Out with the "old" and in with the "new"
2008 started off with a "bang" for us. After agonizing over a new vehicle purchase for the past year, I finally took the plunge and became even further indentured to a life of servitude, all for the sake of a brand new Barcelona Red Toyota Rav 4 Limited SUV. She comes fully loaded with a V-6 engine, FWD (face it when am I gonna need 4WD?), heated leather seats, bluetooth, 6 CD changer, and a bunch of other little luxuries that I don't know how I EVER lived without ... like an eyeglasses holder and radio controls ON the driving wheel! Bloody ingenious if you ask me. Oh yeah, did I mention the heated seats? They are n-i-c-e ... Here's a picture of my "new baby" ...
At work I have a new colleague who is fitting in really well. Our CEO is resigning, claiming personal reasons (don't they always) which brings about a feeling of uncertainty, and unease about the future. Otherwise, work is great., with some travel ... my project moving along nicely ... and, most importantly, a fun group of people to work with.
The tug of war between my body and my mind has escalated over the past year, recently reaching new heights of annoyance, and creating no small amount of anger and frustration. OK I am getting older, I'll give you that. But when you're used to being active all your life, it really sucks to be a) post-menopausal ... and all the changes that go along with that most vicious joke Mother Nature ever played on anyone, and b) to be slowing down despite your best efforts.
For the past 6 months I've had difficulty breathing, a chronic cough, and feelings of lethargy. The symptoms have been getting worse over the past two months, and having a background in biology, I began to imagine the worst. After being encouraged by my office mates, all of whom were sick of hearing me cough incessantly, I made an appointment and with an Internist. After living here for 6 years, I finally have a primary care doctor I really like. We ruled out lunch cancer by a chest x-ray and TB with a PPD skin test. Both were negative.
But my lung problems are real. Even though I wasn't wheezing, she said my symptoms were indicative of a "mild" case of asthma (or reactive airway disease) brought on by cold, or allergies, or other toxins in the environment, either alone or in combination with exercise. She prescribed an inhaler (a long acting combination of beta-agonist and a steroid) ... the good news is that it seems to be working! So my chest isn't sore anymore, and I can take full breaths and feel like I'm actually getting some oxygen! I'm not so tired throughout the day anymore either. I am happy to finally have a solution to the problem and am looking forward to ramping up my triathlon training this Spring and Summer.
However, there is one more thing that needs to be taken care of before I can begin to train seriously. In early February I will have arthroscopic knee surgery ... I trust the surgeon and believe it is the right thing to do, since the modifications and home therapies I've been trying do not seem to be working. I realize I'll be out of commission for awhile, with no aggressive training for 6 - 8 weeks. But the payoff, hopefully, will be that my Plica syndrome will be history! The hope is that I will be able to ramp up my cycle training in time for our planned European holiday at the end of June ... Maratona dles Dolomites and La Marmotte await in 2008 ... stay tuned ...