Hello all, nice to connect again. It has been some time since our last post, and I’ve been thinking, it’s likely because we’ve landed into routine. Since first arriving and setting up shop, we then sank into daily life. That is why we are here, to experience living abroad, not to be on vacation for a year. So, we work, we go to school, we cook, we do dishes. It’s still life, now don’t get me wrong, this is an experience deep into the unknown and there are marvels and growth all about us. But it still requires us to take out the trash.
So I thought perhaps I share about my physical reality over the past months.
Blown back
Ugghhh….
That’s the reality of a disc herniation.
This past spring, I noted my left leg started to be achy in the mornings, I thought I was just stiff, after I would exercise, the symptoms would go away. Only to return with prolonged sitting. With time, I thought, maybe I’m developing some arthritis, after all when I was 19, I smashed into a tree snowboarding and broke my femur. There is quite a bit of metal in my Femur to show as a souvenir. So given the pain was persistent, I finally got an xray, whew, the hip joint looks good, no early arthritis and no everlasting pain prognosis.
But dang it if it wouldn’t get better unless I exercised, so I kept pushing it. In fact, I was pushing myself athletically harder than I ever had. Going to lifting classes and HIT workouts several days a week. I developed a community of friends and really felt like I was getting into really good shape. I grew up being overweight and had always had to navigate feeling less than happy with my body. Now in my 40s and working with people as an FNP to help them find their path to wellness, I thought I was chiseling mine too.
Soon enough as we began to get ready for our move to Costa Rica, the pain began to worsen with more intensity and starting to show up challenging my ability to sit through patient encounters. But, my back felt fine, it was always my leg? I was able to get us moved out of our house, we painted and I was pushing it still, working to get ready for our move to costa rica.
Just made it out of the house and on our way out of town when… I really couldn’t sit down at all? We had a 6 hour drive to our friends in NJ for a 4th of July reunion when I about broke down on the side of the road. Now came Ibuprofen, a round of prednisone and a deepening concern.
I’m about to move to another country, but I can’t drive across the state?
I somehow arrived to Costa Rica, but upon arriving, whenever I’d get up from laying down or sitting, I would feel like I got a burning hot poker in my thigh and down my leg. Jackknifing pain of sciatica. I knew, but didn’t want to believe it, my back was the problem despite no pain at all in the back. Weeks of questioning and pushing myself made the situation worse, an MRI confirmed a nasty disc herniation of l4l5 and a pinched left nerve root.
Ugghhh….I was supposed to play soccer, run a marathon and build a house this year. Well, plans can change.
2 months into since that drive to NJ where things really went south and I’m glad to say that the back has been improving. Through a morning rigidity to my physical therapy back exercises and significantly downgrading my exercise program. I’ve been able to sit again, drive out to the beach and just about kick a ball.. If I’m careful. And as I was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I found out it was a train’s headlight screaming towards me.
Torn quad
My left leg was the one affected by my back, my previous snowboarding accident also occurred on the left. Let’s just say it has never been the same as my right. So 10 days ago while cutting giant construction grade green bamboo, I felt my left quad aching. Well that’s common for me, the quad is still not right after the snowboarding accident, I pushed it for another day working hard on the land and by the end of the day, I realized that I was done, I needed to get off my leg.
Arriving home, I put some heat on it and relaxed, it’ll be better in the morning I thought. When I woke up the next morning, the leg had started to swell, and then continued to swell throughout the following night. Uh oh…
Side story- I take Warfarin, an anticoagulant for a congenital heart condition. This medicine helps prevent a blood clot from forming on an artificial heart valve I had placed when I was 20. This medicine also makes it where if I start bleeding, I don’t stop very easily. So there is a small therapeutic window to monitor, we want the blood not too thick, not to thin. Kind of like a goldilocks zone. Well, I recognized the swelling and went to check on my blood thinning zone… I was way too thin.
So, the reality set in, I had an internal bleed in my thigh. The next day I went to the local clinic, an ultrasound confirmed it, I tore one of my quad muscles and developed a large pool of blood in my thigh. My knee and hip swoll up as the bleed was still ongoing. Pressure and ice, while also holding from taking my heart medicine for 5 days was the trick to get it to stop. But the damage was done, I tried to see about getting the blood collection drained as supposedly it can speed the recovery drastically. The local doc gave it a try cutting into the side of my leg trying to reach the hematoma, alas, it didn’t work. He explained likely the blood didn’t pool, rather my thigh muscles became like a soaked sponge, it was just going to have to take it’s time for my body to reabsorb this. I asked, 4-6 weeks, He then said it. 4-6 months.
That was a blow.
I’m now two weeks out from the injury and I have to say it has been hard. Getting comfortable, staying asleep, getting up, trying to sit, all of it is pretty tough. Laying in bed was about all I could do for 10 days.
Luckily, our in laws came to town this week!!! Yay Kate and Joe to the rescue with some meds and support for Kylah! YA, she’s been balancing a lot of plates through this all. You know how lucky I am to have such a great partner that shows up when the chips are down. Thank you Kylah!!!
So, now having 3 good nights of sleep, I just took my first walk in 10 days and am starting the journey of recovery again. Chair pilates and isometric holds. Way different than my deadlifts and burpees from this past spring gym regimen.
Injuries have a way of making one reflect, in a way, to cleanse. A forced stillness. I was hoping to slow down as we arrived in Costa Rica, hoping my rhythms here would be a bit more balanced into continued growth. Well, I think I got what I was ultimately seeking, just a little different than how I intended to get it.
So here’s to getting better, and getting back to my routines here in Costa Rica. May the growth continue, preferably without another injury!