another day two

asking how many day twos there have been over the years might be depressing (might?) but hey, i've never been one to shy away from a good depression... still, it would take too long to search just the records i've kept and have with me and the point would be beating a dead horse (he's not dead yet) so at least there is another day two which is a whole lot better than not having another day two since a pause is inevitable and healthy... always find the positive spin and you may never spin out of control... or something like that...

all philosophy and the like aside, 5 laps, 31:59.4 total time... lap 1 5:59.1, lap 2 6:18.3, lap 3 6:33.1, lap 4 6:59;5, lap 5 6:10.4... more strain slight pain left shin, more strain overall, slight pain right pectoral, slight strain right biceps, slight strain 1st lap abs, overall leg fatigue and lung fatigue... higher/faster lactic acid build up... rhoids sore, improving... warmer temps, higher humidity... 74 degrees, 94% humidity... heavy air... passing red gravel kidney stones and sediment yesterday... ate red meat and spices yesterday... considered resting today what with two softball games tonight but woke and dressed and headed out in a bit of a blur, so yay i think...

continue...

pushing the rehab

more walking each day and then two softball games friday night running the bases until late in the evening and then awake early saturday morning for a 5k, yes, 5k... thank goodness for motivating friends... so i jogged a bit, walked a lot, finished just under 43 minutes and still no serious pain or injury (foot fatigue definitely building though)... and then over to a softball practice, foot still wrapped in it's brace, and the practice went very well... finally put the foot up to rest and nap and here we are, feeling great about the foot progress and ready for two more softball games tomorrow...

for the moment, i shall put aside the frustration of the sad deterioration of muscle tone and stamina and celebrate the progress... yeah, that's the ticket :)

better and better

this weekend was the biggest challenge to date... i decided to try walking without any support, that is no ace bandage or sneaker, just arch-less moccasins for an extended period (all day out at parks and then at downtown disney) and the news is great - no direct injury related pain until after several hours and then it was not enough to stop, though i started limping a bit as evening approached... even better, the day after was fine (just slight discomfort) and i decided to keep going without any support... the point was to test the stability of the foot and ankle and it passed with flying colors...

so i feel confident it is healing well... i will still wrap it well and use a brace when i play sftball because i don't want to accidentally take a mis-step in the heat of the game and i will generally walk with some arch support just cuz that is better for the foot and the planar fascia is prone to fascitis for months or even longer after a rupture, but it was great to pass the test of walking almost barefoot and being on my feet for 6-8 hours... it's been a long time since the initial injury, for sure...

and even more good news - all this introspective body talk actually helped someone (thanks for the comments) which makes posting this even more positive... and one more thing - thanks to the best friend and roommate i could ever have asked for cuz without her, this foot/ankle might never have healed as it has and i could very well have pushed it too hard too fast and caused a permanent injury that would have prevented running again - especially cuz my health insurance ran out just when i should have started physical therapy... yay for best friends... and thank you dear anonymous commenter for reminding me :)

good weekend

saturday was softball practice and since only seven people showed up we did batting practice which let me pitch a few hundred pitches and field my position and take a few dozen swings and that is the kind of practice i personally need much more than the other types of practices and the foot/ankle held up well... stress aching, but no direct injury-related pain worth noting, just discomfort... the best results yet from the foot testing... and after the 6 laps on friday, this is definitely good news...

sunday i woke early and felt wired and went for a brisk walk with a little bit of run and then rested and then did 20 minutes on the elliptical at level 7 down to level 3 and clocked 1.64 miles and around 180 calories (calories was an estimate) and pulse peaked over 150bpm... then went to the weights and used 80 pounds for 3 reps each on the two upper body machines and another 2 more on the pull down and felt it good (hurt so good, huh?)...

today is a rest day, mostly, especially since the weather is really wet and windy (bands of Isaac)... good day not to have to go outside...

chicken fat

yeah, you know... we walk/jogged 4 laps and then jackson went in for a shower cuz she has work soon and i walk/jogged another two laps with the fifth lap being the most jogged lap... the good news is the foot/ankle is healing well, the stamina is not completely gone (though it is, by my standards, horribly pitiful and i'd be content with a 50 minute 5k at this point)... the lap is .31 miles which makes 10 laps a 5k and that'll be the first distance goal (the first goal is wake up and do it again soon, monday or tuesday at the latest... tomorrow is softball practice at 10am... maybe sunday since i am not playing softball on sundays yet (i think must check schedules)... time goals will wait until i complete 10 laps at least once or twice... a 5k in september is not too far fetched...

slow, very slow, and not too steady, but progress...

progressing

took a walk friday more than previous says and then went out friday night to play cards and didn't get back until saturday morning which is the longest the sneaker has been on in almost three months and and then i didn't sleep saturday and went out saturday during the day and then again saturday evening and then finally got a little sleep sunday morning and then went out sunday afternoon to shoot a basketball around and then for another long walk and then to the gym and walked 15 minutes on the treadmill at 2.5-2.9 mph (did some upper body work too) and then, home to rest... the busiest weekend for the foot in three months and it survived... there is muscle and ligament pain today, but no more at the injury sites than at the other muscles that were minimally used for almost two months and only slightly more used the past month... so when do i run?... another few weeks, maybe... getting better all the time...

recording this moment

reaching back this week i ate minimally and relatively healthy for a modern human in this fast food processed culture, humus, pasta, nutes, a sandwich or two of processed meat and cheese... lite mayo, lite butter substitute, ketchup... i dropped some weight... and i skipped sleep too much, though sleeping more when the body asked than according to a daily clock...

in the past 36 hours i slept about four hours... waking for this current awake period about 26 hours ago... in the first twelve hours i walked, worked on the computer, watched tv, cooked, ate dinner, and along about the 13th hour started feeling sleep calling... it was then that i showered and dressed and went out to a card party... for the first time this week i drank caffeine (iced tea) and ate meat and chocolate in abundance... i played cards until about four hours ago and then drove home...

in the past three hours the body rose from fatigue to rejuvenated, the mind from groggy to clarity, the eyes from blurry to an acuity i have not experienced in several, perhaps many months or longer... while i feel body fatigue, i also feel calm, at peace, and more consciously aware of the moment and surroundings than again, in perhaps many months or longer... i write this now to record these moments for i would not mind learning precisely how i arrived here and how to repeat the process/journey...

is it the chocolate?... the sugar and fat?... the meat? (the meat was re-processed meatballs in a sweet-sour tomato-cranberry sauce made by one of the people at the party)... the caffeine (which certainly should have worn off by now, except for the amount in the chocolate, as i drank the last of the tea, just 24 ounces or so, about six hours ago)... or are the chemicals in the foods just a catalyst providing the energy to allow the mind (and eyes) to wake and return to a clarity (and acuity) that has long been buried in fatigue from overwork and external distraction...

the latter seems the most cogent explanation...

certainly logic suggests that sleep is required some time today if i am to go out tonight as planned, but at the moment i am in a very relaxed (not wired) awake place that is not asking for sleep, rather, is asking for more mental stimulation and more interaction...

so for all the whining and complaining and pain and self-destructive body and other thoughts that have been here and elsewhere, i felt recording this moment of clarity as related to the physical experience of being in this body in this time and space would be of benefit if only to remind me that it does happen...

getting bettter

don't want to jinx it, but i am not regressing after walking short stints around the house or office with the boot on... even without the boot at home from one room to the other isn't setting me back too far... the same pain areas continue to flare up, swell, throb, and ache for a while after walking, but not as much as past weeks... still not walking without crutches more than five to ten total minutes a day though... and while i still must elevate regularly to keep the pain down, improvement is good...

feeling alone tonight... but at least the foot is getting better...

was good for a while

and then, i hopped around a bit cooking dinner and cleaning up... maybe the mistake was not wearing the boot because not the plantar fascia is aching throbbing and curling the foot oddly and i probably should wear the boot or a splint more often to maintain the natural arch or something like that... there must be something other than the full boot for this... alas, i wish i didn't miss the doctor's appointment... and i wish the doctor's office called me back like they said they would friday...and i wish this foot would heal already... anyway, there is improvement and maybe this is the healing process for a plantar fascia rupture... think healing thoughts...think healing thoughts...think healing thoughts...

hoping for better

did the good thing, working hard for the cure, or healing, or something like that... walking way more the past two days than in the previous almost five weeks and while there is throbbing numbness and some swelling and sharp pains now and then, i feel good about the healing this week... could that be partly due to the supplements?... flax oil, walnuts, and the usual vitamins and lean protein... so optimism shines through tonight... hopefully throughout the weekend... time will tell... it is likely that i will too...

physical focus

everything is so very physical, the body, that is, self-focused, distracted, it is a real pain in the neck... no really, i mean the pain in the neck is very distracting... and some headaches and here i go wondering again if it is posture (the reminder from my youth to get the spine and therein my head straight was the stiff neck, after all) or maybe the blood pressure is playing some role and leaving me what may rudely be called a sophie's choice (as if anything can be that bad), die from high blood pressure or die from the medications the medical profession use to try to control high blood pressure...

and then there's the foot... rough day, but hopefully still healing... more hopefully healing right and not getting permanently damaged by the walking i have to do... some of the people at work are amazing in their lack of compassion and unwillingness to help as they watch me struggle to carry papers or hold open doors while on crutches... tomorrow should be fun as i have a few hours of meetings with the most inconsiderate folk of all who enjoy pouncing on weakness and making others feel like crap, what a life... luckily they don't affect me much anymore, but the foot won't make it any easier...

there are body thoughts?... well, sorta... heal already, dammit! :}

stay positive

left the boot off all day and no extreme pain... put pressure on the foot, mostly the outside and heel, for at least a hundred baby steps today and no extreme pain... elevated most of the time sitting, but when the foot is lowered, no extreme throbbing or pain... still pain, still throbbing, but the extreme i am not getting up anymore pain has not returned today... three weeks...

the bones may be knitting, but more importantly, the muscles, tendons, and ligaments that were damaged may finally be healing enough to no send the extreme pain signals at the slightest moment, at even the change in blood pressure... not moving the foot though, movement still shoots seering pain through the damaged areas... and the swelling still comes and goes... but staying positive with the progress... definitely progress...

skipping, days, that is

definitely not skipping yet, but... though (drumroll) i did actually walk a few steps without crutches with the boot on snug... no screaming pain, no screaming throbbing afterwards... just numb throbbing, which is hopefully an improvement... the roller coaster of a day better and the next day worse has been rolling for almost three full weeks now, but hope springs eternal that this better will be the turning point where the better days start outnumbering the worse days... a weekend of rest and major improvement, we hope... i mean, you hope too, right? (no really, thanks for caring :)

yeah, so i skipped yesterday... the doctor visit and all, nothing important for the body to talk about, right?... ok, ok, so the ortho-surgeon agreed with me the the pa mis-read the xray and the fracture at thebottom of the tibia is new... the treatment doesn't change, just take more care walking and moving the ankle... meanwhile, the foot is torn up... most likely exactly what the books told me, but the only way to try to be more certain is to mri and catscan and that's way expensive and won't change the treatment cuz elective surgery is even more expensive (and not covered at all by insurance) so i passed on the magnets and more xrays for now... if there is no improvement in ten days, i will reconsider...

the foot saga goes on :}

not so much fancy free

a bit less pain to start this weekend when compared to last weekend considering i think the last aspirins i took may have been thursday evening but may have been friday mid-day too, it is now at least 24 hours and pushed a bit last night and i just showered (which is a major push and challenge on one foot and requires at least some support from the other foot, even it is just 10% weight bearing for brief moments as i pivot and get in and out of the tub... now there is the benefit of the flat bottom walk-in shower stall, aye?... though most are slippery-er and i'd probably use a towel on the floor which would tangle up as i turned pivoting on one foot and, well, i am making due with a tub so nevermind) and the good foot is aching a bit (ever try standing on one foot, hopping, pivoting on a slippery surface, and walking for half an hour or longer without sitting to rest?... thank goodness i don't have vertigo... go ahead try it for five minutes and see what i mean... don't forget the pivoting and hopping, at least a dozen of each, i mean, just to get a brief feel of the experience cuz you are an insatiably curious child and really want to know which is why you follow me around through all these many dozens of blog, right?... or is that me? :)

anyway, gonna rest a bit now before dressing and considering what to do this weekend... hope your body is enjoying your weekend more than mine, but whatever you do, make it fun too :)

it is too easy to vege

especially when the love of writing draws me to sit for hours at the laptop tapping the keys, but not only that, the SPAM volume and internet distractions can take so much time away from active activities (as i spend an hour deleting emails tonight as i type these words realizing how much pigging out i have done lately and how work gets in the way of good rest, good sleep, and good exercise even more than the writing or distractions or laziness does, alas, the world is set up to kill us before we truly get to live and long before we have to die, probably because human beings would not be able to live peacefully given too much free time, at least not at our current evolutionary state, alas, alack, cha cha cha)...

perhaps i will survive the year and change my ways before it is too late...

there is always hope :}

omigeesh

aching like i have not ached in years mostly (we hope) because i laid off the exercise for a month or so and it was cold (30-50 degrees) this weekend and i was out 11 hours two days in a row and ate a lot of junk and drank a lot of sugar and caffeine and the body pain sensors are warping cuz of the daily aspirin and the muscle pain, elasticity, and regeneration is warping cuz of the statin drugs in the red yeast extract and age is starting to show signs of becoming the mointain it can and eventually will be as time passes in this life... as much as the brain wants to will the body to stay young forever, the body has other ideas it seems... and each time i feel this, it feels more alone... alas, the fun is worth it though (and the weekend was major softball, outdoor, friends and food fun :)

still, would be nice to feel a long warm hug now... in a hot tub lol :)

wow, really?

the last blog i wrote in besides the dailies was this one?... wow, but you know this really ought to be a daily as the theme/topic used to be and should be and is even if i don't write about it and record the details... oh well, life (as in the body) does not last forever (not that i need to actively cooperated with the ultimate end, aye?)...

so what brings me here is the neck again... ordinarily it does not ache unless i am overtired or sitting in the recliner head forward typing too long but more and more i am noticing a potential connection with food, as in, it hurts immediately after i eat... and the ear rings a lot louder too... so something glandular to do with increased sugar processing or simply elevating blood pressure or some other food intake related cause?... or is it just the muscle pain i used to get now and then as a younger fool that reminded me to keep my spine aligned as opposed to sloughing and hunching and all that human stuff... or something else...

in any case, the pain is annoying cuz it is distracting... and today i hardly sat at all so far as i've been cleaning and laundrying and rearranging the space, but anyway, the body thought and i recorded the thoughts here... cuz someday someone might want to know... and more immediately, cuz i want to remember (especially in case i ever get back to a doctor for a checkup, ya know?)...

seriously, enjoy life no matter what the body says... and love the body, it's the only one you may ever have... thanks body, merry xmas lol :)

so tired at night

and bloated too... had two stop after two laps running to come in to poop... went back out to run/walk and with the stopwatch stopped and started again when i got back outside to start the third lap i finished under 20 minutes for five laps and i want to run more but a combination of fatigue and bloat and the knee (yes, still a little swollen and the run has it stinging a bit in the spot it was hit)... the humidity didn't help at all, but it's mostly fatigue... at least i got back out running... but i must exercise more, daily, and not just running cuz the neck starts hurting more when i don't... the bloat is weird cuz all i ate today was two yogurts, some hummus and crackers, pistachio nuts, and some chocolate milk... i am starting to wonder if the neck pain it thyroid related... just a guess, but instincts talk to me and told me about the kidney and liver issues long before doctors did... and they (the instincts, that is) tell me i will die or become debilitated by a stroke someday, alas... hate hoping the instincts are wrong, but hey... that's life...

crazy wonderful, sorta

alone sucks in so many ways and yet, the amazement of maintaining, overcoming, surviving, and enjoying the heck out of almost every moment alone or not no matter what challenges come my way is astounding and as usual, crazy wonderful... so the knee shuddered as i wrapped it and headed out to play softball, but i played and the knee survived... the healing powers of the mind (and body) continue to be crazy wonderful... not without pain, but i believe i shall play again tomorrow without further damage to the knee as long as i follow the prescription i wrote for myself today... ice, wrap, and care to run consistently without harsh pivots or stop and go (even if that means missing a ball or getting thrown out, with apologies to the team, but losing me for the season would be much less in the team's best interest than my simply missing a play or few)... and the exercise workout was a big yay...

so even without a nurturing nurse (or close friend, even), life is crazy wonderful...

owie kazowie

or is it an owee?... well, as mentioned elswehere, i was caught sleeping on the mound tonight and a softball hit my knee hard enough to end up in left field after it hit my knee and now i have a softball sized sweeling (almost) on my inner knee in a very not good spot since i have a softball tournament to play tomorrow and softball playoffs to play sunday, not to mention a game sunday morning... an aging body sucks when there's still a little kid living in the head...

this should be a very interesting weekend...