Slowly but Surely

Today was a day of celebration. The oppressive stent terrorizing my ureter and bladder has been banished from my urinary tract--thrown to the bottom of a KSI trashcan where it is to remain until the day when it joins other miscellaneous medical waste in the nether regions of St. Joseph's hospital.

I've never been so glad to be back at work. Seeing the teachers, having students say they missed me (if they were just trying to score brownie points I don't even care), grading some papers, and planning some lessons has never been so rewarding. I really do enjoy my job and missing an entire week with an unwelcome, uncomfortable, ureter-stretching piece of plastic was pretty miserable.

The week of the painful stent and subsequent gastrointestinal issue has kept me not only from teaching but also from running. This past weekend I was actually feeling much better and was starting to be able to walk and stand for more than a few minutes at a time without my stent telling me it was time to sit back down or face some seriously painful consequences. I was looking forward to going back to work on Monday morning to put in a half day and then having the stent removed in the afternoon. Unfortunately, my immune system had other plans. I got a terrible stomachache right before bed on Sunday night.

It should probably go without saying that things started to get a little gross, but I guess I'll say it anyway. If you're squeamish you may want to skip to the last paragraph. At about one AM I woke up with an even worse stomachache--a very sharp, acute pain. Then, I barfed. But, unlike many stomachaches, the pain didn't go away. It stayed as a stabbing sort of sensation that left me unable to go to sleep. It did, however, leave me able to moan, complain, and vocally welcome death.

Kidney stones hurt--ureter stents also hurt (some people don't notice them, others say it's the worst five days of their lives--I was in between). Throwing up with a stent is possibly the most excruciating pain I've ever had. As I expelled the remnants of purple smoothie (blueberries, raspberries, greek yogurt, and agave nectar) into the toilet, the pain from the stent--what I would imagine having several vice grips squishing my internal organs would feel like--caused me to scream. Not a super-loud scream, but loud enough that Laura voiced her concern.

After about 24 hours of that sort of misery and another day getting over the diarrhea that so kindly accompanied the vomiting, I'm back at it. I had to reschedule my stent removal for this morning and I'm thrilled to have that done. I normally volunteer at my church on Wednesday nights, but Laura advised me that I'd probably be a little tired after having a foot-and-a-half long tube with the circumference of CapriSun straw pulled through my ureter, bladder, and out my urethra, followed by an almost full day of teaching. She said I might want to not be at church until the late hour of 8:15 PM.

She was right, I am exhausted (it's only 5:30 PM) and I'm ready to go to sleep. I did, however, do a little jog of just of just over 2km when I got home from work. My legs are very tired and I'm feeling pretty weak, but it felt awesome to be outside running again. I've lost a little weight since the surgery and subsequent stomach illness, but I know that slowly but surely I'll get my strength back and be running my regular distances and paces in no time. For now, I'm just happy to be back in the land of the living.

Weekend Reading: Marathon

Remember weekend reading? I don't know why I stopped it--I still read a ton of running books and have plenty to write about. So, without further ado, weekend reading will begin again, to be published approximately whenever I feel like it.

I thought I'd start the feature back up with a little fiction. Marathon, by Hal Higdon, is not to be confused with Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide, also by Higdon. Marathon is a fictional novel based in a fictional city (which seems very similar to Chicago), and follows several characters directing, competing in, and writing about a big-city marathon. Much of the novel follows the race director, Peter, as he hammers out the details of the race. He juggles problems which include keeping his big sponsor, bad weather, and a new love interest, TV reporter Christine.

Marathon also follows some minor characters as well as an unnamed celebrity, supposedly "bigger than Oprah" (fame-wise, not size-wise). I thought for his first go at fiction, Higdon did a pretty nice job with characterization and plot, juggling multiple characters and story lines without losing the reader. There are definitely some problems and it's not one I'd read again, but overall it's an entertaining book. If you're interested in how big-city marathons work and want to learn about them in an entertaining way, this would probably be a good choice.

Kidney Update – Warning, more gross stuff

I embarrassed myself a bit at work yesterday—namely by showing up. I honestly thought I felt well enough to come in, but after being there a couple hours it soon became clear to me that I was not going to make it. Several coworkers noted my ginger steps and my pale pallor. My co-homeroom teacher happened to come into the bathroom as I was emptying evidence of my surgery into the urinal. Fortunately he’s a guy’s guy and was able to laugh about it rather than run from the bathroom to look for another bathroom to throw up in. 

Somehow I managed to drive myself home. I spent most of the rest of the day reading, sleeping, or listening to NPR on the recliner while wrapped in a blanket. This morning I felt worse than yesterday morning, but I think I’ve found the perfect combination of painkillers, antihistamines (opiates make me itch), and coffee that I may be able to make it to work tomorrow.

It looks like running is out of the question as walking and standing seem to exacerbate the pain of the stent holding open my right ureter. I woke up several times last night with some pretty gnarly pain, but as of right now I’m feeling much better. I am, however, thinking that a run’s probably not the best idea until they pull that plastic piece of tubing out and I can not longer feel sharp jolts of pain coming from my side.

In the meantime I can keep reading and typing blog posts in my more lucid moments. I might even try to do some planning for school. With Laura working there’s no one to proofread my typing or tell me that my writing’s too gross to publish so I apologize to anyone I offend with my tramadol-induced typos and lack of couth.

May, 2015 Update
I didn't make it back to work for several days, and stent inside of me never became more comfortable. The only thing I did for about a week was to read The Hunger Games trilogy. The night before I was finally suppose to have the stent remove, a stomach bug found its way inside me gastrointestinal track. A night spent of vomiting, the subsequent removal of the stent (please Lord, never again), and I have been relatively free from kidney stone issues for the past four years.

 

Paying attention to my sodium and oxalate intakes have helped, and avoiding processed foods, the kind that make Americans the highest consumers of sodium in the word, is a reasonably healthy diet. 

Stoned

Warning--contains realistic, gross medical stuff

It's official--my kidney stone is free from my ureter. What? you ask. A kidney stone? In your ureter? Contrary to popular opinion, kidney stones don't start to become an excruciatingly, knife inside your back, angry squirrel gnawing on your pelvis kind of pain until a pinhead-sized piece of pain leaves the kidney enters the urinary track.

What does this have to do with running? It's not unusual for runners to have blood in their urine (hematuria)--usually it's caused by an empty bladder smacking against itself, and it will clear up after a few days of abstaining from exercise and hydrating better in the future.

A kidney stone, however, isn't going anywhere unless it makes its way out of the ureter and into the bladder. The first time I had a kidney stone it found its way out on its own--this time, not so much. I've been waiting for it to make its escape for almost three weeks now and this morning I decided I was sick of waiting--my kidney was blowing up like a urine-filled balloon and it was time to pluck that puppy out of there.

On the way to the hospital we stopped to vote for the school board members (this was 100% Laura's idea). The Kidney Stone Institute didn't open until 8 a.m., so we had time. On our way out of the polling place, an elementary school, Laura ran over a cone. The poor cone got caught under the fender, scraping and thumping as we drove along.

While Laura wondered aloud what was causing such a terrible noise coming from underneath her car, the assistant principal appeared in the rear view mirror, waving his arms and signalling us to stop. He was dressed in a suit, so I offered to climb under the car and pull the cone out.

He saw I was wearing my Get Lucky 21k sweatshirt and asked if I'd been on a run. Laura said, "Actually, I'm taking him to the hospital."

"Oh, are you hurt?" he asked as I wrenched the orange traffic cone from the underside of the sedan.

"No, just a kidney stone," I replied, nonchalant-as-I'll-get-out.

He wished us luck and as Laura apologized for her negligent and reckless driving, I was hoping luck wouldn't be involved as Dr. Portis did this a couple hours later:


Ureteroscopic stone removal
(warning--kind of gross)I'm not gonna lie--I felt way better after they pulled that thing out--though the drugs probably helped too. I also got to miss work (although I graded papers and wrote part of a unit plan anyway) and read part of Running Times. Then I spent a little time with Laura while she worked on some school stuff. We took a pause from our work and ate the crock pot beef stew I made yesterday (good thing I put it together yesterday).

The surgeon said I could run (well, he didn't say I couldn't run), but right now there's a little stent hanging out in my ureter for a few days. It makes my back pretty sore and turns my urine pink, so I'm not sure if I should be running. I guess I'll have to call the Kidney Stone Institute tomorrow and see what Dr. Portis thinks.

Birthday Run

My Saturday birthday run went well. Very well. Looking back through my training logs I noticed I hadn't done a run longer 16 miles since September 17, so 18 miles was a little tougher than I thought it'd be.

Time went by quickly, however, as I jogged down to Fort Snelling State Park and ran along the Minnesota River. On my way there I made a detour to run up the hill at Sky Hill Park, a small park less than a mile from our house. The wooden observation deck and seating area at the top of a path was the perfect place to watch the sunrise. It was so pretty I decided I needed to bring my camera on Sunday morning to take a picture. The photo doesn't do Saturday's sunrise justice. For one thing, it was a little hazier on Sunday and for another thing, the camera I used is terrible.

The trail along the Minnesota River was in great shape. Some beavers have been hard at work chewing down trees--some of the tree's trunks have circumferences over six feet. What do those beavers think they're going to do with those giant basswood trees after gnawing them until they fall over?

There were several groups of runners using the trail along with some mountain bikers, hikers, and dog walkers. The trail is very flat and on a sunny fall morning it was a scenic place to be. The leaves carpeted some sections of the trail and the angle of the recently risen sun shot shades of orange, yellow, brown, and red off the forest floor. Also, willow, box elder, and basswood trees showed a distinct white and grey sediment line marking the height of this spring's flooding--high water that left the trail unrunnable for all of spring and most of summer.

After the waters had receded the trail's surface had a lot of sandy river sediment, but thankfully most of that has been packed down enough to make for pleasant running. My thoughts were free to wander as I soaked in the scenic surroundings of late fall Minnesota. The wind started to pick up but I was sheltered inside the forest so I took off my outer layer and ran in my Nebraska Cornhusker running shirt--a birthday present from my sister in Lincoln.

After turning around near where the trail goes underneath I-494, I saw a big buck standing in the middle of the path. He turned tail and ran from me in big, bounding leaps. Farther down the trail a lady was walking her two golden retrievers and I stopped and asked if I could pet them. They were already jumping at me and had that "play with me" puppy dog look that was just begging to be petted.

With about 4 miles to go I got a little sick to my stomach--I'd taken a gel and then drank water with a GU effervescent electrolyte tab in dissolved in it. Unfortunately, the GU tab had filled my stomach with it's effervescence and was threatening to effervesce my stomach contents right out my face hole. I had the terrible feeling of needing to burp for about a mile when finally the fizzy goodness of GU peach tea electrolyte drink released its hold on my stomach and exited into the fall air. After 3 more miles I was back home and chatting with my neighbor about siding.

I'd love to make this a birthday tradition--the running part, not the chatting about siding. It would mean I'd have to stay in shape enough to be able to run over 29k. It would also mean that I would be healthy, happy, and sane.

It would mean I'm still extremely blessed to have a supportive spouse who doesn't resent the time I spend running but encourages it. She's a runner as well as a triathlete and understands the importance of running and competing. I've also been blessed with supportive parents who showed up to my track meets to watch me run in circles eight times before collapsing on the infield grass, only to get up and do it a few more times.

A year from now I'll be running 30 kilometers--I don't know where or with who, but I'm looking forward to it.

29k for 29 years

This morning I was awakened to my wife calling me from her early childhood convention in Florida to wish me a happy birthday. Only a runner wouldn't mind being called at 6 AM on a Saturday morning after a long, busy week teaching. Why? Because today I'm starting the first day of my 29th year with a 29 kilometer run. Maybe someday I'll get up to miles rather than kilometers, but today 29 kilometers is plenty.

I'm not the first person to think of running a distance on my birthday that correlates with my years of life. The race director of Boston pulled off a 57 mile run on his 57th birthday this year. I'm hoping that this can become a tradition for me as well. I told my dad last night that if I stick with the kilometers rather than miles, I won't have to run a marathon until I'm 42.

So this morning I'll put on the Cornhusker running shirt my sister sister sent me for my birthday. Then, I'll head out the door for an 18.0197646 mile run. I'll run down to either the trail by the Minnesota River or the trails at our regional park. I'll enjoy the sunrise, the cool fall morning, and the colorful leaves still left hanging on the trees.

I'll reflect on the years I've been blessed with--a wonderful wife, a supportive and caring family, a house, a job I love, and the ability to tie on my running shoes and head out the door. I'll think about the wonderful group of friends, runners, coworkers, and students that have been placed in my life and thank God for all of it and more.

The sun rises in less than an hour. I'll let you know how it goes.

Scare in White Bear and weekend Race Report

I saw no fewer than six brides, fourteen Green Bay Packers, eleven cats, two "Scream" killers, and fourteen monsters. There was also a family dressed in black that had glow sticks stuck to them. I asked them if they were the characters from "Tron" and the tallest one replied, "We're stick people!" On closer inspection he was totally right--the glows sticks were arranged perfectly on the black background the make them look like stick people.

I've run the "Scare in White Bear" once before, in 2009, but this was the first time I ran a Halloween race at 7:15 PM on a Friday night.

We met our friends Matt, Joy, and Tom at Matt and Joy's place in White Bear Lake. After Matt and Joy transformed into C.M. Punk and Clay Matthews and I turned into a member of the Minnesota Running Wild we hopped in the car and drove out to the race. After warming up and snapping some pre-race photos it was time to get our speed on and rock a 5k in the dark.

The course was the same as it'd been in 2009, except in 2009 it was on a Saturday morning. The darkness and larger crowd made for a little more interesting run. Even during the kids' run at twilight things were getting sketchy; I watched a kid take a spill on the first turn. Fortunately, he was dressed as a football played and his pads prevented any serious injury.

Though the route was flat and fast this was yet another race where a turnaround had us running back towards other runners. The street wasn't closed and all 164 runners were "officially" supposed to stay on the bike path after making a quarter-mile loop around the park. After turning around I was running back on the left side of the bike path next to the road. I figured I could drop off the curb if I needed to--unfortunately after a couple of encouraging words from runners someone yelled at me to get to the right so I did.

There were a lot of sections where I couldn't see very well and sometimes people didn't see me coming so I had to kind of stumble into the leaf-littered grass next to the trail. My second mile was 5:45--sandwiched between a 5:23 and a 5:29--costing me my chance at breaking 17 minutes.

I still had fun even though I was one of maybe ten runners without a costume. I won the race in 17:17. The second place finisher was the patriarch of the stick people family. I also got a high five from some guy in a costume that consisted of a sweatshirt, sweat pants, and mask I didn't recognize.

After grabbing some water, chips, and a banana I hung out with Tom and Laura until Laura had to call our friend Brit to tell her about my "fun run." Tom and I left her to cheer for the costumed runners and Matt and Joy. Joy and Matt finished strong looking smiley and happy the whole race.

The next day Laura and Brittany hit monstrous PRs at the Monster Dash 1/2 Marathon. Jared and I followed them on our bikes. We also saw Jared's brother and lots of members of MN Running Wild. I tried to talk Laura into writing a guest post on her awesome race but I guess I might have to write one for her. She's crazy busy right now-- she'll be leaving for Florida to present at an early childhood convention (during my birthday).

Speaking of my birthday if anyone's interested in running with me (virtually or otherwise) I'm going to hit up 29 kilometers for my 29th birthday on Saturday morning (November 5).

Here's some shots from the "Scare in White Bear:"

Joy pumping up the crowd:


I'm in there somewhere:


Matt and Joy flying to the finish:


Matt and I getting pumped for the race: