The Best is Yet to Come

bien venido a Miami!

That’s what I’m looking forward to hearing some time during winter after the New Year begins……extremely motivating since nobody wants to go enjoy the sun when they’re not feeling their physical best.

Lots of work to be done, but thank goodness I’m finally over the surgery/injury rollercoaster that this year has been and able to finally get back to a normal routine and stick with it.

Finally feeling motivated again after a long and bumpy road….it’s about damn time.

Ugh. The rain and gloom is just depressing. What happened to Fall???

Speaking of fall, only one more week of physical therapy and I’m done! Woohoo!!!! Finally got the go-ahead from my therapist to start back with light weight work on the leg which was what I was waiting for.

Walking normally, for the most part and still have some spots that aren’t quite back to right but I’m almost there. It’s about freaking damn time.

Ugh. This bites. Hamstring injury was pretty much healed and I was getting back to normal activities when lo and behold, some jackass spilled some clear fruit juice at the damn grocery store and guess who slipped in it aggravating the existing injury and also collecting a very bad bone bruise on the left knee in the process.

FML.

Going to physical therapy three times a week right now. Big fun.

…..is pretty much the color of the rather angry looking bruises on my right leg that remain 3 weeks after sustaining my initial hamstring injury. It looks as though I messed up my calf and knee, as well….and I still have new bruises coming to the surface - mainly on my knee.

Am able to almost walk normally now, which is a bonus over the first week where I was on crutches and the day I pulled my hamstring and hyperextended my right let and couldn’t walk at all, requiring an ambulance just to get to the ER to make sure I didn’t do any more serious damage than the level 3 hamstring pull.

Not sure quite how much muscle tissue was torn, but I’m happy that I’m finally seeing some good improvement in my function again. Can’t do any hamstring curls anytime soon, but I’m doing very light elliptical cardio and starting next week, plan to do some extremely mild leg workouts.

Massage therapy is helping greatly in reducing the muscle aches and in reducing my healing time, and for that I’m extremely grateful.

As for everything else, it’s been a very busy summer and my aunt just had her first round of chemo for her lung cancer…..they also discovered the beginning stages of uterine cancer which is apparently completely unrelated. Obviously, the lung cancer is far more grave and that is the focus. She seems to be in good spirits and was surprised that she dealt with this first treatment much better than she thought she would.

I’ll try to be better about updating, but when I’m injured or sick I tend to suck at keeping up with things - working on trying not to be an all or nothing sort of person and thankfully, even through the injury, I’ve kept my diet mostly in check despite the 4th of July and my birthday and haven’t gained any weight eve though my physical activity has been hindered.

Getting back to the light cardio is a big help, so I’m much more motivated than I was 2 weeks ago.

..or rather, I’m saying a lot of big prayers for my aunt. We just found out today that she has stage 4 lung cancer.

I haven’t written much lately because I’ve been busy with a lot of stuff, including working out regularly again. I’m not letting the crazy schedule of my summer detract from that. Finally back to making forward progress once more and I’m not going to let myself backslide again especially considering how much healthier being in shape is.

This news is completely shocking, since her biggest medical problem to date has been menopause and the fact that she’s short - and I mean short, she’s maybe 4′11", but that’s good since she was an elementary schoolteacher until retiring last year. She could certainly relate to her students on their level.

Anyway, if you have a moment and feel like it, please say a little prayer for her too.

Yes I feel it getting better, better every day!

Fallin rain
outside my window
but all in all I know
its gettin’ better every day
soon the sun will shine
through my window
when its gonna come
you know i really, couldnt say
but i know, its gettin better
every day

It’s another rainy day in Chicago, but I’m in super spirits. My sinus problems are going away - I haven’t had one single headache since my surgery aside from the starting twinge of one that went away quickly with some sudafed. Still recovering and there are still some stitches inside my nose, but every day I feel better and better.

Tonight it’s back to the gym for me, and even though I’m going to be careful not to overdo things because there is still some pressure in my head, I’ll be happy to be back in the swing of things. Going to do a light chest/tricep workout with some cardio.

Breakfast was oatmeal and coffee with a scoop of protein added to it, skipped mid-morning snack, lunch is grilled chicken breast with rice which I’ll have again near the end of the workday before heading home. Not sure what dinner will be, but there will be a post workout serving of vanilla low-fat yogurt with protein added to it.

Now I need to work on getting my butt out of bed early in the morning.

I’m burning I’m burning I’m burning……

**** my nose.

This hurts. My sinuses burn right now - first time since my surgery that I’ve felt like this.

I feel like I got punched in the face and that my nose is the size of a damn football. Sooooo not cool.

My recovery has been pretty smooth for the most part, except some big ol’ nasty gooey blood/snotwad came out of my nose yesterday and it’s like the floodgates were opened because there’s only been more of the same since then. I’ve had more glop coming out of my head today than I did the day of my procedure. It’s pretty nasty.

Still eating mushy food since chewing is not exactly something I should be doing right now. I really miss meat.

Can’t bend or lift anything yet….so that sucks.

The only nice part is the company I’ve had since Wednesday. My parents came down on Wednesday to take me for the surgery and stayed with me overnight, then a friend came over Thursday and fixed the closet shelf that fell (I’d normally fix it myself, but can’t lift), one of my best girlfriends came down on Friday and stayed overnight and took me shopping in the morning for a new bed that my mom decided to buy me and I went to lunch yesterday with another friend. I’ve been quite the social butterfly, LOL.

Post-op and bed delivery are on Thursday, so I’m only working a half day. Hopefully the doc will get the rest of the crud out of my nose that’s around the stitches and incision and tell me that all is going well.

In the meantime, it’s mushy food, antibiotics and Vicodin for me.

Completely. No way do I want to be awake when the doc is poking around my head with an endoscope on Wednesday.

Only I would be having my head surgified on April Fool’s Day. It’s so appropriate, although the man I adore teases me and says the I’m not really having anything done and the doc is just playing a prank on me.

People have frequently commented on my progress, or lack thereof, since last Fall. Trust me, I’m not happy about it either, but hopefully I shall be feeling healthy again and can really get back to a disciplined nutrition and workout plan once again.

What sucks is that just when I start feeling healthy for a little while from the antibiotics, as soon as I stop taking them I get stuck with another sinus infection and go right back to feeling shitty again.

I’ve seen more freaking doctors since July than I have in the last ten years. But I was underdosed on my thyroid meds from August of 07 through spring of last year and it took a toll on me physically and mentally.

Even though my thyroid meds were adjusted correctly I’ve still been fatigued and not feeling well, along with having ongoing chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis which I’ve had for a long time.

- Went to my General Practicioner for initial visit since she was my first doc down here in Chicago and she adjusted my thyroid meds back up to where they should be

- saw the gyno for the usual stuff

- chiropractor for my back and hip (one leg is shorter than the other by 1/4" and it causes problems for me

- endocrinologist to make SURE that my thyroid meds were right on and to make sure there were no other issues that needed to be addressed. Turns out I’m Vitamin D deficient.

- allergist to fix my allergies, I’m now not only allergic to dust and dust mites, but also to grass. Taking 4 different allergy meds right now to prevent the allergic rhinitis which leads to the major sinus problems.

- saw the Otolaryngologist (ENT) for my ongoing sinus problems - I’ve been on and off of antibiotics since October for a sinus infection that won’t go away. CT scan showed a blockage in my left maxillary sinuses (behind my left cheek) with a blocked drainage tube as well as a slightly deviated septum. My last CT scan 5 years ago didn’t show any problems.

Hopefully, after having the corrective endoscopic sinus surgery on Wednesday I will be finally back to full health and with the new allergy meds, I should be able to stay that way.

/medical novel

…and also feeling sore! Yippeee!!!!! Chest and tris are definitely feeling some DOMS, chest moreso, but that’s typical for me. Tonight is abs and cardio.

Diet going very well today - brought in Egg Beaters to leave at work for mornings when I’m running behind and can’t make breakfast at home, but I really need to work on getting to bed earlier and getting up at a decent hour in the morning to fit in some AM cardio and not be rushed before work.

I’m finally back on track after multiple sinus infections and setbacks, and I plan to stay on track.

Sinus problems seem to be at least under control for the moment, so life is going much better as far as health goes. The rest is a bit chaotic but I have an inkling that it will all work out as it is supposed to.

Diet has been good today - high protein and limited carbs. The very nice side effect of all the allergy meds is that I have very little appetite.

Going to the chiropractor after work and then hitting the gym right after. Yay!

Working out chest and triceps tonight, and looking forward to it. Nice to be finally feeling human again.