Back from Perth

I have been back from my holiday for two days now. Now I am gearing up for the Sawtell Fun Run on New Year’s morning. Getting rather nervous at the prospect of red lining it in a 5.5km run. It will hurt,  and I haven’t done a fast race since last years.

I have run 23:31 and 23:48 in moderate intensity training runs. So I am quite fit, and should go much better then the 24:41 I did three years ago in the Sawtell Fun Run on very little training and with a knee cap that was just starting to sublux and really go off track.

My holiday in Perth was a happy sad one. I ran one day and went for a bushwalk the next, having fun with my new digital SLR camera taking macro photos of wildflowers.

Guinea Flower with tiny spider.

On the running side of things I did

4 x10km

5:25, 5:03, 5:16, 5:06, 5:27, 4:43, 4:53, 5:27, 5:23, 6:04 (53:24)

5:21, 5:13, 5:20, 5:10, 5:20, 4:41, 5:03, 5:24, 5:18, 5:16 (51:59)

5:15, 5:05, 5:02, 5:05, 5:34, 4:40, 4:56, 5:25, 5:27, 5:12 (51:42). The garmin made me run 70 metres further for 5km on this run.

5:03, 4:41, 4:52, 4:50, 5:09, 4:30, 4:44, 5:05, 5:20, 5:08 (49:24)       

2 X 8km

5:27, 5:03, 5:26, 5:18, 5:20, 5:32, 5:26, 5:32 (42:55)

4:57, 4:42, 4:52, 4:47, 4:34, 4:57, 5:13, 5:03 (39:02) 

The course I did in Kings Park was on concrete footpaths and along the grass of the ‘boardwalk’. There where three hills on the course that helped my fitness along nicely.  The first was a gradual incline between kilometres three to five, along the path that runs alongside Thomas Street. The next started from the bottom of the Poole Avenue and climbed up to May Drive.  And the last was the long gradual haul up the Boardwalk, across Lovekin Drive and up to the nature trail near the DNA tower. I was getting stronger on the uphills as the holiday went along, which is reflected in my times per kilometre.  One day there was a bicycle race on and I had to watch out crossing Lovekin Drive for the cyclists crossing my path.

http://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/c/bgpa/pub/stories/community/memorial-map-large.gif

I had a good system going, walk about five minutes from the car park; stretch, then slowly roll into the run. Easy running until I felt I had warmed up. In all the runs I kept saying “roll it out” in synch with my breathing. I was not flat out on any run, but certainly was working it.

The fact that I ran as much as I did on this holiday is remarkeable given that at the same time last year I was in pain just walking around Kings Park. On Christmas Day I thought “Being able to run is the best christmas present ever.”

Pom Poms

On the sad side of my holiday was the fact that my father wasn’t well. One day he lacked the energy to put his shoes on to get out to the shops. He had a fall out of his bed one night and landed on his back, which was already badly bruised by a fall on a bus. They had to winch him back onto his bed. As I watched him on the bed sleeping I could see he was in pain lying on his back. Dad has a very bad cough, his lungs are not the best, he lost a lot of weight, he is in fact lighter than me at 76kgs. This is the first time in my life that Dad has weighed less than me.  Still he wanted to get out last minute shopping to get chocolates for the staff at the hostel where he is staying. This really knocked him around.

On the hugely positive side of my holiday was that on several occassions I walked around the city reasonably comfortably without the knee tape, just a ITB strap. Last year I could not do this. My knee is light years better. Also my achilles tendon gave me little trouble, just a few twinges in the mornings before I warmed up.

Several times my mind turned to negative thoughts about work  The most positive response to these negative thoughts was that I will work even harder.  I should also turn my thoughts to the possibility this year might bring in the area of my resurgent running career.  This is the inspirational postive side of my life. 

The fact is I AM working hard and have achieved extraordinary things with my return to running.  I have also taught myself to swim depsite a deep seated fear of water. I am inspired by this. I have beaten panic attacks; managed haemochromatosis; sought answers to the damage done to my health by clueless GPs and physiotherapists;  avoided knee surgery by patience, hard work and courage.

 I have thought I was dieing, I have though there was no future for me, I have been too scared to walk into a shopping centre in case I have another panic attack, been too fatigued and dizzy to walk around my unit, felt that my chest would explode, felt that I might collapse at any time. 

Despite all this I am alive and doing amazing things. This is only due to hard work and amazing COURAGE. I will give myself credit for that if no one else will.

  Also on the positive side was catching up with family over there. I met with their cute little dog, full of beans and personality.

Extraordinary

Having just looked over my blog from May onwards, I think it is extraordinary what I have achieved with the running and exercise I am doing.

Could I even be one of those backs to the wall, inspiring stories of recovery from debilatating injury and sickness, against all the odds?

I reckon I am.

I have wrestled with the black dog

I have shown panic attacks where to get off

I have declared war on a maltracking patella and sent it packing

I have taken on the bronzed diabetes

Message to all my would be critics.

I have ticker, and I am  a winner.

All this work just to walk again

I say that a lot when my knee doesn’t behave as it should. I saw the GP on Wednesday to get a referral to continue treatment for the haemochromatosis. She also referred me to have an ultrasound on my liver and blood tests. I’ve been putting these off. They have to rule out hepatic cancers. Dieing might be one way to get out of Coffs.

Last night I put on the custom made orthotics and walked with a new pair of shoes I bought at Paul’s Warehouse. Paul’s Warehouse is closing down. A shame I’ve bought several pairs of shoes there. I also got some swimming goggles discounted to half price.

A fellow in Athlete’s foot gave me a couple of cards for local podiatrists. I might give them a go. I need to regain my trust in some of the local practitioners. After my experience with some doctors and physios in Coffs, I have tended to want to look towards people in Sydney specialising in these areas. I can’t understand why someotimes I seem to be more pain free without the orthotics.   

Do you feel 100%?

You probably have seen some of these ads. If you don’t feel 100%, go and take a multi vitamin supplement, from a to zinc. Trouble is, if like me, you have iron overload or haemochromatosis, then taking a multi vitamin with iron in it, is probably the worse thing you can do.

These ads trouble me. I think a course of supplementation like that should be done only under medical supervision. A few simple tests later will tell you if you have iron overload or not. It is a common genetic blood disorder, which is often misdiagnosed by doctors; often the other conditions are treated.

I don’t feel 100% at the moment. My back is still painful, but maybe my knee is better? I saw another physio in town who treated my back pain and showed me some alternative stretches to take the load off my back. He suggested I have a lateral release, I told him my orthopaedic surgeon said no to this. I can use the bike for 15 minutes, I can swim as much I like. After surgery, I will be on crutches, it will be some time before I can even use a bike, or swim; the strength that I have gained in my quads with incredible effort will be lost. No, I don’t think surgery is a good idea. If I didn’t need it in March, I certainly don’t need to now.

I also went for a swim. I felt I improved agian. Trying to breathe every 3 strokes, it helps my streamlining. Also I keep up my momentum. Spent 15 minutes on the bike this morning as well.

Muttonbird Island Circuit

This morning I did the 6.6km circuit including Muttonbird Island Hill. The blister on my heel was giving me hell. So I’m not sure if the knee was hurting or not. I thought that walking back along Orlando Drive my whole leg felt better. Like the balance between my inner and outer quads is improving. More smoothness as my leg pulls through. More room on the outside of the knee, less catching.

I’ve just been for a 50 minute walk. The blister felt better. The knee wasn’t sore. The outisde of my ankle was though. This injury is like a balancing act, it is a matter of tipping the balance in favor of the vastus medialis. The quads are like a puppet with 2 strings pulling the knee cap towards whatever quad is strongest.

I haven’t been well lately. I slept today and I felt extremely fatigued. I could hardly pull myself off the bed. Extreme fatigue is one of the side effects of the haemochromatosis. I will make an appointment with a the hospital next week for a venesection.

Struggling

Not a good day today in many ways. My knee niggled on the walk last night, I;m not sure why. I taped the knee a lot more lightly and tonights walk was better. Trouble with tonights walk was I felt stressed, my thoughts were going at about a million miles an hour. I fought off the onset of the panic feeling most of the way around.

I depserately want to finish the report I am working on, but there seems to be along way to go. I think some people at work may think I am bludging, but my life is a real struggle at the moment. I can’t sit for long without my knee hurting. It’s hard to work with the knee niggling and cracking all the time. I am also having to urinate a lot, I’ve been caught out several times on my walks, and have had to duck into some bushes. I have to stop drinking diet cola, it is a diuretic. My nose bleeds regularly. The dizziness associated with the panic attacks is never far under the surface. I think I am overdue for a venesection for the haemochromatosis, that could explain some my health problems. I’m putting off the utlrasound I have to have to make sure I don’t have liver cancer.

Tonight I thought that I’ve got to really go hard on this project for the next month. I have to put the same effort into it as I have put into my knee physio. The project and my knee injury are two things I have to put behind me before I can think of moving on. I also thought about how I can leave Jarrett Street, and what I need to do to make that happen.

Back

My back has been sore the last couple of days. The back hurts, and then the pain is referred down into the rough bit in the knee, then it goes into the sole of my foot. I put on the quinkin super light tape today at lunch. My leg felt better. Then after work my back hurt and the knee starts to sting a bit. It’s not too painful, just insanely frustrating. I can handle a sore back, I can’t handle a dysfunctional leg.

State of Origin is on tonight. Jeez, Chanell Nine take it seriously, there’s an about a hours prelude to it. Just bring on the game I say. I think it is a bit of circus to be honest. I am more interesting in who wins the premiership. Hopefully, the Sharks will before I’m too old to care.

Talk about a rant. I had one late last night. Hope not alot of people saw it. Feeling much better today.

Progress

Made some good progress on the far north coast project. Added in the site photos to the community profiles, and worked on the significant plant section.

This morning my leg wasn’t all that happy on the walk, so I went a bit slower than usual, about 42:30 minutes. It was the burning foot that was troubling me. My VMO fires fairly strongly without the tape which is good. The patella  is tracking even better now, and I can walk around for ten minutes in the mornings without tape.

The day before I’d done the walk in 40:17. I probably overdid it, I’m a competitive little so and so even with a dodgy knee. My beach walk is exactly 4 kilometres. So I was going around 6 km an hour. My heart rate only gets up to about 105. Last November I did 6.6 km in 55:07, which included Muttonbird Island Hill. That’s 1:40 seconds a minute quicker or 1 km an hour faster. My heart rate used to average 122. It’s only my dodgy knee stopping me from going faster.

Yesterday, I felt a surge of the panic feeling. It hit me leaving work. Dizziness, tightness, twitching in my face. I told myself it was only stress, and within about 100 metres the feeling was completely gone. I have come a long way since a feeling like that would have knocked me for six, and I would have finished up down at the emergency ward at the hospital.

What stressed me was an out of the blue phone call from ’Blip ‘Professional Services’ and the fact my knee was niggling. A receptionist rang to tell me to come and pick up my MRI scans or they would destroy them. She had jumped to the conclusion that I had left them there. In fact I lost them seven months ago when I was taking them to Dr. Crichton is Sydney. I’d never been contacted in that time. I collected them from blip ‘professional’ services. The reception staff didn’t seem to be at all interested in my story that I had lost them seven months ago, or keen to adress my concern that they must’ve been handed into them, and they’d only deemed it necessary to contact me seven months later, threatening to destroy them. Not very bright, I’m afraid.  She had created a version of fact that was wrong, and I’d been without the MRI scans for 7 months as a result. I wonder why they didn’t call me when they were first handed in?  Weren’t interested? Couldn’t be bothered?   Forgot to call me then conconcted a story that I’d left them there.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the medical profession in Coffs Harbour is below par, excluding my cardiologist and hematologist. Pill popping GPs who are unable to make a simple diagnosis of haemachromatosis after 3 years, who overmedicate based on a faulty diagnosis, an orthopedic surgeon who can’t spell, (how can you trust someone like that with surgery of your knee?), physiotherapists who oppose knee taping and McConnell protocols, and would prefer to blame the patient for not stretching their hamstrings enough when their protocols make the patient worse.

I’ve had to go to Sydney to have my health concerns addressed. Perhaps I should move back there permanently? My experiences in Coffs with the medical profession are not very comforting.

Yesterday I put Lenny out in the courtyard. It started to rain an hour after I arrived at work. I had to go home and put her inside. Today was a clearer day and I left Lenny out until lunch. She’s a funny bird, I think she just sits on her seed dish and waits for me to come back. She wants to be wherever I am. It’s her flocking instinct.

Today I saw the haematologist. I was actually seen by his registrar. I have to keep giving blood every six weeks, and have an ultrasound on my liver to rule out hepatic cancers. I won’t have to see Dr. Brown from 12 months. I want  to start eating better, keep my iron levels low so I don’t have to have venesections so often. I don’t enjoy having a needle stuck in my arm all that much.

Today I continued on with the vegetation community profiles. I handled the corruption of the report file, which caused me to lose a weeks work, reasonably well. I can’t open the file becuase with all the photos I added it is too big. I didn’t hit the computer once, or swear a lot.

The knee was fiery this morning. It was cracking and painful at the hospital. Late in the day I started to feel a deep aching pain on the outside of my knee. The last couple of days the knee has felt stronger and smoother, the nerve pain inot the foot may be diminishing. Last night the knee was aching in my sleep. This is the first time I remember that happening. Usually I can sleep pain free.