This and That

Slowly, very slowly I am getting my life back to some sense of normal.

I managed last week to play golf an entire round of golf with some but not much discomfort. To paraphrase an Amex commercial.....

Toilet Paper, Baby Wipes and Extra Underwear in Golf Bag
Not having to use them ........................................... Priceless

Bad days still occur but they typically are less intense and somewhat more predictable.

Running is becoming a pure joy even if endurance still is somewhat of a problem. I am astounded by some of my training runs, I am not able to keep up with the strongest runners but I am beginning to hold my own. I have been tackling some difficult trail loops with good verticals and I'm seeing it pay off. I am also forcing myself (reluctantly) to run faster downhill. (My nemesis) I ran a seven mile loop yesterday afternoon, on wet slick trails, (after a hard five miler in the morning) averaging  just over nine minutes per mile.

Pain still haunts me in the areas of my incisions and in my "arrse" but it's typically a nuisance, fingertips are still sore but my feet, my feet have become my new body barometer !

To give you an idea, when I wake up I can almost feel all of my toes. I stand up and think, "Wow there they are!". I get up, sometimes take Patrick to work, return home to coffee and an English Muffin slathered in Peanut Butter (my new morning staple) just in time to escort Maggie to the bus. After Norm whisks Maggie away I come back to the house or the office to start my day. At this point my feet are still happy, responsive and kind.

Most mornings lack stress, (I imagine a benefit of a business running at half speed) yet a single phone call, an email from a client, perhaps impatient about delivery can send my feet to the "buzz zone". There are times that my feet will "Tell Me" I'm in stress even when I don't realize it. Take this evening, I was relaxed, my feet had been good to me all day even with an eight mile trail run. Time to take the kids to driving school ! Ut Oh, Maggie drove, quite frankly doing very well. No white knuckles but by the time I returned home most of my toes and the bottoms of both feet felt the heat and went asleep.

Now if I could bottle this kind of noticeable response how many lives could be changed ! Feeling stress that you could not otherwise notice.

I saw Mom on Friday when she came home, she looked great, as if nothing had even happened, this spoke volumes about who she is ad how damn lucky I am to be her son.

Mike





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Check Ups

Today is Maggie's Seventeenth Birthday, I am amazed how she could have grown up so fast while other aspects of our life seem to pass so slowly. Happy Birthday Maggie, even though your are growing up you'll always be Mom and Dad's little girl.

Monday and Tuesday were Doctor days with follow ups with Doctor Goldstein and Doctor Yang, I'll see Doctor Berg at the end of the month to complete my three month follow up. My blood work came back with everything looking good but the test for cancer markers won't be back for several days. Both Doctors told me how well I'm doing and that my recovery is ahead of the norm. Neither felt that the pain I'm having lower in my side was anything to be concerned about, probably just scar tissue as I suspected. Upon telling Doctor Goldstein that I first injured it hitting a golf ball he simple looked at me and said, “Mike, you are a surgeon's nightmare.”

I logged forty six and a half miles of running last week, the best training week I've had in over a year. The week was capped off with a ten and a half mile, three hill run including twenty three hundred feet of vertical climbing. The miles were good but I am encouraged since my energy level remained high throughout the week.

The rest of my recovery keeps slogging along at a tortoise pace, during one run last week I felt some pain in my toes only to have them dose off to the half awake state they have been in for months. My hands are getting better with only my fingertips having any continuous sensitivity. And “Downstairs”, well lets just say I'm calling the broker to double up my investment in Charmin.

This past Saturday I went to photograph a T-Ball game, our UPS Driver is a coach. What a riot, I had forgotten how much fun those days were. Watching the kids do almost everything except playing baseball made me laugh.

My brother Tim will be bringing Mom and Dad home on Friday. I am planning on heading up there for the evening to welcome them back. 

The Mountain Laurel is Blooming Early. Sure will be pretty around here very soon.

Mike 

Greenwood Furnance

Oh Lord, what was I thinking, just ate half of a huge bag of Peanuts before looking at the label. So much fiber in those delicious morsels. To add to the equation I have the habit of eating some of the shells as well. Looks like another twenty four to forty eight hours of “fun” ahead.

This past weekend I ran in the Greenwood Furnace Trail Challenge , a tough but fun race of just over twelve miles with two good climbs of twelve hundred and thirteen hundred vertical feet. The course is a figure eight, with runners climbing the same Mountain from two different directions. Of course uphills mean downhills and this race did not disappoint. The first descent in particular was steep, rocky and very technical, I am sure that once again I may have been slower on that descent then it's ascent. Once down in the valley, no longer cursing the trail, I ran along streams and ruler straight hundred foot popular trees in an old growth forest. If I thought that was something special it was soon an afterthought as I and my fellow runners entered a Rhododendron forest. For about a mile there were times you felt as if you were running through a tunnel of these magnificent shrubs. It might be worth a trip just to walk through this in bloom later in the summer.

As I exited the Rhododendron Forest, I knew the second climb would be “interesting”. A couple of runners had made passing comments but my initial impression was, “Not Too Bad at All”, until, looking up after a few minutes, the impression changed to, “Oh Crap”. What was ahead looked steep, steep and forever.

To be honest, I don't mind these sections, I have a mile of trail near my home (TV Trail) that is steep rocky and nasty. It's about a nine hundred foot vertical climb that I often join with a six hundred effort

to make for a great hill workout. Hopefully I'll be up for doing “Doubles” by the end of this month.

Reaching the summit the second time I started having pain two inches below and to the right of my belly button. I am almost sure this is torn scar tissue in an incision area so I'm not terribly concerned except for the fact that it really hurts.

With three to four miles to go, most of it downhill I was getting passed by those I had passed on the second climb. With about a mile left I “Heard the Footsteps” and let someone much less my senior pass me.

Just a quarter mile to go and we are off the trail, on a flat road to the finish. My “Friend”, the last guy to pass me is only fifty yards ahead. I feel great, not a bit tired or sore so I close the gap. To be honest I have no intent on passing him but he doesn't know that. On his heels, with a couple hundred yards to go I spoke up, “You don't want an old guy passing you at the finish, do you?”. He picked up his pace. With one hundred yards left, “Not good enough, I've got another gear left, kick it in !”

We were almost sprinting at the finish, to be honest I think I had one more gear. The run complete, my new friend reached out his hand and said, “Great Run”. This is what I love about trail running, it's not about winning or loosing it's about the journey and having fun.

If only the journey home could have matched the run. Withing three or four minutes of getting into the car for the return home, my guts were in turmoil. It was a long ride home and a bad evening which led me to missing a recital that Maggie was in.

Not everything is as I would have it, progress is slow but it's progress. 

Mike

May 1st

May 1^st , so begins the month of follow up testing and Dr. appointments.

My recovery in some ways has exceeded expectations, yet, I am in a funk this past week, the soreness of my hands and the numbness in my feet have been difficult to deal with. My right side, two inches below and to the right of my belly button hurts, most likely to playing golf and tugging some scar tissue at an incision site. My arms and chest are sore from weightlifting along with my “Bum” from a serious bathroom night and morning. Last night, helping at a Kids Track Program, I did warm ups with one hand firmly pressed into my side as if to stop a massive bleeding.

A smart person, yes a smart person would probably come to the conclusion that perhaps he or she should abstain from potentially injurious activities . I doubt and hope I never get that smart.

So much I should write about but I just don't feel like doing it, simple thanks instead.

For my Mom, her strength and courage have lead her though her ordeal

For Maggie, once again a Star Performer, wonderful play dear

For Patrick, congrats on the job and your first semester at Shepherdstown

For Kevin, thank you for helping out your Grandfather

For Dee and Lorette and the Docs

For Joe whose calls always make my day

Finally, to Susan who is always there with me.

Mike

PS> Couldn't help myself, a 21:20 5K this past weekend. The New “Skinny O'Grady”