January 2007 Archives

The last two weeks have been crazy, unusual, weird and disheartening ... it started with walking pneumonia which resolved after about a week. The very next day (after helping to paint our kitchen walls the night before) I developed hives all over my body. So off to the doctor a-g-a-i-n ... he prescribed another prednisone taper and Claritin 2 x day. His advise - "keep taking the Claritin even after the hives disappear" for about a month! So I stocked up at Costco.

The highest dose of prednisone (60 mg) is not without side-effects I discovered. My poor husband couldn't stand to be in the same room as me on night two - I was bouncing off the walls and couldn't go to bed ... eventually he literally dragged me to bed (sounds like it should have been fun, but it wasn't) shoved me under the covers, told me to "stay", turned out the lights and closed the door. I only snuck out once while he was taking the garbage cans out to the curb ... to do "one last thing". When I finally settled down it was well into the wee hours of the morning ... but the good news is I got a lot done! And it needed doing, as my sister and her family arrived here Saturday afternoon for a week long visit.

I cannot belive how long this virus is lasting ... It's humbling to realize that I'm not immune, super human or otherwise "special". There's no reason to 'expect' to avoid what is nasty and virulent and making the rounds in all of my circles of friends and family. But damn it anyway, I gotta train ... and I can't with this thing hanging on like it is. I thought I was getting better, twice! and instead, when I started working out I got worse ...

Every time I take a breath my chest hurts. One of my colleagues is a doctor and he thinks it's walking pneumonia. It's called "walking pneumonia" because other than a sore chest people mostly feel fine ... and, you guessed it, can still walk around.

To top things off - and I realize this could be part of the reason I got the infection in the first place - we are under duress to meet a tight timeline for our kitchen remodelling. Today the tile guy finally showed up. After 10 days of inactivity in our kitchen due to the original tile guy breaking his foot and the company having to find a replacement, we finally have a counter top, and with any luck at all, a nice looking decorative tile in the backsplash area. I haven't seen it yet.

Last night we were up late mudding the walls (to make them even), priming, and painting to see if we like the color I picked out. We do. Thank God. Tuesday or Wednesday the HVAC guy is coming to install the hood and vents. Wednesday or Thursday the plumber is coming to install the gas range and check the line for leaks.

Hopefully the painting will be done by Friday night ... because my sister and her famliy are coming to visit for a week on Saturday ... so yeh, I've been under a little stress lately. But, hopefully it will all work out. It seems like it will.

I'm sick of being sick ... This has been an unusually unhealthy winter for me. I'm someone who takes their vitamins regularly, always drinks enough water and gets enough sleep. It started over the Christmas holidays with a cold, then poison oak, then another couple days of feeling sick, then better, then sick again. The latest bout is with an upper respiratory infection that seemed like it was going to turn into either a sinus infection or bronchitis but so far has not.

After a great weekend of working out and seeing friends, I came down with a wicked sore throat, headache and chest symtoms again on Monday. I can't help wondering if the prednisone I was on for the poison oak weakened my immune system and that's why I got the same respiratory symptoms again?

Yesterday I was sure I was getting sicker, but near the end of the day a colleague gave me a glass of warm water and "honey" (a special honey she gets from the asian marketplace) - it tasted foul, but I drank it all, and today, incredibly, am feeling 100% better (other than a little chest congestion). My throat doesn't hurt at all, and no headache!

It could be coincidence ... or it could not be. But whatever the reason, I'm just happy to be on the upswing. After work today I will run, even if it is short, and even if it is slow. Right now, any kind of forward momentum is going to feel great!

Post script - I ran 4 miles in 36:20 and my chest only felt a "little" uncomfortable. The joy of running outweighed the difficulty of breathing. :-)

Well, the weather is still nice, though we are supposed to be in for a cold spell later this week. I am "making hay while the sun shines" as the saying goes ... and have successfully gotten myself up early enough to train before work every day so far this week. Feels good after a solid week of zero training due to a nasty case of Poison Oak.

This has been no small feat considering the late hours I've been keeping - we are remodeling the kitchen (joy joy) and there are a ton of decision to be made. I don't make decisions quickly or lightly so it has been a long and painful process ... made even longer, and more painful by me. C'est la vie. It's almost done.

My Poison Oak is almost 100% resolved, thanks to Prednisone, which I was willing to take short term in order to expedite my recovery. So tonight I am looking forward to spin class. Yippee - I'm back in the saddle two weeks ahead of when I thought I would be!!

Last week, on New Year's Eve day, I was waylaid by Poison Oak ... So, instead of starting off my 2007 base training period with a bang, it fizzled. I was all geared up and ready to GO! But my stupid side had another idea ... let's go romp in the woods and tempt fate ... it's not like this hasn't happened to me before (I'm sad to say).

Anyway, I visited the doc on day 3 of my exposure and he put me on some super strong steroids (oral and topical) - no messing around. With past exposures it's always taken weeks, even months to get over the rash and itchiness. But I am happy to report that with the aggressive treatment regimen my doctor ordered we are almost back in business after just 8 days! The swelling is 100% resolved, and it barely itches any more. The only holdover is the discoloration of my skin.

Today, despite my self-consciousness, I made the decision to don a bathing suit and attended my usual swim workout. It starts out in the dark, so getting into the pool wasn't such a problem, but afterwards in the change room I have to say I was a bit nervous about explaining my streaky red rash to my friends. Turns out nobody paid me any mind ... they were all self engorssed, getting themselves ready for their day, that no one cared less about my rash.

I'm glad I didn't let my self-consciousness get in the way of training today. I love swimming and I really missed not doing it for the past three weeks. Now, I think I'm even ready to give running, and God Forbid, spinning a try later in the week.

Well, my husband couldn't wait to see what I would blog about this ... my latest training misadventure. And my base training was going so well ... I was looking forward to starting some build weeks for IMCDA with my training group - they published the training calendar this week. Drats! All that is off for the time being ...I won't be riding, or running for awhile.

My New Year didn't start so great. I have a nasty outbreak of Poison Oak, resulting from an ill positioned squat in the woods during an otherwise wonderful run on New Years eve day. This is day four and the eruptions should stop after today, but may not. It is horrible ... I know from past experiences that exercise (heating up my body) aggrevates the rash and can lead to new eruptions, so I am laying low for two to three weeks and am on steroids, oral and topical - thanks to a doctor who agreed to treat me aggressively. I am too embarrassed to swim because the rash is on my torso, thighs, lower back, butt and legs. I am not sure if chlorine is an irritant to this rash or not, but it seems like it might be. Plus I would terrify everyone else in the pool, and I have a social conscience.