Kombat Girl’s 8 Week Journey…

I am sooooo glad to be home!  After having started Monday at the hospital at 06:30 and arriving home today at about 11:30 it was longer process than I thought if would be, but at least now the healing can start!

I just got home a few hours ago, as they kept me overnight. They might have kept me in one more night again if I hadn’t been able to dazzle them with my crutch maneuvering abilities.  However I was so insistent upon coming home there was just no way I was not going to pass that assessment. 

I am on crutches again (sigh), for the next 6 weeks as I CANNOT bear any weight on my foot while it heals.  I loathe crutches… but at least I am now truly on the mend.  They didn’t end up inserting a plate after all, I got two screws instead. Damn! I don’t know it that still counts for being bionic; doesn’t really sound as cool to me.

I am in MUCHO pain, but I don’t like taking pain killers so I hope the pressure and pain subsides over the next couple of days. The funniest is that I declined every offer of pain killers, but upon release they gave me a prescription for…are ya ready for it?! 60 Percocets! Craziness. That’s a whole lot of pills, not to mention highly addictive ones, for anyone! Good lord.  I just hope they are lumping me in with “the norm” with that prescription and that it’s not a sign that I may feel much worse in the next short while.

As for the actual experience of being in the hospital and the treatment received, it could not have been any better.  I was treated very, very well and everyone was just awesome from the Doc to the interns, nurses and physio.  It was all good! (I even got Rice Crispies for breakfast! Haha.  Haven’t had those in like 20 years!)

I’ll give myself today off workout wise, but I plan to get right back on track tomorrow!  The little sheet of exercises the physio therapist gave me are quite cute - if he only knew what I’m really going to be doing for rehab! Lol.

Thanks very much to everyone who sent their well wishes to me.  Biggest hugs and kisses to my wonderful hubby who spent most of my time in the hospital with me!  You are the BEST!

Okay, so general consensus (2nd and 3rd opinions) came back in resounding favor of getting surgery on my foot.  So “the plate” will go in sometime on Monday afternoon or evening. The only definite was the time I have to arrive at the hospital, and that was 7:00am.  Yuck-a-poo-bah :-p  Guess I better be armed with a good book!

The estimated time for recovery is 6-8 weeks time after surgery.  In my world this means 2 weeks J

I’ll be back doing another deadly Equalizer workout tomorrow before my forced rest on Monday.  Maybe I can sweet talk my hub into doing the workout with me

Details to follow soon…

 

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. - Steve Prefontaine

 

The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur. - Vince Lombardi

 

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle. – Unknown

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

When you know what you want and you want it badly enough you’ll find a way to get it. - Jim Rohn

People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success. - Norman Vincent Peale

Now that I have a lovely removable boot, I went for therapy this morning at UST.  Carolyn was great as usual!

 

Did some paperwork at Kombat… Then on to the good stuff with the hub!

 

Today’s workout:

 

Pistols: 1 x 5 reps then 5 x 6 reps

 

Ham on Swiss: Single leg only, 5 x 10 reps

 

Chins with tubing – ladders w/Joey – fast paced (for a grand total of 80 chins!!)

5 x 1 through to 4

5 x 1 through to 3

 

Male Push ups (bad foot crossed on top, but not bearing weight) 4 x 25 reps with 45 seconds of rest in between; as I was informed when done! Tricky Joey J I thought the rest seemed faster!! The last set was tough :-p

 

NOTE: A little trick that really works…  Don’t count 25 on the last set. Count 5, then 10, then 10 again - why? Tricks the brain cause 5 will seem so easy. You know that cranking out another 10 will be simple, and then right away count 10 again. Because your brain has just registered that you can do 10, another 10 should be no problem. Just plow right through them.

 

Quick tips:

®     Having a great workout partner makes you push much more.

®     Documenting your workout and expectations as you go makes you work HARDER; commit on paper, commit to yourself!

®     Endorphins are really great natural pain killers. Don’t take drugs unless you really, really have to for pain because then you don’t learn to have sensitivity to your body and you mask the pain. You’ll never know when you’re really healing and on the mend.

 

I feel strong and healthy today. Happy training to everyone else being active in the world. Cheers!

 

P.S. 2nd and 3rd opinions were received…  Gonna get the plate on Monday.  Surgery here I come.

Okay, so I didn’t have to cry, rant, rave or freak out at the hospital this afternoon like I thought I might… I was readily given two options:

A) Let my foot heal on its own, which could take 3 to 4 months, or

B) Do the surgery on Monday, May 5^th, whereby they will insert a metal plate into my foot, and the recovery time will shorten to 6 – 8 weeks.

It would seem to be a “no brainer” – surgery; especially because of my active lifestyle, but after discussing it with everyone (the Surgeon, the Intern, my athletic therapist, my husband, and my boss…), it is turning out to be a harder decision than I thought.  We’ll have to weigh the pros and cons and make a decision tomorrow.  Right now I am just happy to be able to ice my foot, shave my leg and walk (although slowly and painfully) without crutches - my armpits are relieved!  Basically I was told that this type of injury is all about pain tolerance, and lord knows I have a lot of that! Thank gawd.

No matter what we decide, surgery or no surgery, I feel VERY happy today because I am armed with a little more knowledge about where things stand. 

I’ll be jumping and leaping and frolicking around in no time; of this I am certain!

 

 

 

Okay, it was a tad warm to do the workout in my grey sweats; warm maybe because set up seemed to take me so long.  It’s amazing how difficult some tasks suddenly seem with this single Go-Go boot on my leg… Instead I ended up working out in attire that made me look like a human Creamsicle J Quite cheery!

 

Here is what I ended up doing:

 

Triceps (kneeling w/feet up), I did 2 x sets of 35.
Was gonna do more… But it was very fatiguing and just awesome These were much safer than dips and there was zero stress on my rotator cuff. It was all about the triceps!  Found it hard to remember to breathe with those ones. YOWZA.

 

How can the day go wrong when you wake up next to a funny duck that squawks and flutters its wings when you grab it around its neck?  It simply can’t!  Grabbing the duck around its furry (furry in this case because it’s a stuffed animal of course), is very therapeutic and I recommend it to all. 

Today will be my big “solo performance extraordinaire” on The Equalizer. Hooray! My cats will be impressed I’m sure.  Whatever shall I wear?!  Well, maybe I shouldn’t get too over zealous on day one I might not be too smooth.  Perhaps I’ll just stay in my mangy grey (that’s right grey! Thee worst colour to work out in as some of you out there know), sweat pants and a ragged t-shirt.  I’m certain the cats won’t care, they’ll just be dazzled by my performance between their eating, stretching and sleeping on the couch… 

When I conquer my moves and flow about with ease on the bars, perhaps I will add a video clip to this blog.  Be sure I’ll be suitably clad in fine workout wear when that time comes!

I forgot to mention in an earlier post that Joey “cooked me” Chinese food the other night.  I opened my fortune cookie and it said “Look with favour upon a bold beginning.”  Some people believe that everything happens for a reason… The 9 Week Challenge was supposed to be a new beginning of sorts to for me, it was the reason I dreamt it up!  The day I went to the hospital for my leg, I was in Emergency with Carolyn of Ultimate Sports Therapy, and Joey was getting the house inspection done on our new home.  By the time I got my cast on he had finished the inspection, so he, the realtor and I met back at our apartment and voila the final signing that made the home ours was done.  So here’s to a new bold beginning.

I went in to teach a private student and then my class tonight, but before those tasks were tackled, I took care of me first! Joey and I did a great workout tonight:

Chin ups (Ladders; first round 1 thru to 7, second round 1 thru to 3 and so on till 6 sets were done and we completed a total of 47 chins at a very quick pace. I was the one lagging, I admit! Joey was going strong but I felt they were quite tough tonight.  Mentally I think I was screwing myself up because I was only able to jump up to the bar with my left leg and my silly brain kept telling me that it was more tiring to do so… Won’t let that happen next time.)

Push ups (4 x 25 push ups with a 60 sec rest in between each set)

Pistols (aka. one legged squats… I did 5 x 5 sets with my left leg only – obviously!)

Shoulder press (using a 20 lb dumbbells I did 3 x 10 reps and 1 x 8 reps)

Abs (Joey ran me through a series of abs with the 6lb med ball, and can I tell you! I NEVER feel abs, I can do abs like a madwoman… but tonight I sure felt them.  I attribute it to the use of the crutches… but who knows?)

My private was great as always, he’s a pleasure to train and he didn’t even complain when I sat on a plyo box and called out drills while he worked the bag and sweated away J

Class was awesome as usual too.  They are gonna love me over the next few weeks as I will be pushing them and pushing them beyond what they think are their limits. I’ll be living, in part, through them.

One and a half more days till I see the Surgeon, gotta keep busy till then!

Tuesday morning, rise and shine.  Wow! I tell ya, if you have a pair of crutches kicking around you should really give them a shot for a few days. Choose one leg for a few days, and then switch it up to your other for the same amount of time.  It really is a good workout, especially if you’re strict in not letting one of your feet touch the ground.  When you don’t feel like using the crutches (they do hurt the ol’ armpits let me tell you!), just hop around on your leg. I’ve been doing that a lot – maybe too much.  I’m well conditioned and I feel it BIG TIME.  What if I wasn’t in shape, or strong enough to hobble around avec stick assistance?  Would I be in wheelchair? Ugh. Much worse for high speed manoeuvring around…

My hub stayed home with me today to lift my spirits and help get some chores done.  That was sure nice! We ventured out for breakfast and I got questions fired out at me like a machine gun by some cute little inquisitive 5 year old girl who wanted to know all the how, what, where and when’s of why I was in a cast.  The only comment that got me a tad anxious was the “I always kiss all my booboos better”, to which her mom ended up scuttling her away.  Whew!  I really didn’t want her to kiss my foot better for me, the thought was sweet enough.

Tonight I’m going to go in and teach my wonderful class and help get their training in.  I will do some abs and upper body training in and stretch!  I am so not used to sitting and lying around doing nothing, my body is so stiff and sore.  Besides that, yesterday I decided to take a little snooze on the couch (something I NEVER do), and I awoke to one of the babies using my stomach as a cleaning post…  I felt somewhat degraded.  No more of that! Must keep as active as possible.

Onward and upward, will see what I can get in tonight at the club and then I will start The Equalizer training tomorrow.  Woo hoo!