Update Edition: Half-Marathon #4 & Surgery

As usual, I'm updating the blog a good month (plus some) after the last update. I promise 2013 is going to see more frequent updates. It's not that I don't have a lot to write about, I just never find the time (or in all honesty...make myself sit down) to write! But...I've been home for quite a few days following wrist surgery so now is the perfect time to write an update!

First up....Girls' Weekend & the Savannah Rock 'n' Roll Half-Marathon

To be honest, I wasn't sure this weekend was going to actually happen. The week leading up go the weekend was a wee bit stressful as we dealt with someone not being able to go, figuring out who was riding with who, etc...but it all turned out great...for the most part. I was so glad to just hit the road on Thursday night. There wound up being 6 of us for the weekend. It was interesting...2 of the girls only knew each other and didn't know the rest of us...they only knew the girl who wound up not being able to do. We had a great time. We stayed in the historic district in a townhouse (the Jasper House) run by Savannah Bed and Breakfast. It was awesome. I highly recommend them. We actually found them by using AirBNB, a website where people can list their vacation homes, etc.

The half-marathon was great. I was s-l-o-w (as usual) and my lack of training did not really help. The course was  pretty good...just very, very flat! I was tuckering out about mile 10 and thankfully at about mile 12, Jen and Annie came to the rescue. They walked and ran with me as far as they could and then I somehow mustered enough energy to run through the finish. It wasn't pretty...but I finished. Half-Marathon #4...in the books! Perhaps my favorite part of the whole weekend was finally buying a shirt from One More Mile. I have blogged about them before (Half-Marathon #1 Blog Post). Anyway, I finally bought a shirt from them...it says "Running slow is not a character flaw, quitting it" and it is perfect for me! I may be slow, but I'll never quit!

Before the race...sporting my new shirt!

After the race...sporting my new medal!

Haven't signed up for anymore races right now. Going to take a break and let my wrist heal.

Surgery Recap

So if I could replace one of my body parts, it would without a doubt be my left wrist. It's just a pain and as Dr. A said, it's going to be my achilles heel. I had an arthrogram (a procedure where they inject contrast material into the joint and take 'live time' x-rays using a fluoroscopy to see if the material has leaked out of the joint) and an MRI on Oct 30 and then went back to see Dr. A the next day. The arthrogram showed that nothing leaked out of the joint and that the TFCC repair was holding and the MRI showed that one of my tendons was aggravated. My ECU tendon which helps pull your wrist back after you bend it down was irritated and was likely also moving out of place when I rotated my wrist...hence the painful popping. Dr. A, Jen, and I all agreed for him to do an open surgery procedure where he would clean up the tendon, reconstruct the sheath it was supposed to be in, and then tie things really tight. I had the surgery last Monday (Nov 26) and have done pretty well with it. From what Dr. A told my mom (and me when I was in post-op) and from what he has told Jen, my ECU tendon was sitting on the side of my wrist, the tendon to my little finger was also very irritated, the TFCC was intact, but very stretched so basically not able to do its job, and my wrist had a lot of synovitis in it. He put things back where they were supposed to be, tightened things v-e-r-y tight, and cleaned up all the junk. I go back tomorrow for my first post-op visit...will have the big splint from surgery removed (yay for being able to move my elbow again), have the stitches removed (if there are any), and will go down to OT to have a new splint made. We think it will be another 6 weeks before I can drive and before I can start doing any type of movement with my wrist again. This surgery has been way more painful than any of the others. Dr. A actually prescribed me Percocet because he knew I'd be in more pain. The day after surgery was bad...I was taking 2 pills every 4 hours and counting down until I could take more. I actually had to call in and ask for something else to be called in because I knew I would need more to get through the weekend. He called in Vicodin, a less potent pain killer, and it has helped...just not as well as the Percocet. So...I'm 9 days post-op and feeling pretty good....still in some pain, but it's definitely better than before and manageable. Hoping for good news tomorrow!

Splint from surgery...and very swollen and gross fingers!

Best way to keep cold fingers warm? A fuzzy sock!

George taking care of his momma!