Tweedle Beetle Tri-Atheletle

Hello All,

Good news and frustrating news today.  Yesterday, I was able to see a Neurologist.  He confidently believes that my initial diagnosis of Brachial Neuritis was incorrect and I am actually struggling with a Cervical Radiculopathy (Herniated Disk).  He described it to me this way... "In 25 years as a practicing Neurologist, I have seen one case of Brachial Neuritis whereas I have seen countless cases of herniated disks.  We won't know definitivly until the MRI but if it quacks like a duck, looks like a duck and walks like a duck - it is most likely a duck."

Great! Phew... we can do something about that right?

I sceduled the MRI for the first available oportunity - this morning at 7:00 AM and I was right on time.  After getting ready, I layed down on the sled and BLINDING PAIN begain coursing through my shoulder and arm... BLINDING... I honestly didn't appreciate that discriptor until today.  Blinding pain is truely Blinding.  Even thinking about it as I write this churns my stomach.  I told myself, "OK - 12 min... I can do this..."  Within 2 min I was whimpering like a baby, all the blood had left my face, bile begain to build in my throat and I was madly squeezing the little "GET ME THE F**K OUT OF HERE" ball that they give you for the truely panic stricken.  There is a reason why I am still sleeping sitting up.  Hell, laying down on a bed (down comforter and a pillow top matress) hurts me - the hard plastic sled they gave me today was worse than torture.

End result... I still don't know definitively what is wrong back there but if nothing else - this morning was a brilliantly painful reminder that something IS wrong.  I have left three messages with my doctor to evaluate other options.  As far as I am concerned, put a mask on my face and a IV in my arm because I can't do that again with any resemblance of consciousness.

Hello All,

Well the neck and back pain is improving although I am no where near 100% and don't expect to be for another 2 weeks (just guessing).  Last Thursday, I finally broke down and went to my MD.  The final diagnosis was something akin to a enlarged/swollen/irritated/potentially herniated disk in either C6 or C7 (most likely C6).  I was prescribed a combination of medicines which seam to be doing something as I am finally sleeping through the night.   The first, Pregnizone, which is a steroid to reduce inflammation and the second is Tizanidine which is a muscle relaxant.  Four days later, I was really hoping to be further along than I am but I don't want to seem ungrateful that I can now move and sleep.  I think the scariest thing is the numbness remains in my thumb, index finger and middle finger.   This really indicates that this is more than simple muscle spasms and will probably require a longer recover.  I still have radiating pain down the arm and localized ache in between my shoulder blade and spine - this pain though, as compared to 4 to 7 days ago - I can live with for a while.

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to getting back into the gym on a VERY limited basis.  I am thinking that I will simply strap on the shoes and peddle on the spin cycle for an hour while sitting straight up...  Anyway, I will see how that might feel.

To be honest, I am not terribly concerned about the triathlon.  I feel like I had a good base going into this injury and it won't take me too long to get back into condition once I recover from this.  Right now, I am simply feeling so stir crazy that I can hardly stand it!!!  The past 4 days have been gorgeous out here - 40s and 50s, sun shining and tons of riders out on the road taking advantage of this Indian summer.  

Thanks for listening!

Hi All! This is what I look like when I am not crippled with back pain! This is not what I look like now...

I suppose I should count my blessings, today I am NOT looking for a kind soul to end everything for me - so that is a plus. Although, I can't say I am far off. I credit this improvement to two incredibly talented individuals:

1) My chiropractor - Dr. David Corll (http://www.completecare.us/): While this is only the second time I have seen Dr. Corll he seems to have the healing touch! My fingers on my left hand are still numb but I am not crying anymore!

2) My acupuncturist - Monica Mathews (http://www.mathewsacupuncture.com/): Monica is our families miracle worker. You think I am kidding... keep reading. Monica has healed more of my illnesses than any other health care worker I have been to. To put this into perspective, the only 30 min of pain free serenity I have had in the past 4 days has been while laying on my side in Monica's office. I would have done anything to simply stay there all night and the next day looking like a pin cushion. Monica seems to have discovered the cure to the common cold (as she has now shortened my cold time to 2-3 days instead of my usual 10), fixed my rotater cuff in 3 session (which had been ailing me for over 10 months after a rock climbing injury) and exorcised malicious spirits, hahaha... haha.. ha... uh :-/.

I hope to add a massage therapist to this list on tomorrows addition - stay tuned!

As you may know, I have two little boys. One is 4 and the other is 2 and both are 30 lbs plus. You take their unsubstantial size and weight for granted most of the time, casually lifting their squirming mass in and out of the car, onto the couch, into the crib, off of the couch, off of the dining room table, off of the back of the easy chair, off of the counter top, off... off... off. Well, just wait until you can't pick up your left arm and then contemplate lifting 35 lbs of kicking screaming flesh off of anything! No offense to anyone but don't think God did much child rearing before he designed the human because if he did - our backs would be made out of carbon nanotubes (if you don't know what this is, watch the science channel at 4:00 AM like I was this morning via pain induced insomnia - supposedly these things are 30x stronger than the strongest steel alloy and are being designed to hoist huge bulks into space via a "space elevator"). Needless to say, NASA should employ parents of toddlers to analyze the stresses and strains of what real hoisting is all about... You think a space station compartment is tough to get off the ground, you should try these two!


See those smiles? Ya, they look cute now but what those smiles are really all about is the satisfaction of VICTORY!!! A few minutes before we took this photo, half of their face was painted with blue Scottish war paint. Despite all of the hoisting, dragging, tickling and just plain yelling, the two of them have managed to avoid capture and continue to hold down the fort.

Well needless to say - without all pistons firing at full capacity, there is no question that parenting is a loosing battle. I have yet another chiropractor appointment today as well as a massage scheduled. With any luck at all Santa may show up on Christmas Eve with a pain free night!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

OH MY GOD - PUT A BULLET IN ME NOW BECAUSE I AM IN AGONY.

So for the past 4 days I have had a bit of a neck/back ache. It was tight but nothing too terribly bad for the first two days - I even went for a ride on Saturday (Details below) and felt OK. At about 4:00 this morning though, I woke up unable to move without excruciating pain. I have been thought allot of painful things... broken collar bones, broken ribs, hernia surgeries and a whole bunch of other ailments. Very infrequently does pain cause me to well up with tears and whimper like a baby. It is 6:52 AM and in the past 3 hours I have done this twice. At 6:30 I left a pleading message with my chiropractor to get me in at whatever cost. This is true agony...

Well, to try and distract myself, I thought I would at least communicate my last ride on Saturday. It was actually really fantastic (besides the dodge ram that tried to run me off the road). Temperature was a brisk 50 degrees but no rain and intermittent fog (which was actually really cool to ride though). There were two huge elevation changes in the short 20 mile ride which allowed for fast descents into cloud banks and that amazing feeling of going from 20 ft visibility to blue sunny sky at the top of a climb. Overall it was gorgeous!!!

I think my favorite part of the ride was the last climb - this was one of those where your HR is over 180 and you look down (while standing on the peddles) and your speed is 5.2 mph.

Here are the stats:
Ride Time: 1:34 total
Ave HR: 166 BPM
Max HR: 188 BPM
In target HR Zone: 25 min
Above target HR Zone: 108 min
1613 Kcal burned
Distance: 20.4 miles
Ave Speed: 13 MPH
Top Speed: 36 MPH

Here is a map of the ride with elevation.

Anyway, I will keep you all updated on the state of my back... thanks for listening!