"Favorite Thing" Fridays - COME BACKS!

Everybody loves a come-back!

So, now that I've answered the question, "Is she still alive?", what about you? Are you still out there? :)

Wow! Well, its certainly been a while since my last post. I just got increasingly difficult to keep posting since I felt that most of my posts just focused on my hip/hammy drama. And since in the last (almost) two months, I haven't really been doing too much running and nothing had changed with my injury, well, there seemed to be little I wanted to write about.

Watching everyone gear up for marathon season has been so difficult. I'm okay with not running one this fall, but I'm not okay with the fact that I still can't run.... well, can't run fast and frequent like I normally would be. Also, my new career as a medical circus poodle has consumed my life and temporarily sucked the passion out of my very being. ...and yes, I have become a bit of a drama queen!! However, things in the circus poodle realm did take a bit of a twist a few weeks ago. Let me explain, but let me start from where I left off in the summer...

Since my labrum tear diagnosis in early August, I have been on a steady recommended diet of slow, flat, infrequent running. I have complimented this insufficient meal with a few servings a week of the elliptical and swimming. As you may recall, following my diagnosis my Orthopedist, Dr. Bharam said that he wanted me to go to physical therapy because he did not feel comfortable operating on me until he was certain that my symptoms could not be fixed by PT treatment. In his words, "I treat patients and symptoms, not MRI films". I found this very honorable, but frustrating since, in my mind, it meant that the saga would continue. He sent me to his "go-to" Physical Therapist, Ben Gelfand (owner to S.T.A.R. Physical Therapy) in midtown who spent a decent amount of time assessing me and asking questions. He prescribed two weeks of VERY slow and flat and short (could this get worse) running. Ben had a great sense of humor and I like his action plan, so I was content with backing off and logging my progress. After two weeks, I e-mailed my progress to him, which really wasn't all too promising. After a few weeks of phone tag and a long over due conversation, I was set up with an appointment to meet both Dr. Bharam and Ben together at one place.

Finally, judgement day arrived (or at least that's what if felt like) and I met with both Bharam and Gelfand to discuss my fate. After another evaluation and a significant conversation about my progress (or lack there of), they decided that surgery to repair my labrum tear would be the next best option. And so there you have it... I'll be going in for the procedure next month with the hopes that my symptoms have been related to this injury or that they will be better treated by first fixing this deficiency in my hip.

When I first met with Ben he promised me the Broad Street Run in 2009. And not just a "you can finish" the race, but a " you can race the race". When we met to discuss the surgery, Ben assured me that I would be underwhelmed with the recovery. A few days on crutches, a few weeks until I was returning to activity and then a few months (4-5) until I was out running.

Oddly, I had peculiar dream last night which concerned my recovery. I dreamt I already had the surgery and had just woken up in the recovery room. To my surprise, Coach Cane was in the next gurney and he had just had the same surgery. After saying hello and exchanging the normal niceties (of course) I jumped to my feet and started walking. Everything felt great! So great that I was like, see ya Coach Cane and I went in the next room where there was an indoor pool and I started swimming a few laps. ha! I mean Ben did in fact tell me I'd be underwhelmed by the recovery! Anyway, my hip and hammy started to hurt of course and so I went back to tell Coach Cane who immediately said, I told you so. ha! ...That Coach Cane, such a wise man!

So...back to reality and now it's count down to surgery day. I'm back bloggin' for now.. but the true comeback starts November 18th. Stay tuned!