I know three months of silence usually kills any blog there is, and I don't assume these texts are any different from that, but sometimes things happen and (b)logging goes way down in your own priority-list. At least for a while.On the other hand, I don't think I'm able to explain the last three months very shortly or in a totally structured way, so I'll just let the text flow and see if I end up with the longest and most difficult to follow -text I've ever written or not :)
I just checked that my last post was at 22nd November 2012. At that point I was in the middle of "medical process", i.e. waiting for an invitation for future examinations by an orthopedic doctor. During the following week I got examined by a specialist (on tuesday), got a waybill to a magnetic spinal-scan, had the scan on friday, and spent pretty much the whole friday waiting for the results at the local ER (the only way to get the results examined ASAP). Finally I got in to hear about the results. And that was something I still have hard time to understand. At that point a senior spinal-surgeon had examined my scans, diagnosed a massive spinal hernia, and reserved a surgery for the following tuesday (three days from that date). And I never had thought it would be THAT bad... After getting all these info I was sent home to prepare for the surgery.
After I got these news I pushed them forward to my wife, who also didn't quite get it first, but when she did, she got quite scared. For some reason I really did not understand how serious the situation was, not then, and probably not even now...
So, the weekend went in a sort of mist for me. I couldn't quite understand what was happening, a good example of that was that we actually argued with my wife if we should cancel a trip to Milan that was reserved for us, starting two days after the surgery. I actually thought I could manage the trip, so that was the level of denial I was in. But finally I agreed to cancel the reservations, and am glad I did, I would not have been in any condition to travel at that point.
So, then came the big day. My younger brother had agreed to drive me to the hospital (some 50+ kms) and also pick me up afterwards. Still, even when I was at the hospital, I did not realize what was happening. I got to the laboratory to provide some blood-samples, got to the spine-surgery department, changed my clothes, got the IV, and was pretty much on the spot taken to the operation room. The next time I woke up, I immediately noticed a change on the right foot. It actually felt better :)
I had to stay for the night at the hospital, but was released the next morning, and was quite happy to get out.
So, for the next 6 weeks my exercise consisted of long slow walks (again) to see if the foot would come back. And some trainer-cycling. Slowly the power started to return to the calf, which relieved me quite a bit, as the surgeon that I talked with after the surgery had told me that as the numbness had been on for so long (three weeks), it was not certain if it would be repaired even after the pressure from the hernia had been removed. The Christmas week came and we drove to Lapland in the north of Finland, where we had reserved a cottage right next to a skiing resort. Didn't do any skiing though. But I'm glad my family did :)
After the six weeks I had an appointment with the doctor that had operated me, and I got a pass from her to start living normally again. A few day later I visited a physiotherapist, who provided me with some guidelines on how to strengthen up my core muscles. She also did some tests to me, and found out some weaknesses both in the core-muscles (that I thought were in first-class condition) and the big butt-muscles. Apparently I had mistaken my top-layer stomach-muscles to be the core muscles :o
Anyway, I got some really good instructions on how to strengthen myself up in the middle of the body, and a pass to gradually start training again.
So, the last four weeks I've been first riding my bike on the trainer, and then found a new total-body-workout from doing the cross-country skiing. And that is something I've really fell in love with now :) Ofcourse it helps that my wife also does it :) :)
During the last week I skied over 50 kms, with four different sessions, so I think this is a good way to keep up and enhance my endurance during the winter. And it's a bit more forgiving to the right calf than actual running, so I'm able to strengthen the muscle before the summer and running sessions. Presently I'm still only able to run as I used to (on forefoot) for 50 - 100 meters, if even that. So finding out how to run again will be a challenge during the spring and early summer.
But, all and all, I am able to train, and that is enough for me presently :) Maybe next time I'll even get into details of the sessions I've done ;)
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