The Long Road...back

The beginning of the long road back!

Since I started running at age 11, I have been quite blessed to be injury free. One might say, I have dodged the bullet more times than I care to think. But this time, the bullet had my name on it.

In late 2005, I started to get some pain next to my Achilles tendon on my right foot. By the end of January 2006, I couldn't run and spent the next few months recovering from what was eventually diagnosed as neo-vascularization. No one really knows why the tiny vessels start to develop around the tendon, but there are plenty of theories. We dealt with the symptom and I had a series of injections (prorotherapy) to resolve the issue.

I was back in time to race as a masters athlete in 2007. I had a few successful marathons...1st master at Grandma's in 24C heat, 1st master at NYC Marathon, and then second master at Boston. My current problems developed shortly after Boston 2008...my last race.

By September 2008, I just couldn't run. I underwent months of treatment. I had about 10 more injections of dextrose into the tendon, and a couple of cortisone shots into the retrocalcaneal bursa. I dropped my heel of more stairs than I would like to talk about. Nothing helped. In fact, things kept getting worse. Through it all, Dr. Jack Taunton (CMO for VANOC) was patiently guiding me along. We exhausted all of our options and finally looked at surgery.

Finally, I had X-Rays and it showed that I had a Haglund's Deformity. For those not familiar with this, it is a bone deformity on the heel bone (calcaneous). Within a couple of weeks, I went under the knife to have it removed. That was December 10th...a bit more than six weeks ago.

The operation itself was no big thing. I was given a nerve block and some sedation. I spent the 50 minutes listening to CCR and dozing. I was sent home in a plaster splint, on crutches and with a prescription for T3s. All of these would hold their own adventures.

The splint made showering a challenge. Rosemary was a star though and wrapped my leg in garbage bags and duct tape everytime I needed a shower. Never having used crutches, I was in for lots of close calls. It took me a day to get the hang of the basic movements...okay, I am a slow learner, but I was drugged. However the night time trips to the loo were really exciting. I am not the greatest when I get up at night. I think that my lack of balance is partially due to having pretty low blood pressure and getting up quick. Add the crutches to this and I can tell you that I had some very close calls. All I needed was a crutches injury. When I was given 60 T3s, I kind of chuckled to myself. I mean really, why would I ever need 60 of these...I am afterall of tough marathon runner stock. That attitude lasted about 10 hours. When the nerve block came out...oooohh wow did that sucker hurt. I was counting the minutes until I could take another T3s.

I was good, kept my foot elevated and coated the scar in Vitamin E and the foot in Traumeel. I was glad to move to an airboot a couple of days before Christmas. This picture is how I spent my Christmas.

It was six weeks on crutches and no exercise other than sit ups, crutching around and Wii. I am a mean Wii golfer and you don't want to meet me in a dark Wii alley when I am wearing my Wii boxing gloves. The scar started to heal up after about 2 or 3 weeks. There was some bruising, but it was not that bad.

Fast forward a few weeks and I am now working my way off crutches. I can drive again (yeah!!) and I am starting to run in the pool. I have NEVER been as glad to go for a run in the pool as I was the other night. The surgeon instructed me to return to cycling first, but the thought of pushing down on the pedals did not seem appealing. I consulted with Jack and others that had similar operations (Rob Lonergan, Richard Lee, and Kevin Sullivan) and opted to return via the pool.

All was well until tonight when I was unloading the dishwasher. I caught it on the underside corner of the cupboard door. You might have heard me scream.

The long road begins...