she'll be climbing up the mountain when she comes.....yee haw!

Oh.

My.

Word. 

What have I gotten myself into again?  I've reflected several times this year on having done the dash last year, and whether I would have actually gone through with it if I had known what I know now about it.  Truthfully, I was as unprepared as a person could be (even though I thought I was) and yet somehow with no partner, pushed through and finished.  From what I can gather, it was only by the grace of God.  And my sheer stubbornness. 

Rich, Sarah, and I have started walking Old Indian Road, as it's pretty much a mountain doppelganger to Windham, just shorter.  Starting in mid May we walked the hill once up and once down (it's 3/4 of a mile each way) after church.  After almost passing out with the extreme heat we'd had, we've now switched our time to early Saturday mornings.  Throughout June we have been walking full up, halfway down, back up to the top again, and then full down, which is the equivalent of 3/4 of the dash.  Thing is, we're doing it with wrist and ankle weights on, so that when we actually get ready to do the dash it will be easier on our bodies.  Talk about ultimate strengthening.  Or just being plain nuts.  Either way....

We're able to do do the up, half, half, down, in 40 minutes, which isn't terribly bad with weights on.  What I'm hoping is to be able to knock a few minutes off my time from last year.  Again, though, having had surgery in Jan, as long as I finish I'll be a happy happy girl.  I'll see if I can do a vid this Saturday and post it so you get an idea of how steep the hill that we're training on is.  It has this one point where we kind of have to hike it or we'd roll. 

The awesome thing is, I've resumed chocolate milk after exercise mandate, so we all get to thoroughly enjoy Stewart's chocolate milk upon completion. 

What we're going to do is round out June with the full, half, half, full.  We'll do July with two full ups (we'll do a car exchange thingie to make it as realistic as possible) followed by two full downs.  And for the first week in August, we'll take off the weights and see just how fast we can do the whole thing start to finish, knowing that we'll be running on on August 13.  Well, Rich and I will be running it.  Sarah is just doing the training for fun, but says that next year she'll run it with us.  Next year, though, I'm threatening both the dash AND tough mudder as long as I don't need yet another surgery....

So.  I'm going to start running the smaller hills around my house again.   I've clocked it, and I'm coming in at 30 seconds faster than last year on my mile, at 9:30, so I'm a bit encouraged about that.  And though I plan to hike up Windham this year and not kill myself attempting to run, I know I can run any little flats and the full downhill to make up time, and that excites me. 

Have heard I haven't updated this enough lately, so I'll try to start posting weekly with run updates, training tips, etc.  OH, and I went to my first ostomy support group meeting.  I'll blog that separately next, but how very interesting. 

Love ya!

B

Oh. Crap. Literally.

Oh boy, where to begin....

I went for my follow up this past Thursday with Dr. Lee and am still not totally healing, so they switched me to a silver cream to try to speed up my tushie healing process.  I was going to comment on how I have a silver plated rear and how I hope it doesn't get stolen or something dumb like that, but time for jesting is over.  We were just going to wait and follow up in 3 weeks and hope for the best in the meantime.  As usual, my lovely body had other plans.

Friday I went to see a caterer with whom I've worked, had lunch there, helped out a bit in the kitchen.  I had a fabulous time out of the house for the day and really enjoyed being behind a knife and prep table.  As a thanks, he fed me an amazing calamari salad for lunch and sent me home with some food for dinner, 4 gourmet soups, thai noodle salad (that I helped make), moroccan couscous, and a huge loaf of freshly baked still warm bread.  It was a good day.  My parents and I ate, cleaned up, and I got ready for bed in anticipation of going to see my aunt for an overnight (Saturday to Sunday).  But....yeah...

I woke up Saturday morning feeling fine as always, went potty, and flipped out.  I had stool coming out of my vaginal area.  Ummm, in case you don't realize, I HAVE NO RECTUM.  This means most likely I have a fistula connecting my uterus to my small intestine.  Awesome.  I flipped and called Dr. Lee immediately, especially since I had just been up there not 2 days prior.  He recommended I eat very little and drink very little and to see him first thing Monday morning at his office, which I will happily do.  I'm actually eating nothing (think self imposed colonoscopy prep without the laxative) and sticking strictly to clear liquids.  I don't want any matter going through my intestine that may put pressure on a fistula and possibly cause leakage into my gut.  So all day yesterday and all day today I'm on water, Stewart's half and half (iced tea lemonade mix), and whatever else I want to drink that's clear, and I'll be seeing Dr. Lee tomorrow morning asap.

What we're all assuming is a fistula.  I'm hoping (but will probably not be so lucky) that he can do a dye test to diagnose it and not a barium swallow.  I hate barium, especially on a totally empty stomach of two days, not to mention the amout of pressure it causes inside.  Because fistulas don't fix themselves, at least to the best of my research and knowledge, this probably means surgery, probably Tuesday.  Oh joy.  So I'm intending on bringing my laptop with me this time and blogging from the hospital, morphine and all.  And as soon as I find out tomorrow just what my body has done to itself this time, I'll update on the specifics of what, where, and why. 

Prayers are appreciated, but most importantly for my parents and surgeon.  I can't believe we are all going through this again.  AGAIN.  I swear, they should have a frequent surgery program club card at Albany Med.  Wouldn't that be nice, have 4 surgeries, get a vacation on them for when you're healed up.  Maybe I should suggest that on their comment cards....never know....

Signing off for now and packing my surgical/hospital bag.  Will keep you posted when I know more. 

Love ya,

B

  

mmm.....chocolate

For years I've tried to rationalize my love (and I do mean love) of chocolate milk.  For some reason I crave it even more lately after I've worked out in any capacity.  I have never been one for sports drinks, tended to hate Gatorade, and didn't drink much other than water with a bit of lemon if I had done any exercise. 

Welcome Stewart's Chocolate milk.  It's 1% milk, with no corn syrup (real sugar instead), and isn't as sweet as you might expect it to be, but with that awesome chocolaty goodness.  It's only 150 cal per 8 oz. serving, and fat cal are low.  The protein is as high or higher than some power bars and energy shakes and tastes a whole lot better.  I've justified every single half gallon I've consumed as "healthier than a handful of cookies" because it also provides me with calcium and vitamin D, which let's face it, are not found in most snack foods. 

I am vindicated in my love for chocolate milk.  How stoked was I to see this as a headline article on aol the other day: Reasons to love milk . 

Read it. 

Love it.

And join me in my very happy quest to get ready for warrior dash and drink copious amounts of chocolate milk to keep me strong.  After all, milk does the body good...pass it on!

love always,

B