Catching Up!

Wow!  It's been a while since I blogged.  Sorry for that.  Quite a lot has happened in the last few months.

In November I ran my very first 10K with my awesome nephew Kendall.  I survived.  I ran every step.  It was not easy.  Kendall won his age group.  He was a sweetheart and walked back to find me after he finished and helped me run in the last half a mile or so. 

I'm a long way from being fast.  I'd like to do a half marathon soon, but I'm a long way from that too.  Even so, I'll keep plugging along.

I ran yet another 5K with Kendall at his high school later in November.  He won his age group again.  Show off.  I ran it all.  And, I PR'd.  It was awesome.  5K's are getting easier.  I like that.  Sadly, I'm not sure that is going to remain the case.

Then, on Thanksgiving Day, I decided at the last minute to get up super early, drive to Ft Worth (from Mineral Wells where we were spending Turkey Day with Kev's family), and run in the Ft Worth Turkey Trot.  There was a 5K or a 10K.  I decided to go for it and run the 10K.  I also decided that I wanted to try to improve my time from my first 10K in November.  I had a race plan this time.  I ran 5 minutes and walked 1 minute for the whole race.  I tried to concentrate on running faster during my 5-minute runs and recover during the 1-minute walks.  I did improve my time a little, but not a lot.  I really need to just work and work and work on running.  I'm not good at it.  I'm not fast.  But, I will keep running.

Then the Holidays were in full swing.  Thanksgiving, my birthday, tons of Holiday Parties, Christmas, New Year, etc.  I pretty much went off the reservation with my eating from November - January.  I did maintain my Curves workouts 3x a week, but didn't do much else in the way of working out.  I gained a little, but not a ton, and I got pretty much back on track at the beginning of January.

Right now I am benched for at least 6 weeks and it SUCKS!  Here's where the TMI begins, so if you don't want to know TMI about my girly insides, stop reading now.

Thanks to vaginally delivering 2 precious boys, my pelvic floor muscles are shot.  My insides were literally falling out.  The official diagnosis is pelvic organ prolapse.  Basically my uterus, my bladder and my rectum were falling out.  This was exacerbated by my triathlon, 5K and 10K escapades.  My urethra was also "sagging."  All this didn't necessarily hurt, but it was quite uncomfortable, and I basically peed on myself all the time.  Not fun.  I told you it was TMI.  You don't have to still be reading...  ;-)

I discussed various options with my regular OB/GYN doctor.  I lost weight and exercised hoping that would lessen the prolapse.  It didn't.  I went to 4 months of pelvic physical therapy and did everything as instructed.  After 4 months, I had made ZERO progress.  In fact, it just kept getting worse and worse.  So after losing the weight and doing the physical therapy, I went back to the doctor.  She referred me to a specialist - a Uro-gynecologist - an MD who specializes in both urology and gynecology. 

After a thorough exam, a second opinion, and lots of research, I decided to have surgery to correct my pelvic organ prolapse.

My surgery was originally scheduled for 12/7/10, but my doctor got sick and had to have surgery herself.  I was given the choice to change doctors and have my surgery in January, or wait until February for my original doctor to do the surgery.  I changed doctors.

So, I spent our 15th wedding anniversary (1/13/11) having a hysterectomy + uterosacral ligament cuff suspension + anterior and posterior repairs + TVT midurethral sling + cystourethroscopy.  FUN! 

I can't work out for at least 6 weeks.  And that's just the half of it.  The recovery has been WAY more than I bargained for.  Again, TMI on the way.  You can stop reading at any time.

I'm now 10 days post-op and still basically popping pain pills as soon as the clock says I can have another one.  My bladder didn't function at all until yesterday.  It still only sort of functions.  I have to use a catheter to completely empty it.  I'm not complaining though.  That it's able to funciton on it's own at all is huge progress.  I wanted to call local news outlets to report to everyone that I peed on my own yesterday afternoon.  If I didn't hurt so bad, I would have jumped for joy.

My bowels didn't function until Monday after surgery Thursday.  Then they shut down again for several days.  They're sort of working now, but only because of the moutains of meds I'm using to make them function.

Let me tell you - don't EVER take for granted the ability to perform basic bodily functions.  It has been very very painful, and literally a pain in the ASS!  ;-)

Anyway, I'm mostly on the mend, and despite the fact that this is way worse than I ever imagined, I am getting better every day.  I'm also counting on being a lot more comfortable when I get back to triathlons, runs and bike rides in the spring.

I signed up for my first Olympic Triathlon July 25 in Waco.  If you're so inclined, feel free to come participate with me or just cheer me on.  The more the merrier.  I haven't picked the race yet, but I'm also hoping to do a half marathon and a 100-mile bike ride at some point in 2011. 

Right now, during my post-op recovery, my eating is somewhere in between doing great and off the reservation.  I'm not being as diligent as I should be, but I'm not eating everything in sight like I'd sometimes like to.  I'm walking a little every day - trying to gradually build up.  I'm just trying to not gain, be reasonable, and wait until I have the doctor's go-ahead to resume workout craziness.  I'm starting to go a little stir crazy.  It's really tempting to lie on the couch all day, feel sorry for myself, and use all this as an excuse to eat mountains of crap.  I'm working really hard at resisting that urge.  I take it one minute at a time.  Sometimes I'm better at resisting than others.

I'll try to get back on the blogging band wagon and keep everyone posted regarding my post-op recovery, getting back to working out, and training for the various events that I decide to do in 2011.  I figure I need to lose at least 40 - 60 more pounds, and I really hope to do that this year by continuing to train for triathlons, runs, and bike rides.

Please join me on this journey.  Send me messages.  Share your successes and challenges.  Focus on making healthy food choices.  Find a workout that you love and get obssessive about it. I want to hear your story.  Inspire me.

Hopefully I'm officially back to blogging.  Stay tuned.  :-)