. It was awful, pouring rain, terrible winds and about 45'.

We walked down to the start, all asking each other what they heck we were about to do??? How were we going to do this??? This is FREAKING TERRIBLE!!! But despite all of us complaining, we still kept walking to the start line...strange hold these marathon thingys have over us humans, huh??

Once we finally started, the rain subsided some and the winds died down once we got away from the shore. I had a strong race for about 15 miles and then I started to fatigue but the muscle cramping waited to attack around mile 18...and never ceased. I had to walk/jog the last four miles and they sucked. In addition to cramping, the last four miles were along a very scenic stretch of ocean. Had the sun been shining, I am sure I would have loved the scenery, but yesterday, the waves were so strong they were splashing over the wall and hitting me in the butt!!!! I couldn't move away from the waves since the traffic wasn't closed!!! I literally was miserable. Absolutely miserable. I swore I would never ever run again, never visit New Hampshire again and hated anyone that I came across for those long 45 minutes.

Now that a day has passed, I have made peace with the State of New Hampshire, not so sure I will ever run again since right now walking is nearly impossible. And I am sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings that had the misfortune of meeting me during those last four miles.

I would not recommend this marathon though. It is only the 2nd year that a full marathon was offered and I don't feel like there was enough support. I think the half marathon is very well-done and supported by the community. In addition, the scenery was amazing, I could imagine how beautiful it would have been if I wasn't keeping my eyes downward so as not to be blinded by gale force winds :) The full marathon splits from the half at mile 11, after that the community support dwindles to almost nothing but the real concern I had about this marathon was that the last aid station was at mile 21. There are waaaayyyyyy too many disatrous possibilities that may occur in those last five miles. It really was not safe. I held water in my fuel belt, but I sure would have appreciated gatorade and emotional support to get through the last few miles.

But anyway, number nine is history. I am sticking to yoga for a while. I haven't decided if I have forgiven running just yet.

Boilermaker 2011

I just registered for the Boilermaker 2011 in Utica, NY. Last year I was nursing my psoas injury and only ran the 5k, this year it's the big bad 15k for me!!! Yeah! I am excited that I have stretched and strengthened and rested enough to sign up for this race!

I just came home from Vegas! What a city! What a blast! Here's a pic of the most strenuous activity we participated in while in Vegas-posing with some sass :)

Long time no write :(

Hello fellow fitness enthusiasts!!!! I miss reading your stories! I have been running a little, yoga-ing a lot and weight lifting as well! I feel GREAT!!!! I can not wait for the warmer weather to start riding my bike and swimming!

Happy Trail Feet!

It sure would be a lot less slippery if someone could blow the leaves off the trails :)