"If you set a goal for yourself and you are able to achieve it, you have won your race. Your goal can be to come in first, improve your performance, or just finish the race. It's up to you"
~Dave Scott, U.S. Triathlete
My road to recovery hit another speed bump last Friday (over a week ago) when a post op infection set in to my incision!! Not sure if it was going to the public pool that instigated the whole process, or if there was something brewing in there that was beyond my control... I cannot dwell on that or wonder "what if" because it does not make the situation any better. When I saw my surgeon on Thursday he seemed genuinely surprised that an infection had set in 5 weeks after surgery. Something he does not normally see. The other interesting issue that he noted was my slow metabolism of the suture material that he used... He said normally the sutures that were still there should have been gone 3 weeks ago!! He said I was having an "atypical response to suture material, and should make note of this for future surgeries"... Anyhow, this speed bump had me down and out on the sofa again!! I am so looking forward to the days when I am using the sofa for a nap after a 6 hour ride or 2 hour run!!! I am also looking forward to the day when I can stop taking all the antibiotics, stool softeners, pain medications, etc.!!!
Now that the antibiotics were working their magic, and I had given my body another week of recovery on the sofa, I was able to get back outside again and attempt some sort of exercise to start moving this body (with my surgeons approval of course)!! On Friday, I walked 9.3km in 1.5 hours. I tried my "jogging legs" out and attempted some "power pole repeats". I was able to pick up the pace to a light jog for 20 seconds, running power pole to power pole. It was a very weird feeling attempting that first repeat. I had that same feeling that you get when you are about to tackle something scary, like jumping off a cliff into the ocean. I was so afraid that "something" might happen... Thankfully, the repeats went so smoothly and felt so good, I was able to insert 10 times 20 second repeats every other set of power poles with the biggest smile on my face!!! It was definitely not stellar, but it was something!! So on Sunday, Shawn (he was so supportive and encouraging), Hana (our pace setter dog), and I set out for another walk in the slightly sunny skies. My goal for my walk this time was to hit the 3km mark under 30 minutes and I did that with 3 minutes to spare. Then I wanted to hit the 9.3km mark under 1.5 hours and I did that too with 3 minutes to spare!! Whoot! Whoot!! We ended up going 10.44km in 1:37!! I was able to insert some more "power pole repeats" and actually some of the repeats were more like 2-3 minute jogs. At the end of my walk, my legs felt like I had just completed a marathon. It was that "hurt so good" kind of feeling.
Today marks 6 weeks post op!! I am going to give myself a few more days before I get in that pool again, making sure that there is no way of picking up any more bugs to bring this girl down again!! The sun is shinning super bright and Hana is sitting at my feet, desperate to run her legs too.
Happy Monday!!!!!!
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