In Sickness and In Health
Friday, October 30th, 2009Sometime last week, I spoke to my Best Friend "Mr. Gutaway" and he told me of his ongoing rotator cuff issues. "Gutaway" complained long and loud about how every time he seems to be getting somewhere, injury sets him back. Being in the midst of a war against a sinus infection, I couldn’t help but relate…
Long look into what I went through from 10/16 to 10/28: Started off with chills Friday night but didn’t recognize them for what they were; loaded on caffeine/adrenaline, cold front moving through. Woke to lots of low back pain, which I blamed on "benchseat" which I’d occupied for a couple of hours previous night. Ignored headache & dizziness & overall body ache ("its from working out Th"), stubbornly worked 3 hours moving/sifting soil in my yard. Admitted I had a fever and didn’t feel so well; packed up and hit sack early. Sunday- in really bad shape (severe headache), sick and no denying it. Went to Urgent Care clinic; misdiagnosed and sent home with nothing but "hydrate, take fever/pain relief." After a few days of continued 102 fever and really bad headache/toothache, called Urgent Care doc. Explained that taste buds seemed more sensitive to sweet/spicy and that head/tooth were driving me crazy; was immediately told I had sinus Infection and started anti-biotics 10/22. Friday 10/23- woke up with fever at 103 and muscle cramps in arm/calf/hand. Tried Urgent Care clinic, but they "ordered" me to ER. Sat in cold ER waiting area for about 3 hours, which dropped temp to 99, but BP was still low (88/52?). Hooked up to IV and pumped with "hydrating solution" plus anti-nausea & pain relief. Sent home feeling much better. Woke up middle of night burning, with pains shooting up & down forearms but unable to move; passed out for a few hours. Woke better and started trying to hydrate. Made it through weekend of constant/severe headache and 102 fever by drinking lots of "sports juice." (doc’s said sodium was ultra low and recommended I stick to "sports juice" for a while) Monday 10/26- saw regular doc, who wasn’t satisfied that I still had fever; got new anti-biotic. Tuesday- woke to ultra severe headache; stood up and fell right over from pain, lucky bed was there; passed out for a while. Spent day fighting headache & fever; hydrated hard with "sports juice," lite lemonade, OJ. Wednesday- woke to feeling like a new man; went fever free most of day (overdid shopping at lunch time); appetite returned and mouth had fun. Yesterday was good, today is better. I’ve gained over 10#, I’ve got spots in my eyes and a clicking noise in my head (drug side-effect; not permanent, I hope), but the headache is gone (yes, it was THAT bad) and everything else is manageable.
Back to Training and setbacks, I’ve had plenty of time to think about my Friend’s situation and what I’ve gone through myself. There you are, Training at your peak. Got the Diet right, Rest is going okay and Workouts are a Blast! Then suddenly you are out of the game, benched by illness or injury. Why is it that we we have such sudden setbacks? Could we be Training too much? Are we not listening to our bodies, forcing them to "fail" us? Sometimes the answer is yes.
When you’ve been told by your Docs to ease off, to give yourself a rest, when you continuously ignore previous painful experience and blindly push on, you’re just asking for it. Yeah, I know: be it an extra couple of plates on the bar, a smaller pair of jeans, a few seconds off the clock- you want that Trophy! You want to Win for you and there is nothing wrong with that, until you hurt yourself doing it. And the more YOU set yourself back by trying so hard the longer it will take YOU to get where you want to be! I’m not even 45 and my greatest accomplishments lay ahead of me, so I will gladly tell you to give yourself the time to do things right the first time!
On the other hand…I am glad I have been Training hard, I don’t feel I would have made it through my illness otherwise. (Yeah, things were that bad.) Many were surprised to hear I was still eating after several days of severe illness, well, I was eating as per my Diet schedule. Chicken soup and Gatorade aren’t at all my norm, thus the weight gain instead of loss, but having Fuel put in six or seven times a day and hydrating well are a way of life. If I had managed to keep eating/drinking past Wed night, I wouldn’t have gotten dehydrated (cramps/shooting pains), but at least I made it that far, Big Thanks to Training!
Illness and injury "attack" our bodies. Through proper Training (Nutrition, Rest, Work), not by overdoing or under achieving, we can better defend ourselves and live a longer, healthier, happier life!
Back to doing it!
Fazer
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