Training Log Archive: Wyatt

One set of stretch & ice.

Event: North American Rogaine Championships
 

Just when Angelica's week long cold began clearing up, she got a serious case of poison ivy. Not even sure where she got it. Possibly weeding the garden - although we've never seen PI there before - possibly at TNT - we saw some trees wrapped in PI, and she did step off the trail at one point - but she's pretty sure that wasn't it.

Anyway, she's on topical and oral steriodal anti-inflmatory meds, and despite that it's looking like she may not be able to sleep tonight, with half her face/head swollen (one eye nearly swollen shut) and many other smaller patches. I'm putting tons of time into trying to figure out how to help, but we're pretty much doing all we can.

She just got her first itchy patch yesterday morning. Unfortunately, we (and her doctor) misdiagnosed it as hives for the first 24 hours and only treated with Benadryl - had we recogized it as P.I. earlier, this probably would have been less severe - it just came on so fast and so strongly we didn't think it could be P.I.

At least it hasn't gotten much worse today since the steriodal anti-inflamatories started kicking in. Even if the spread stops fast, there are still a few phases for the skin to go through..

C • Yikes! 3

One heat/stretch/ice in the afternoon. May try a long set now (late). Heavily distracted from fixing my leg by trying to help Angelica's P.I. (see comment.)

TNT VF edition. Even saw Dasha running away, but we left before anyone was back. (Angelica & I both walked due to illness/injury, and then left quickly due to rain falling on the kids.)

While looking at the "Shoes" button which I haven't seen in a while, I noticed that my newest running shoes showed up in late October, about 5 weeks before the latest injury. I have stuck with them as walking shoes ever since. Just in case they may have somehow been involved in the injury, they have been jailed indefinitely.

Pain: Mostly pressure annoyance, not much burning. Angelica remembers this too from one of her similar injuries. What I am calling pressure annoyance could also be described as the feeling that something that is not a part of my body is jammed slightly inside or right on the surface of the skin, just above the TBI. Annoying, but more tolerable than the burning.

I wonder if the transition from burning to pressure-annoyance* is due to the fact that I stopped doing deep tissue massage about two weeks ago. Perhaps the deep tissue massage was keeping the hamstring in a perpetual state of not quite healing (burning), but the stopping of massage has allowed the scar tissue to get harder, thus feeling more like a foreign body (scar-pressure?) than a burning thing?

BTW, I visited Doctor Hopper today - based on an appt. made 4 weeks ago that I decided to keep for another opinion. We had a good discussion for about half an hour - Val Amoss (the good PT in the same building) even stopped by to listen for about half the appointment.

*On my visit to Doc. Hopper today, he didn't think there was much meaning to the burning vs. the pressure change, although I didn't think of the potential relationship to me stopping of the deep-tissue-work until after the appt.

On a few other fronts - yeah, I could maybe do an ultrasound guide cortisone shot, or maybe (less recommended, but possible) try prolotheraphy, or maybe (experimental) try some "growth factor" thing.

Less radical would be trying some ultrasound or ionotophoresis. Although the latter is considered relatively useless for such a deep injury. (Although I'm thin, so maybe it could help?)

Anyway, before I do any of that, I'll see Doc. Mc Shane again, but before I go there, back to the Hopper story.

One of the other things Hopper recommended was for me to see Doc. Mc Shane. I hadn't told him I'd seen Mc Shane last Friday, because I wanted a totally independent discussion - and I never did let me know that. I told him I already have an appointment with McShane, but the tense usage was probably wrong... Sorry Doc. Hopper - hope you understand my desire for your independent opinion.

Anyway, he suggested that Doc. McShane could do an ultrasound, and possible a cortisone shot right then if he thought it would help. Plus, Doc Hopper apparently interned with or in some other way trained under Doc McShane, and thought highly of him. Others apparently did too, because McShane could go out on his own and start a new practice.

So at this point, McShane is the new expert. And speaking of that expert, I had my MRI (of the lower back - why not the TBI?) yesterday morning, and haven't heard from McShane yet - I called to late this evenign (5:15pm)_ so I'll try again tomorrow.

At this point I think I've hit 1/3 of a H. (Who'll figure out this reference?)

C • Shoes 2

Long PT, at 10pm - no other PT today. I've got to do that more regularly... E.g. get up early tomorrow and go the gym, because I'll join AJ & Oriana to watch the kindergarten graduation tomorrow. (Where AJ pseudo-graduates from Pre-K to Kindergarten.)

All but the ham. machine. Leg feeling pretty solid. Ham. rolloff ball gave minor hamstring muscle pains, but more like normal workout pains than anything at the TBI. Seems valuable.

5 min Rowing (light)
5 min Elliptic
5 min Arm weights (light/fast pseudo aerobic)
5 min Elliptic
Long PT
Pain: Pressure annoyance mostly, which I'm trying (mostly successfully) to ignore
Plan: Try roughly this workout and/or Monday's on Friday & Monday, then ramp up again.

Precor, Ramp 1, Level 4, RPM 49

Incl 15x15 lbs eccentric hams on the machine. I think that level is okay.

Around the neighborhood.
Pain: My leg is mildly burning and/or annoyed-by-pressure (feels squeezed) on/off all day. Not much more so when sitting vs. standing today.

One of the strangest symptoms, that I haven't mentioned much before, is the effect of light pressure. While standing, or walking, or exercising, the (light) pressure of by shorts/underwear crease on the left side gets really, really annoying - I can't even feel it on the other side (like you generally don't feel your clothes unless you think about it), but on the Left side. I feel "Darn that's pressing hard" - but it's not! I wonder if it's compressing a blood vessel or something. Or if the nerves in that area are just hypersensitive.
- The related symptom I don't think I've mentioned at all are that in some stretches, NOT of the left hamstring, where the left buttock/hamstring crease gets especially deep, the left leg feels really odd/burning/pressure at that crease - again, similar things on the right are just the normal folding of skin that you don't even feel. Weird. Maybe I'll mention this to the new doc.

I'm almost getting obsessive about what to do here. Okay, maybe I've been obsessive for a while, but I'm getting towards burnout on the obsessing. I get a lower back MRI tomorrow, and go back to 'ol Doc Hopper on Thursday, and possible go see my new Doc Mc Shane on Thursday or Friday too, to read the MRI (he ordered it - the Hopper appt. was made long ago.)

1 partial Long PT session, and 2 short PT sessions. A really bad-busy day at work today.

C • Too much information? 2

Elliptical, Precor, Level 4, Ramp 4, Rpm 45

Set of hamstring strength. Skipped the hamstring machine. Although that doesn't seem to have helped so I may do it again tomorrow.

Almost forgot this. 5 + 3 minutes