Our Delicate Selves

Again, another delay in blog posts.  It has been a difficult week (or two) to say the least.

Last I left off, I was going to see a Sports Medicine Doc, which I did.  Of course, while I was there my chest didn't hurt at all.  Nope...no pain...whatsoever.  I felt it earlier in the day...oh and later when I got back to work...but while I was at the doctor...nope, nada, nothing.  And....nothing he did recreated it.

It was kind of like a comedy skit..."Does it hurt when I do this?"  "No."  "How about this?"  "Nope"  "What about here."  "No...nothing".  Figures.

Regardless,  great experience, great doctor, asked lots of relevant questions and pushed and probed all over my chest and back.  I mentioned the motrin and the foot...he didn't think I was crazy and actually told me to stop taking the motrin and use tylenol for the pain.  When I explained to him that I would rather be in the boot for an extra week than deal with the pain in my chest, he explained to me that the bone has a window of time in which it can heal.  If it doesn't heal now...it is not a matter of being in the boot for another week or two...or three or four.   You get the picture..

He checked for blood clots and did an EKG to make sure my heart was okay...and it is.  Finally, he wrote me a script for chest X-Rays.

So it's Memorial Day Weekend and of course, I get to Roxborough Memorial Hospital (Yes...that is where I had to go) and they were cloooosed.  Funny thing is...they didn't even know it.  The Emergency Room Nurse was freaking out because she had to register "Outpatient Patients" and the radiology department wasn't even open!  Typical.

So I go back on Tuesday morning for the X-Ray, call on Wednesday to follow up...and hey...guess what???

Everything looks GOOD.

Try to wrap your brain around this...I am in terrible, terrible pain.  At any given time when this thing flares up, I am thinking that I am going to die...and nobody can tell me what is wrong.  Seriously, in my head I was picking out a new nanny/wife for my husband and kids.

Meanwhile...here is the kicker.  Everyone stops me on the street to ask me how my foot is doing because I am still hobbling around in the the big black boot (which by the way, for anyone wondering, it doesn't hurt a lick) and all I want to do is scream about my chest.

Lesson here:  you never know what people are dealing with internally.

Loooong story short...next theory:  Gastrointestinal.  In other words...we think you have reflux and/or severe heartburn.  Really?

So now I am on Prevacid OTC and I go back to the sports medicine doc on Thursday.  I have actually felt pretty good the last few days.  Today was pretty much symptom free!!  Wahoo!!

For those of you interested in the fitness aspect of this deboccle of a blog...the doctor did say I could continue using the bike but to lay off upper body stuff until he figured out what was going on with my chest.  So I have been alternating spinning and intervals using the exercise ball for core work.  I have also been doing leg lifts for quads and hamstrings on the weight bench. 

I will be really annoyed if it was reflux this whole time and I could have been working my upper body.

My guess...a combination of things.....costochondritis, reflux, heartburn, muscles, nerves and a broken foot.  All a reminder of how delicate our bodies really are and how much physical pain can effect our every day lives.

One Day at a Time

So here we are.

I went to the foot doctor on Monday, expecting some good news, but alas, none was to come.  He asked how my foot felt, I said "fine".  He said it wasn't swollen.  I said, "Yeah...that could be because I am taking 2400 mg of motrin a day for Costochondritis.  He nodded his head, asked how I got Costo and empathized with my pain.  Then he took an X-ray.

When he came back he looked a bit baffled.  "Still not healed.  These suckers take a long time...how about we put screws in your foot?"

They look like drywall screws...are you kidding?

WHAT?!?!

Okay....so a month ago you said 4-6 weeks in the boot no problem....now you want to put screws in?  No effin way!

So I looked at him and simply said, "You are not putting any screws in my foot."  I healed from a Jones Fracture in 12 weeks, I will heal from this too.

And so, he sent me on my way with another appointment in 4 weeks.

In the meantime I started to think about all of the motrin I have been taking (and trying to wean from).  Hmmmmm....I had a hunch so I googled "Motrin effects bone healing".  Isn't google great?

What do you know??  Motrin (or any NSAID) slows bone healing.  In fact, they give it to people when they DON'T want a bone to grow back.

FABULOUS!

I have been trying to wean myself off of the motrin for two weeks now.  Sunday and Monday were pretty much costochondritis symptom free.

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY

Anyone who has experienced the pain associated with costochondritis will understand my expression of joy.

And it's back

So I went down to 1800mg of motrin on Tuesday and Wednesday.  By 1:00 on Wednesday afternoon, it was back.  Full force!  Like a sucker punch, bam...there it was.

So back up to 2400mg I go.  Slow bone healing I have to accept.

I made an appointment with a Sports Medicine Doctor for this afternoon.  I am feeling very confused around this whole thing.  I'm not sure what I should be doing, could be doing or absolutely should not be doing in order to make this chest pain go away.

I exercised Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Mostly on the bike but I also did light resistance with arms and shoulders and some core stuff.  Could that have triggered a relapse in symptoms??  Should I lay off all resistance, or will resistance actually help the healing?  Is the motrin really effecting the healing time of my foot?  Is there an alternative anti-inflammatory?  How long can I expect this to last?

Oy, so many questions.  Hopefully today I will get some answers!  Stay tuned. :)

Unbearable Pain and Cycling..Where Did The Week Go?

Sorry for the lack of posts this past week.  I suppose I haven't had much to say, but I have also been a bit distracted.  I am writing now for any folks who are reading this relating to either a broken foot or costochondritis.  

Similar to the boot I am wearing.

Bike on a trainer.

This past week was really tough.  The pain associated with costochondritis has been unbearable at times, making it difficult to function or get anything done.  Last weekend I did finally get on my bike (using the trainer).  Big black boot and all.  If you have a broken foot and are allowed to put any weight on it, I highly recommend a stationary bike for cardio.  I rode for 25 minutes on Sat and 30 minutes on Sunday and then I iced my chest.  Interestingly enough, my chest did not hurt at all during the workout or directly after.  Icing it either made it worse or didn't do anything though, because both days were pretty torturous.

On Monday and Tuesday there were actually moments when I wasn't thinking about my chest.   I decided to start weaning off the motrin and took my dose down to 600mg 3x/day instead of 800.  By Friday I felt just as bad as I did the previous weekend.  Back up to 800mg....ugh!  As of yesterday I also added a Zantac and if it is really hurting...I take tylenol too.  So far today has been a GREAT day.  I feel halfway human.  Just not sure what the other half is yet..

Halfway human...although imagine it with only one foot.

In the meantime, I have been walking just the tiniest bit on my foot without the boot in the morning and at night.  Mostly to get back and forth to the bathroom, because using the crutches hurts my chest to much.  The GOOD news is that I don't feel any pain in my foot!

So, either my chest hurts so badly that it is completely masking any pain in my foot, or maybe it is the 800mg of motrin I am taking 3x/day....or it could be that the break is pretty close to being healed!!

I have continued on the bike every other day for the last week.  I am still steering clear of any strength training, however I am considering working my arms tomorrow.  By the way, a great resource for cardio workouts is a website called motiontraxx.com

You can download workout music for free.  The cool thing is that you get tracks that set your pace.  Some even do intervals for you.   Currently there is a series of cycling mixes.  AWESOMENESS!

Tomorrow I go to the foot doctor.  There is a possibility that I will be able to get rid of the boot.  Which would be great for many reasons, one of which is the fact that it is FUNKY from sweating my ass off on the bike. 

Stay posted for updates...and thanks for reading!

Survivor, Game Theory and Life

Here it is...my post on Survivor the annoyingly addictive reality TV game show, game theory and how it relates to life...kind of.  

This most recent season of Survivor was probably one of the most fun to watch.  Why?  Because it really couldn't have been better if it was scripted.  Boston Rob, a seasoned player knew exactly what he needed to do and he did it, playing "as close to a perfect game as anyone has played on Survivor".

How?  Game Theory coupled with a little bit of charm, hard work and self admittedly, a little bit of luck.

So here is the thing.  If anyone watched the season, you would know that Rob completely dominated his tribe and they pretty much did whatever he wanted them to do.  It looked pretty easy from our vantage point, but a lot of work went into having that much control over that many people.

According to Game Theory...simplified of course....if you concede just enough to give someone what they want/need, they will in turn give you what you want/need resulting in shared benefits for everyone.  The catch however, is that you have to be willing to give up something.  The Prisoners Dilemma is the most popular example of this.

On Survivor, Rob was able to make each person feel as though he had their best interests in mind.  He promised each one that he would take them to the end and they believed him.  Therefor none of them even considered voting him off until it was to late.  This took a huge amount of insight, a lot of manipulation and a certain amount of mathematical prowess that allowed him to predict the behavior of others.

How does this play out in real life though?  In many instances, people don't cooperate even though the outcome would be best all around if they did.  Why?  Because quite often people have their own interests in mind.  We see this play out in economics and social policy all the time.

We can expect that people are going to do what they believe is best for themselves.  However, if everyone does what is best for themselves, nobody wins.  If people cooperate with each other each individual may not get what they consider to be the "best case scenario" but will ultimately be better off than if they acted upon their selfishness.

Kind of hard to wrap your brain around if you are not use to thinking this way, but fascinating nonetheless.

In Survivor, there can only be one winner, so in the end pretty much everyone but Rob got screwed anyway.  Unless you count all the "life lessons" and getting "closer to God" crap they all spouted at the end.

Real life is much more complicated and "winning" means different things to different people.  It is fascinating though.  Pay attention to what people want, give it to them, and in return...if the theory is correct....you will get what you need.  So simple, yet so incredibly complicated.

No Pain, No Pain

It's been five days since I last exercised...FIVE!  I haven't gone that long since I gave birth to my youngest....and even then I could at least take a walk.   If I wasn't so freakin uncomfortable I would probably be climbing the walls by now.

This is really what it feels like!

What is it they say about the best laid plans and good intentions???  Oh yes, "Sometimes life gets in the way of life."

My original intention with this blog was to write about life with a broken foot, how to continue to exercise and get through each day with a positive attitude (with a few social work related commentaries thrown in)...yet where do I end up???

See pic right.

Struggling to get through each day, feeling like an elephant is sitting on my chest, not being able to exercise, and still hobbling around in a big black boot recovering from a broken foot.
  
I will say, yesterday was a better day.  The pain wasn't quite as intense and when it peaked it didn't last for as long as it had in days past.  I was able to eat pizza and wings for dinner without dying after wards.  I even had a glass of wine.  I went to sleep hoping for an even better day today.

I awoke an hour later with such intense pain in my chest that all I could do was lay there and breathe.  What made it worse was that I couldn't even get downstairs to take my ibuprofen because I would need to use the crutches...which was absolutely NOT happening in that moment.

What a weird random occurrence.  I mean I would rank this pain right up there with labor pains.  At least with labor though, there is a prize at the end.  What's the point here?

Woman in Excruciating Pain labor and/or
inflammation of the chest wall (hard to tell which)

Even worse, when I finally "breathed" myself to sleep (meditation is a fabulous thing), I was plagued by dreams of chasing a doctor who had just performed surgery on my chest around an exam room, all the while bleeding from wounds on my chest that he had carelessly forgotten to stitch back up.

Dear Subconscious:  Thank you for making it clear that I am experiencing intense pain, as if my waking brain could not figure it out on it's own.  Love and Kisses, J.

 Alas, here I sit...frustrated and uncomfortable.

Yet I remind myself that it is only a moment in time.

This too shall pass and one day soon I will feel "normal" again.

I hate it when life gets in the way.

The Moral Animal

I'm sitting in the exam room of my doctor's office with whom I reluctantly made an appointment because I told myself, if my chest still hurt by Monday I would go.  Given that I had my head on my desk and was practicing Lamaze breathing techniques by lunchtime, I thought I better hold true to my commitment.


The Nurse Practitioner walks in and the first thing she asks is, "What are you reading?"  Not exactly what I came there for, and since talking when you feel like an elephant is sitting on your chest takes more effort than one would think, I simply show her the cover of my book.  "The Moral Animal.  Why We Are The Way We Are"  

"For school?"  She asks.  "Nope."  I say..."For fun."

She gives me this sideways glance, as if to say, "What kind of  loser reads something like that for fun?"

Yes, I am weird in that way.  Granted, it has taken me 3 months to get through it, but this stuff is off the hook!!

Have you ever wondered....I mean REALLY wondered why we do the things we do?  I mean, there has to be a reason...right?  This is the stuff that keeps me up at night....again weirdness...I know.

Like, why do people "love" their siblings even if they don't "like" them?  Why are we inclined to help others?  What attracts us to a certain "type" of person?  Why is polygamy actually a better gig for women than it is for men?  What does game theory have to do with being successful in life? (This will be another post related to Survivor at some point I'm sure....cuz it's really cool stuff).

So much of this is hardwired into our brain...into our being...that it seems spiritual...or is it? 

From a Darwinian perspective, with a little bit of Freud thrown in, this book really forces one to rethink motives, responsibility and purpose.

Of course it's just a theory.

As far as my chest is concerned, the NP confirmed inflamed chest wall, probably as a result of over use of my chest muscles....duh!

Not quite sure how that would play into my "fitness" according to Darwin...other than perhaps my body is telling me to slow down.

Inflamed Chest Wall....Really??

I would think it was comical if it didn't hurt so freakin much! 

For the last three days my chest has been hurting.  Not the "Wow that was a great workout I'm gonna feel it in the morning" kind of hurting, but the "Something is seriously wrong with my chest, am I having a heart attack?" kind of hurting.

This can't be comfortable

WTF???

I don't want to seem like a hypochondriac or anything so I figure, whatever it is, it will pass.  But people keep asking me, "Are you ok?"  "What's wrong with your ribs?"  Apparently I keep touching my chest and wincing in pain.

No idea.  All I know is that I wake up in the morning and feel okay, but by 11:00am I feel like an elephant is sitting on my breastbone. 

Maybe it's reflux...I take an antacid...no dice.

My co-worker...who tends to be my go to person for bodily aches and pains mentions "inflamed chest wall".  So I GOOGLE:  "Inflamed Chest Wall"

Costochondritis is a condition that causes chest pain due to inflammation of the cartilage and bones in the chest wall. Also called Tietze's Syndrome, costochondritis occurs when there is inflammation at the junction of the rib bone and breastbone (sternum). At this junction, there is cartilage joining these bones. This cartilage can become irritated and inflamed. Depending on the extent of the inflammation, costochondritis can be quite painful.

This condition is thought to be bost commonly due to repetitive microtrauma, or overuse. This means that activities are causing repeated damage to the cartilage of the chest wall leading to inflammation.

"Do your best and forget the rest"

Hello??  Perhaps I am overdoing it with the upper body workouts.

Repeated rows and push ups while also using crutches...hmmm.  Should have thought that through better.

I wonder what Tony Horton would have to say about this?

Of course I'm self diagnosing, but it does make the most sense.  Motrin seems to help and I have promised to lay off the push ups and rows for a little while.  I am wondering if trauma to any part of your body effects the rest of you.  Is my body less resilient in general because it is working to heal my foot??  

Luckily my girl hooked me up with her bike trainer so I can get my burn on.

Not so sure how it will work with the big black boot, but it's worth a try!