Saturday, February 16, 2013

It's Been Awhile

The good news is I have maintained my weight loss. I fluctuate between 130 and 134 depending on the day. The bad news is that I am suffering from a hip injury that has completely sidelined my running:( I have been taking cycle classes at the gym 5 days a week and also doing weight training but I feel empty without my running. I have not been on a run since January 5th. The pain in my hip began in November. I slowed things down but continued to run. Over the holiday break from my job I stopped running for 2 weeks due to a particularly painful run the Saturday before Christmas. During that break I cycled almost everyday with no pain. Two weeks after my painful run I went out an ran a very fast and comfortable 5k. I felt great...until I stopped. My hip started hurting again.

That Monday I visited OrthoOnCall and was told that I may have a labral tear in my hip. I scheduled an appointment with a specialist for January 24th and went to physical therapy 3 times a week until the appointment. I had no improvement with physical therapy. At my appointment with the hip specialist I was told I needed an MR Arthrogram. I went the following week and then waited another week for my results. I have a hip labral tear...I also have a retroverted hip socket which predisposed me to the injury in the first place. The prognosis is not good. Surgery involves a HUGE recovery period (As you can see from Lady Gaga's recent cancellation of her tour dates...she has the same injury http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701979/lady-gaga-cancels-born-this-way-tour.jhtml). The doctor is not certain he can fix the problem due to the retroverted hip socket and he doesn't want to put me through the surgery if he isn't more sure about the outcome.


Yesterday I went to get a cortisone shot for the first time to see how I react to that. For a cortisone shot in your hip you have to be sedated since it is such a complicated procedure. The actual procedure was fine but I passed out when getting the IV and when they took it out. I wasn't allowed to eat from midnight until the procedure (11:00) and I think that must have had something to do with it. I have no fear of needles but the doctor indicated that it is my body's natural response to "intruders" in my veins. I have been asked to take it easy for the weekend so I have been laying around, watching a lot of TV, reading, and trying not to eat too much:) Over the next week I cannot exercise....this terrifies me. Logically I know that not exercising for one week will not result in me gaining all of my weight back but it still makes me nervous. I have maintained this loss without having to track too much but over the course of the next week I will be using my Weight Watchers online tools and MyFitnessPal. I will also be going back to the original phase of the 17 day diet so that I will feel more comfortable about not getting my sweaty workouts in.

These past few months have been really tough for me. I love running and I often define myself by it. How far I went and how fast my pace was were things I felt proud of and bragged about. In addition, running is an amazing stress reliever for me. I know that I get great cardio benefits from cycling but I get something different from running. It is hard to explain but I am terrified that I will never be able to run again without pain. I don't really want to have the surgery. I would not be able to do ANYTHING for 4 to 6 weeks (no work at all). After that I would have to do 6 weeks of physical therapy and then I may be able to consider introducing physical activity back in to my life. I have come so far and I feel that I am in the best shape of my life. The thought of giving it all up for a surgery that might not even work is terrifying.
Neptune Festival 8k September 2012

I am trying to be positive and I am looking forward to the fact that after this week is over my doctor wants me to try running to see how my body reacts. I will follow up to see how that goes!

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