Differential Diagnosis: Part 2 of ?: MRI

I went in for my MRI today.  There's not much more to say at this point, since my doctor hasn't seen the results yet, but that makes a crappy blog entry.

My MRI was scheduled for 8:00am this morning at the WellSpan Imaging Center in York.  First of all...8:00am?  I work from home, and lately it's been all I can do to be out of bed just barely in time to make coffee before starting work at 8:30.  Secondly, I'd never had an MRI before, and I was a little bit nervous.

Fortunately, the people at WellSpan Imaging could not possibly have been any nicer.  (Please note:  I do not yet know what my co-pay is on this.)  They answered all my questions, ran through a checklist to make sure I didn't have anything metal in my body (if you have a pacemaker, you can't have an MRI, for example) and then made sure I was comfortable on the machine before it started MRI-ing me.  

The MRI in question was a 2010 Hitachi Oasis, an open MRI, meaning I wasn't going into an enclosed tube like the thing they were always scanning people with on House.  

Anything that might have metal in it, including all my electronic gizmos had to be put in a locker, so I couldn't take any pictures.  However, the MRI at Wellspan looked exactly like this one (which is at the Carlisle Regional Medical Center):

Because I was only having my shin scanned, I didn't need to be all the way under the dome-like part of it (which I guess is the MRI itself), but really just my head was sticking out, and since the table was raised pretty high, I think I would have hit my nose if I were pushed in any further, making the experience a little claustrophobic.  It really wasn't too bad, though.  My only instructions were "try not to move your leg" and "don't freak out" (really it was "Press this call button if you need anything.")

Once the test begins, the main thing you'll notice is that an MRI is REALLY LOUD, with lots of banging and whirring noises indicating that its scanning.  Luckily, they'd provided me with foam earplugs and big headphones.  I'd requested a rock station, and ended up listening to the greatest hits of U2 through the whole 30-ish minute scan.  I have a friend who loathes U2, and at the beginning of each song I thought "I'm glad I'm not him."  To which I'm sure he'd reply, "I'm not the one stuck in an MRI machine at 8:00am!"

After the scan was over, the technicians lowered the platform down, and warned me that I would be dizzy for a few minutes.  They weren't kidding!  Apparently the MRI stimulates the balance center in the inner ear.  I didn't notice anything (other than how noisy the machine was and how tired I was) during the scan, but I felt a bit off-balance for about 5 minutes after the scan.

So, I learned something today. Just not anything about what's actually wrong with my leg.  Hopefully that's coming soon.

Differential Diagnosis: Part 1 of ?

I'm officially out of the AC Half Marathon with my shin/ankle/vein/whatever problems, and I went to the orthopedist on Tuesday.  

I got x-rays, which didn't show anything obviously wrong, and my doctor said I had decent leg and glute strength, which he ascertains by telling me to hold my leg in a certain position while tries to push it down.  He also used a tuning fork on my shin bones, the purpose of which seemed to be further testing for fractures.  There was only one tuning fork in the whole office, and he had to go hunting for it before doing the test.

It's probably shinsplints, but I'm getting sent for an MRI tomorrow morning.  I'll post those images on the blog, too, if I'm able to without violating HIPAA regulations or causing any expensive equipment to malfunction.

 

"It's not Lupus."

Yeah? Well I Never Liked Running, Anyway!

This running year seems to be all about setbacks, and now it seems pretty certain that the AC Half Marathon isn't going to happen.  Well, it will probably still happen.  I'm almost certain it will.  I just probably won't be in it.

I've been a little behind where I should be in my training, but with cooler weather coming and a very flat course, I wasn't too worried.  I knew if I could get my long runs up to 8 or 9 miles that I could finish a half.  I wasn't going to break any PRs, but I could finish.  However, over the last two weeks it seems like even those modest goals are out of reach as I seem to be having some injury problems that are limiting me to around 3 miles or less.

It started two weeks ago, when I went out for a run and had to stop after about a mile and a half with lots pain in my calves and ankles.  No reason for panic, I'd missed my runs the previous week when work took over my life (again), and had spent a weekend on a roadtrip with some college friends and I'm sure I was still dehydrated.  I came back in the middle of the week with a better run.  We ran the Sasquatch 5K in York last Saturday.  It was a trail run, and our goal was to have fun, laugh at or run from bigfoot, and not kill ourselves since we're not really very accomplished trail runners.  

Since then, I just haven't had any success.  Another 1.5 mile bonk this past monday.  A little better on Wednesday, 3.5 miles before my left ankle and shin were just hurting too much.  Today, desperate for a good "long" run, I headed to the flatter rail trail.  I ran 3 miles north, feeling good for about 2 miles of it and bad for the last half mile.  I stopped to try to stretch my ankle out, and I realized that I didn't have the full range of motion in my left foot.  I'm not sure if it's related to my varicose vein, or if maybe I sprained my ankle at Sasquatch, or all of the above or none of the above, but it's time to get this checked into.  On the positive side, I did see a cute black and white kitty.

(I'm sitting on a bench, trying to flex my feet upward as much as possible.  
The left one just wasn't able to move as far as the right one.  That shouldn't happen, right?)


Through a combination of factors, both within and outside of my control (mostly my own stupid fault, though), I'd gotten myself in a situation regarding the AC Half where I just couldn't afford any setbacks.  I'm probably going to defer from this one, but hopefully whether it's rest, PT, or surgery on my varicose vein, I can get this taken care of pretty quickly so that I can still realistically train for the Shamrock Marathon in March.  I know if I can get myself back up to 7-8 miles by the end of the year, that I'll be in an ok starting point to train for it.  After that, I'm probably done with marathons, but getting back to Shamrock's been one of my goals this year, and I still think I can -- even if it's been mostly frustration along the way.


Ok.  We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging hiatus.
 

Bad Idea

I'm on pace for by far my worst-ever blogging month and my worst running month since February, when I had the excuse that I was coming back from a month off with injuries.  I really should be doing a better job with both.  As for blogging, there's actually a lot to write about, I just haven't found the time or motivation to write it lately.  But since I actually have a few post ideas rattling around in my brain these days, I'm going to stretch them out over the next week rather than doing a big catch-up post like I usually do.

My biggest running news is that I signed up for the Atlantic City Half Marathon.  It's unquestionably a bad idea.  The half marathon (and marathon) is on October 21, and here I am, on August 25, not having run more than 5 miles since the Fourth of July (6 miles).  My left leg has been giving me problems, my tailbone has been a pain in the ass*, and I'll be honest, I've been having trouble finding the time and motivation to run lately.  (That's a blog post that I probably won't ever get around to writing!)

Chris and I have been contemplating the AC Half for months, and she put together training plans for us.  Mine called for an 8-mile run today.  Problem:  I haven't run more than 5 in months and my last run was last Sunday in the burning desert of Las Vegas (more on this in a future post).  8 miles was too ambitious.  My plan was to try for it, but to be happy with 6 or 7, and I extended my usual out-and-back route accordingly.  It was a cool, if very humid morning, but I felt pretty good.  Unfortunately, by extending my route, I hit some steep hills that I'm just not ready for these days.  By the time I'd hit the 4-mile mark, my left leg was in a lot of pain.  

Chris' training plan calls for a step-back week every other week, so next weekend is a 4-miler.   Yeah, no.  I've got to do a good job lifting this week, get the midweek runs in, and bust out a 6-8 miler.  The whole summer has been a step-back week, and my day of reckoning is fast approaching.

*So, back in July I wrote my Spartan Race reviews and said I wasn't sure if I would do one again.  Well, I'm sure now.  No way.  My tailbone still isn't all the way healed a month and a half later because of a stupid slip'n'slide of all things and it's been a pretty big setback to my running.  Seriously, screw Spartan Race.  I'm proud of how Chris and I did, and I do have some good memories of it, but I'm definitely a one-and-done Spartan.

Going for Gold

I'm addicted to the Olympics.  I don't know why.  I don't watch a second of track & field, soccer, swimming, gymnastics, indoor volleyball, boxing, and a whole bunch of other silly sports (seriously...who invented some of these things?) the rest of the year, but for those 2 weeks every four years, I can't get enough.

But I'm a little concerned.  Let's take a look at the medal count:

China is leading the U.S. 64-63 in total medal count and 31-29 in the all-important gold medal count.

The U.S. swim team did a great job again this year, Gabby Douglas certainly did her part, and this year's version of the dream team, led by 76er Andre Iguodala, seem to be up to the task. Still, I can't help but notice that China completely dominates diving and table tennis, which remain in the Olympics, while softball (where the U.S. women were dominant) and baseball (where the U.S. would be at least a medal contender) are gone.

I don't think this is fair.  It's time to add some other sports to the Olympics:

American Football (aka Football) -- The rest of the world loves it.  Who cares that they might not play it outside the U.S.  We don't dive, do gymnastics, play table tennis, play soccer, or do synchronized anything here in the U.S.  It will instantly be the most popular Olympic sport.  We can even give the national team Rich Kotite as coach, just to make it interesting, and we'd still win. 

Beer Pong -- I don't think this requires further explanation.  If table tennis is an Olympic sport, why not this?

Spartan Race -- The rest of the world probably thinks this is stupid.  They're right, so we'd dominate.

Bowling -- Again, look at some of the things that are in the Olympics and tell me that bowling doesn't belong.  There's several gold medals to be had here.

Poker -- It's on ESPN.  Therefore, it's a sport. 

Americaball -- the rest of the world can't win if we never tell them the rules.  USA!! USA!!  USA!!  It comes in Men's, Women's, Team, Mixed Doubles, and Synchronized versions to allow for lots of Gold Medals.

Come on, U.S. Olympic Committee, you have just a few days to get this done!  There's still time to go for the gold!

The ABCs of Being Pain Free?

I ran just 10 miles this week, but that's not important.  What is important is I ran 10 miles without a hint of trouble from my shins or varicose vein, and I'm cautiously optimistic that I've found the fix for it.  And by "I've found the fix for it", I mean Chris told me something to try that seems to have worked.

It's writing the alphabet in the air with my toes.  Here's an example that's a little more thorough than what I've been doing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X5-6-Puo20

Please note that I can't endorse all the Red Sox stuff in the background, but this seems like a good example.  I've just been writing through the alphabet once or twice several times a day while I'm working or watching TV and before I run.  I've been doing a little better with strength training lately, which may be helping, but I've noticed I didn't have any exercises for the muscles on/next to my shins, which is where I have so much trouble on my left leg.  This alphabet thing seems like it fills that void in my workout routine.

Now, my quads were another story.  My quads felt weak (I blame last night's fencing class for this) throughout the run, I've clearly lost some conditioning over the past month, and it was digustingly humid and warm this morning.  A four-mile run (per my training plan) that I wanted to turn into a six-mile run since my shins and ankles felt so great ended up a five-mile run when I felt like I was going to overheat if I went another mile.

So today, I lost the battle.  But for the first time in quite awhile, I think I'm going to win the war and be ready for a fall half marathon and spring full marathon.

And since this post is boring and people come here for the cat pictures, here's Higgy helping me work. 

Trying to Come Back...Again & Some Off-Topic Fun

I went on my first run since the unfortunate events of Spartan Race. I'd gotten up to run a few other times over the past week and a half, but aborted due to either weather (Saturday), too much pain in the tailbone area (several days last week), getting home at 4am after an excellent Dream Theater concert in Atlantic City (Sunday), waking up too late (Monday), or staying up all night working on Monday night (Tuesday).

I decided that I'd run out of excuses, and so this evening I ended up running 3 miles in 28:46.

It felt like 20 miles.

It was a gorgeous evening, but in the 80s and still Sunny at 6:15ish when I hit the roads. I'm not used to running in the 80s, so I've got to either get out earlier and beat the heat, like I did last summer, or perhaps try 9 or 10 at night, when it may be a few degrees warmer than 6am, but less humid and no sun. We'll see.

At any rate, I feel like I'm starting over and I'm not sure that's necessarily a bad thing. After a pretty good start, the comeback had badly stalled over the last two months. And I do have a plan this time, but I have to save something for my next blog post, right?

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(So, how was the concert, Brian?)

It was great, thanks for asking. For those unfamiliar with Dream Theater, who have failed to achieve the level of fame that their talent deserves, they are a progressive metal band (I don't really know what "progressive" rock means, but think Queensryche or Rush, but heavier) that I've been listening to since high school, when they released Images and Words, which features their best-known song, "Pull Me Under" (which is still not THAT well-known) and Awake, their best selling album to date, in 1992 and 1994, respectively.

However, I was unforgivably behind on their albums. It's easy to lose track of them, since they're more of a cult following-type band then a widely-known band and most of their songs are at least 10 minutes long so that they get almost zero airplay. So last week was spent working long hours and "cramming" for the concert any time I wasn't on conference calls. Except for the side of effect of this metal marathon turning our kitten evil, it was time well spent. Their last three albums, Systematic Chaos, Black Clouds and Silver Linings, and A Dramatic Turn of Events are all excellent, all with Dream Theater's distinct combination of metal and melody.

At any rate, the concert was excellent, with a good mix of old stuff and new stuff that left me feeling evil...but also uplifted at the same time. Musically, they're just amazing. Guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, keyboardist Jordan Rudess and drummer Mike Mangini on the drums (replacing long-time DT-er Mike Portnoy) are all at incredible. And they like to show off; almost every song has long instrumental bridges between verses, during which lead singer James Labrie wanders off stage to (I assume) play Angry Birds.

Their newer stuff is heavier than their earlier albums, and heavier than I what I usually listen to, but the frequency with which they change mood and speed from heavy to melodic and the vocal range of Labrie, and their often contemplative lyrics make them always interesting to listen to and also made me glad I'd done my homework and caught up before seeing them live. If you like metal or hard rock, check 'em out...these guys can make anything sound epic.

And, during their intro, they also had these cartoon versions of themselves playing on the three screens above the stage. Fun!

Ok, we'll now resume our regular running and complaining about running blog posts.