Beware the Ides of March

Yesterday, March 15, 2010, was a crazy day. I suppose it could only be expected: Historically, it was the Ides of March, the day Julius Caesar was killed. It was also supposed to be the day the world was going to end, according to the rumors on Facebook; at the very least, Facebook was supposed to crash or something.

Although neither the world nor Facebook ended, it was not a happy day in my world. It started out just fine and I ran several errands. Then I went home to relax before work. About that time I got a phone call with some very bad news. A four year old boy I knew had passed away. Out of respect for the family I will not mention who he is; it is still too much of a shock.

Of all the phone calls I have ever received, I don’t think one has ever shaken me so much. How could a child, so young, be dead so suddenly? It’s devastating. I think the worst part is that the family had so little time with their son.

Monday night the boy awoke from a bad dream and started to cry. His mother brought him to her room. He had a seizure, stopped breathing, and lost consciousness. He was brought to a hospital and put on life support. When he was stable they brought him to the local children’s hospital. He never regained consciousness and was determined to be brain dead. I can’t even imagine the heart-wrenching decision of the next step. The family has decided to donate his organs to those who need them. Hopefully someone can be saved in this little boy’s place.

I called Roy and told him the news. It was the first of a lot of bad news. Roy told me that one of his coworkers had also gone to the hospital that day because he had stopped breathing. Luckily the waterpark Roy works at has proper equipment to handle this type of thing and they were able to stabilize him by the time the ambulance arrived. I also found out that a friend was beaten up by her ex-boyfriend. Then I found out that a coworker had gotten into a bad accident (she, at least, was doing much better).

By the end of the day my emotions were kind of shot. How does such a simple day, full of errands and contentment, become so crazy? I had spent my day shopping and exploring antique stores. I had found a dog and returned him to his grateful owners. I bought a few nice things for myself. Until 2 pm I had had a great day.

At least in the midst of all the bad news I learned one good thing: A coworker, who is eight months pregnant, was going to marry her fiancé with a simple service. They married today. I am going to make them a cake when I get the chance.

This news gave me hope. Despite all the bad things I had heard, one of my friends had a good thing happen to her. It made me happy. The world will continue, and all personal problems will be healed with time and patience. I am grateful for the love and support of my family, and I know that I will be healed as well.

It's never Lupus.

About a year ago I hurt myself during an exercise class. My right upper thigh started hurting. At first I didn’t think much of it: This class often left me sore and we were doing a ton of leg exercises, mostly lunges. It was during one lunge that I felt something odd. I figured I had simply overstretched or something, so I eased up and then rested for a few days. It’s not like this was some new exercise regimen, either, as I had been taking the class twice a week or so months. Like I said, I didn’t think much of it. The problem was that my thigh wasn’t feeling any better and was a little worse. I stopped working out my lower body. I even got crutches, thinking complete rest might help. It didn’t. My thigh still gave me pain and my knee had started to hurt.

After way too long of a time I went to the doctor. We did some sort of x-ray or scan and, of course, found nothing. The discomfort was enough that I was given some medicine. He had me stop using crutches and get physical therapy. By chance I went to a myofascial therapist. She had me walk around a little while studying me, and determined that my muscle had bunched up toward my hip area, which was also giving me the knee pain.

For those who don’t know, myofascial is formed from the words “myo,” meaning muscle tissue, and “fascia,” meaning the connective tissue in and around the muscle tissue. Myosfascial release is a soft tissue therapy and works by relaxing contracted muscles, increasing circulation, and basically stretching and moving the muscles. It can be used for a series of ailments from infertility to fibromyalgia.

The therapist said it was a good thing I happened to choose them because a regular physical therapist wouldn’t have been much help. She then had me lie down and proceeded to almost give me a massage. She pressed and pushed muscles with varying degrees of force and not just on my leg. She did other part of my body, such as my lower back and even shoulders. The therapist gave me a few simple stretches to do at home to help as well. After a few sessions I was good as new. I was able to go back to the gym, albeit at a slower pace.

Life was great. Roy and I got married and we moved down to Florida. I didn’t join a gym but continued to work out at home. My workouts were lacking, though, due to the fact that I wasn’t doing cardio and I wasn’t going to a crazy work out class on a weekly basis. Still, I kept it up.

Then I decided to follow the Couch-to-5K (C-2-5K) program, a running schedule for beginners designed to get you from the couch to running three miles in two months. You run three times a week and gradually build up your endurance. If you need to drag out a week you easily can. The first week is pretty low impact: five minute warm up followed by 20 minutes worth of alternating walking and jogging.

I was excited. I figured I could get myself to the ERAU gym (free use for alum!) and use the treadmill. I don’t do well running outside as the thickness of the air and humidity leaves me wheezing. I started last week, successfully completing days one and two without a hitch. Friday I had a long day of subbing and then hosting. Then I had a double on Saturday. I planned on doing day three on Sunday.

The problem was that, by the end of Saturday, I noticed my legs were really tired. Specifically, my right upper thigh. I chalked it up to long hours, bad support, and the need to stretch during work. Yesterday, Sunday, I noticed only my thigh was bugging me. Not a lot, but not the sore muscle feeling of running. It also didn’t make sense that only my thigh was sore.

Then today it hit me: This pain and discomfort is the same as last year’s, only not as bad.

Let me tell you how much this sucks. I finally start a running program to get in better shape, and I hurt myself almost immediately. It’s almost ironic. Mostly annoying, though, because I was really looking forward to running and having great workouts like I used to before I came to Florida. Maybe someday I’d do a marathon. I at least hoped that I could get my thighs under control.

Now I am resigned to not run. I’m going to try a walking regimen and an elliptical machine when I do go to the gym. I’m not as excited, but I think I’ll walk on the beach to make it more interesting. Hopefully I can do this without issue.




Link to C-2-5K: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
Link about myofascial therapy: http://www.myofascialtherapy.org/myofascial-therapy/index.html