Each Day Is a Gift

Week 11 to Boston!

Crazy scary snowy drive to lab this morning!  4 dreadmill miles watching Usaine Boltz on Netflix!

Roads are slippery so dreadmill again. 1 mile warm up (4-5mph) then 4x800 (@6.5mph) with 400 jog & 1 mile cool down (@5mph).  This is so pathetic!  These 800s pace are now run at what used to be my recovery pace! Sigh! 
 

Lab and clinic day so ran in the afternoon at 2:15.  It was 21F with partly sunny sky.  Got a Karen sighting (she was driving out of her neighborhood) which put a smile on my face!

18F light snow.  It was supposed to be a tempo run but I have only one speed these days, SLOW!  AP 11:30.  Walked thru all the snow/ice slipperies at the trail access and tunnels.  Ran east on MCT to 1600 E then turned west to Oracle (1600W).  Saw Karen and Leslie on my way back at 600W, ran with them for the last couple miles home. 

WORST stormy drive to lab this morning ever!  There was a thin layer of white powder over patches of black ice that caught many early communters by surprise.  As a reault there were accidents and road closure everywhere.  It took us almost an hour to get to IMC.  Too pooped or wimpy to run outside so onto dreadmill again.  Ran 7 miles watching "Heart of the Country".  AP 10:37

I don't know how in the world and why I'm so so so lucky to have Wendy as my bestest friend.  She spent the whole morning running 14 miles with me when she has no reason to run other than to keep me company.  She also took me out to the Provo City Center Temple open house and the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the MOA Thursday afternoon.  One cannot ask for a better friend than her!  We stopped at the restroom at Mitch Hollow Park and at the Lone Peak trail park.  Ran into my BYU-H days Showcase Hawaii friend, Ruthie, who is also going to Boston (her first).  She's so energetic and excited!  I needed that! :)  Anyhow this 14 miler took us 3 hours!  Yep, at this rate, Boston is gonna be 6 hours funfest or torture fest! :)
 

So happy Leslie texted me last night to meet up for a run.  Foggy slow drive through early morning rush hour traffic, made it to lab at 7 but there were long lines of out patients always on Mondays.  Made it back home by 8:15, then out the door at 8:30.  Temp was 14F but felt much colder due to the humidity.  I'm so slow these days...super nice of Leslie to jog and do all the talking.  I kid you not, AP 10:38, is a tempo run.  (11:47, 10:39, 10:28, 10:15, 10:00)

Got the call from transplant coordinator at 4pm that hubby's UA is cloudy, white count is up, so yep, the UTI has returned!  Got him started on Cipro straight away!  He was running a fever of 101-102 and tachycardia of 114 in the evening.  He didn't want another trip back to the ER so I monitored him closely through the evening and night.  Jeff showed up at the door miraculously and gave him a blessing.  That brought us peace of mind and peace of heart!

Rough night last night with hubby's elevated vital signs.  Got about 2 hours sleep, mentally drained and physically exhausted.  So no running today!  I truly do not expect hubby's recovery to be this rocky.  It's almost 6 weeks post op. of which 4 weeks have been in hospitalization.   He's lost close to 20 lbs since transplant surgery.  He has many side effects from the 23 medications he's on.  Our only "outings" are to the IMC campus for lab draws, clinic and doctor visits which average about 4-5 trips a week.  I also make numberous pharmacy trips.  BUT!  I am grateful for medications and excellent medical care from the IMC Transplant Team.  I know that day by day he will get better.  
 

Foggy early morning drive to clinic.  When we got home around 12:30, hubby's sister and her husband were waiting in the driveway.  She brought us yummy BBQ ribs fro lunch. So nice to visit with them.  Another zero running day!

Foggy morning drive to 7am lab.  Drove hubby home so he could sleep for an hour then returned back (yep foggy drive) to urologist appointment at 10:15.  I nearly fell asleep waiting for the doc.  I was one grumpy grump all morning!  It was too cold and foggy to run outside so after feeding hubby lunch, I jogged on the dreadmill with Netflix.
 

Only had time for 3 dreadmill miles before going to visit teach. 

I am so slow these days that no one would have the time to run with me!  My friends are not training for any marathon, so they have no reason to run long.  Karen is in AZ for her daughter's soccer tournament.  Leslie is in Alabama.  I am forever grateful for a true and faithful friend as Wendy.  She is always there for me!  Once again she's willing to run with me.  She did 14 with me last Sat. but today she can only do 11.  We left shortly after 8:30.  Temp was 20F that felt colder because of the 90% humidity and foggy condition.  The air quality was so bad that you could taste it.  I took 2 puffs of Albuterol 30 min. before the run to avoid asthma attack.

We walked through all the icy tunnels and uphills and stopped at the restrooms to drink.  We gu'ed at the restroom by Lone Peak High (mile 5.5) then turned back for home.  After I dropped her home at mile 11, I continued west to 1600 W restroom.  I should've gone in the house to fuel but in my delirious mind I didn't, BIG mistake!  I hit the wall hard at mile 12+ and struggled to keep one foot in front of the other.  My PF in my left heel and medial calf ligaments were hurting bad.  Both legs were on fire after I got home 4 hours later.  Nearly FOUR hours for a measely 15 miler!  I seriously don't know if I can make it to Boston.  How did I get so fat, slow and old?!!!

I ate a quick lunch of oatmeal with berries, showered and watched the last 5Ks of the Women Olympic Trial Marathon!  Brought back memories of my first Boston in 2008 where I watched the Women OT Marathon on Boyslton.  These athletes are truly amazing incredible human beings! :)

On another happy, non-running note...our dear friend, Brent Estes, who was hubby's former executive secretary in the stake presidency and later became bishop of his ward, came by for a brief visit.  He brought me a dozen red roses knowing that hubby wouldn't be able to do so for Valentines Day.  He also brought me daily lunch at the hospital the second week after the transplant.  These acts of kindness mean the world to us.  We have felt the love and support of many of our friends, family and neighbors.  Their prayers on our behalf have continued to sustain us day by day, moment by moment!  We are blessed beyond measure!  THANK YOU! 

Early morning lab again.  I was so proud of myself getting hubby to lab in record time until I realize it was President Day thus there were minimal traffic!  Man, we used to go skiing on President Day! O Well!  Steven and Jia-fen are home over the weekend.  He borrowed hubby's gym shoes to go running and I thought he was going to catch up to me.  Apparently I went west and he went east! Ha!  One of these days we really ought to have a Ragnar race in the family! :)

35F wow that felt warm after weeks of running in the teens! :) Ran west to 1500W restroom and back AP: 10:35

32F 93%humidity calm.  Wendy joined me today.  We ran a mile warm up to MCT then I proceeded to do 5X800s going east and turned back at 0.25 mile just before 1200E tunnel. Jogged 0.25 mile back to and with Wendy east.  She turned around at 1200W tunnel while I continued on my 4th 800s and just barely past 1500W restroom where I had a quick drink before resuming my last 800s and chased down Wendy. 

I have not done any speedwork on the road since 2012 and it shows.  I think the fastest pace I could barely hold on to for 100m was 9:00.  So sad!  Instead of feeling "springy legs" on my recovery jog home (like I usually did after doing intervals) it was like death march at end of marathon!  I am SO SO SO terribly out of shape!  :( 

AP 10:32 (11:42, 10:00, 9:29, 11:16, 9:40, 11:03, 10:37)

32F Ran with Wendy easy.  AP:  11:32

Had first visit with our nephrologist (not transplant clinic) Dr. Cline this afternoon.  I was concerned that hubby still had no appetite, fatigue, and pain on his right side.  He gave him a thorough exam and based on Monday's lab results, he said everything is heading the right direction, that it takes time for the hematoma to be reabsored, the bladder to be expanded, the apptetite and strength to come back.  He said there should be no reason why he can't travel to Boston in April, by then the flu season will be done.

This evening, hubby didn't want to eat dinner, had chills and fever.  He took 2 Tylenol and I put ice wash cloth on his forehead.  I monitored him through the night and his vital signs came back down.  Other up every 2 hours to void, he was able to sleep.

After a rough night, I got hubby to lab early.  This is his first Thursday lab as we now dial down from 3X a week (MWF) to twice a week (MTh).  Anxiously waited for lab results so I didn't run outside and on the dreadmill with Netflix.

His WBC went up to 16!!! The transplant clinic nephrologist (Dr. Anand) had hubby changed his antibiotics from Cipro to Keflex a week ago when his lab results were out of normal range and he was having diarrhea suggesting that Cipro was too harsh on him.  He had been off Levoquin for a week which was to treat UTI that he eneded up hosptialzed for on Jan. 15.  On Feb 8 (after being off Levoquin for a week), his WBC went up to 10 and that evening he had chills and fever, so he was put on Cipro.  At that time I texted my children and called the afterhour nurse coordinatior.  The nurse suggested that I monitored him thru the night and let the Cipro takes effect.  Eric suggested I take him to the hospital as he might have something more that UTI.  Well, he felt better after Tylenol and cool wash cloth and didn't want me to take him to the ER (which I've done 3 times since transplant with the last one being admitted for possible spesis).  Anyhow, I didn't take him back to the ER.  In retrospect I should have.  Over the last 10 days, hubby has had less energy and appetitte and using a heated rice bag for some pain under the incision.  I also noticed a lump (swelling) on his right side the last few days.

Anyhow, when Dr. Morris called hubby about the elevated WBC, I told hubby to make sure to mention his chills and fever of last night.  Dr. Morris changed the Keflex to Amoxicillin/Autoclav.  After I picked up the antibiotic and readied to cook dinner, hubby went straight to bed and took his vital signs.  Once again he experienced chills and fever,  I called the after hour transplant coordinator and told her about the chills and fever same as he had on Feb 8 but this time I noticed redness in the upper half of his incision which is also tender to touch.  She agreed with me that I should take him to the ER.

We got to the ER at 7:45 (hubby took his 8pm meds enroute) and the place was packed with patients/families.  The ER doc examined him and ordered ultrasound of the kidney and area under the incision, took blood culture x2 and started IV.  We were admitted to the 10th floor (for the 3rd time) 5 hours later at 1:00am.

Zero sleep last night as we were admitted to the hospital room at 1am (the last time was 5 weeks ago for UTI and possible sepsis).  So every hour there on we had vital signs, weights, lab work done.  The Nephrologist (Morris) and transplant surgeon (Fujita) came in at 10am.  At 10:30 we were taken down to CTscan and straight to OR where Dr. Alonso talked to us about hubby's infected hematoma and incision.  There was no choice but to go back to OR and open up the previous transplant surgery's site to clean out the infection.  Antibiotics alone cannot do it.

The surgery lasted two hours. Dr. Alonso gave him one unit of FFP that brought the INR down to 2.2 and there was minimal bleeding.  She cleaned out the abscess and left a JP drain in.  Because of the amount of infected tissues around the incision she left the wound open so that it would heal from the inside outward.  The open wound is 14x3.5x3cm.  packed with saline saoked  Kurlex and covered with 4x4s under  an ABD and wrapped around with the binder (which was barely off 6 weeks post transplant).  Dr. Alonso said he'll need to wear the binder for three months and it will take about 6 weeks for the wound to heal.  So we are one step forward and two steps backward in hubby's recovery journey!  I was so hoping that he'd be getting better and I can start looking at airline tickets for Boston for the two of us. 

I had Steven bring me some running clotehs to the hospital so I could sneak away for my 16 miler today.  After waiting for the doctors to make rounds, getting hubby fed, up voiding and sitting in the chair and back to bed, I finally got out.  I picked up my car outside of the ED and drove to the JRP via Vine St.  It was 3:15pm by the time I got there. Weather was perfect 43F light breeze and parlty sunny.  I was a bit hungry.  For dinner I had some clam chowder and sour dough bread that Wendy brought me from Market Street Grill (my favorite Utah seafood restaurant).  At lunch today I had a yogurt parfait and dinner roll from the cafeteria.  I carried a 6oz water flask and 2 Gu's, cell phone just in case hubby needs me.)

Plan was to run 4 miles north then turned back to the car for water break (not knowing if any of the parkway's bathrooms would have drinking water turn on) and then 4 miles south and back to the car for 16 miles.  There were heaps of dog walkers, cyclists, families with children on bikes).  I Gu'ed at mile 6 and drank from the stale water bottles in my car at mile 8.  Running south got a bit slower and tired.  By 10 miles my legs were ready to quit.  When I reached the tunnel by Winchester park (I think) in West Jordan at mile 11, the tunnel was blocked and I walked up to the road and saw that there was a backhoe on the other side of the road.  Assessing my situation, the slow rate I was going, I knew it would be getting colder and dark by the time I finish so I turned back (cutting the run two miles short) Gu'ed and used the bathroom at the park which thankfully was opened.  That last 5K back to the car was a death march but I made it back to the hospital before it got dark.

AP: 2:41:23  (11:15, 10:57, 11:12, 10:56, 10:48, 11:06, 11:11, 11:47, 11:31, 11:51, 12:38, 12:26, 12:35, 13:13)  Yep!  Slower than tar!!! Believe me, I was not walking, these are my jogging pace.  :(

This run was a failure!  I seriously don't know if I can make it to Boston.  I am battling with chronic PF, 20 lbs overweight, stressed to the max, doing most of my runs at a snail pace and mostly by my lonesome.  Lowell and I talked later that night and he was leaning towards not going to Boston.  But hubby really wants to make the trip.  It's been three years since we went to Boston (or travel for that matter).  He had gone through so much with his illness that a vacation to celebrate our 38th anniversary in Boston is much needed and something he looks forward to every year.  So I will continue to put in the run whenever I can, howerver long my body let me and if I can't make it to the start line, I'll just have a much needed get away to Boston.  Who knows when I'll ever BQ again!  

No running today.  Still in the hospital.  Waited for doctors for their rounds and the wound service nurse to put in the wound vac with packed foam. 

Tonight hubby got a call from his nephew (who is a family doctor in Payson) that his 89 yr. old mother has colon cancer.  We were so sad, crying and didn't sleep much.

No running again.  Waiting for discharge orders, and finishing the magnesium IV infusion which took four hours.  Finally left the hospital around 4:30.

Got home around 5pm.  Had hubby settled in bed, unpacked, went to pick up 8 prescriptions from pharmacy (he's now taking 25 different meds daily), cooked dinner, on the phone, did laundry, finally in bed by midnight exhausted!

Took hubby to lab early morning.  I desperately needed a run after I got home.  Texted my friends who were all going to swim at the Legacy Center.  But my true and faithful friend Wendy came to run with me.  I was so slow that we only had time for 4 miles before she had to go to work.  AP: 12:33.  Yep I'm not a runner any more!  I should start a "slowjoggingblog.com".  Haha! 

Homehealth nurse came to do first dressing change with wound vac this afternoon. 

No lab, no doctor's appointment, no home health nurse to change dressing! So excited to have a run with my friends Karen, Leslie and Wendy.  It's been forever since we last ran together.  I was trying to talk but ended up huffing and puffing.  By the time we're at Karen's, I was done, we walked for half mile while we recited The Living Christ together!  Boy, I was rusty at that too.

AP: 11:57 (10:11, 10:28, 11:02, 10:13, 10:21, 22:22 [walking])

I slept in!  Took hubby to lab at AF.  Debated whether to do long run today or tomorrow.  By the time we were done with lab, fixed hubby a big breakfast (he's a breakfast eater, so I try to feed him the most protein then because he eats less and less as the day wears on).  He needs good nutrition especially heaps of protein in order for the wound to heal.  He has lost 20 pounds since transplant surgery whereas I have gained 5 (total of 20 lbs) not wanting to waste the food he wouldn't eat/finish.  I also ate way too much chocolates and nuts (out of stress and boredom). 

Well, now waiting for homehealth nurse to come so looks like another no run day.  I'll have to run either very early tomorrow morning or later after the Stake Women's Conference (which is 9-11am).  Wish me luck! 

Up at 4am. drank a cup of OJ, ate a yogurt and banana, out the door at 4:48.  Goal was to do 16 in 3 hours so I can be back in time to fix hubby breakfast, shower and make it to Women's Conference by 9am.  I do not remember the last time I ran alone in the dark.  I do not have a headlamp nor reflective vest.  It was 32F, calm, with a half moon behind thin clouds.  Wore l/s top, Boston jacket, UA tights, headband and gloves and a red flashing light arm band.  Carried handheld with gatorade and one Gu. Flip belt with phone, tissues, pack of Cliff bloks and a small flash light. 

During first 0.25 miles the flash light kept slipping out of the flip belt so I finally pushed it behind the opening which blocked about 50% of the brightness.  But between the faint moonlight and occasional street lights, I could see the road fine and once on the MCT, I felt very safe.  There were hardly any traffic this early on Sat. 

Running in the dark seems to heighten one's other senses.  I could smell laundry from dryer vents, pungent odor of burned fields, souring grains from barn/silo, horse/cow manua, aroma of breakfast.  I could hear the sounds of rustling leaves/weeds from rodents, melting ice water trickling down the streams and ditches, barking dogs, roosters crowing, alarm clocks blaring! 

I heard some hysterical barking as I approached the neighborhood going down to Highland Glen Park.  I couldn't see the dog until I got close, he was standing guard on his driveway.  I decided to keep my distance, walked tall swinging my arms high with my handheld bottle and the red flashing light arm band to make me look intimidating.  It worked!  He kept barking but stayed put.

I walked all the uphills, road crossings and tunnels where I could read my watch using the tunnel lights.  Got to the top of tunnel by Canyon Rd in PG at mile 8, my turn around point so I gu'ed.  I drank from my handheld and was glad that I didn't need to use the restrooms which might not be opened anyway.  By about mile 10, it was light enough that I turned off my flash light and arm band.  Saw two groups of runners, one cylist.  Got a text from Wendy at mile 14 so I called her as I walked up Dry Creek.  So happy to talk to her!  So happy to finish this 16 miler without death march!  Yes I'm super slow but got'er done!

3:02:05 AP: 11:23 (13:18, 11:29, 12:43, 10:43, 11:45, 12:22, 10:53, 11:04, 12:05, 10:38, 11:06, 10:32, 10:39, 10:45, 12:15, 9:45)

I have this painful burn in the medial ligaments on my left calf and the PF really hurts.  I couldn't go walking with hubby in the afternoon. 

Went for an easy recovery run after we got home from lab at 8:27 (41F, partly sunny).  My running friends had gone at 7:45.  It's always crowded at lab on Mon morning, not to mention rush hour traffic so I didn't make it back in time to join them which is just as well because they are running much faster than me these days.  AP: 11:34.  No lying, I am SLOW!

Wore the new pair of Inspire 11 (at a discounted $60 from Amazon) which is not as comfortable as the Inspire 10.  Mizuno added back the extra vinyl stuff around the lace eyelets and the Mizuno logo.  I tried on the 12 at Wasatch Running which has a stiffer heel cup that really bugs my PF injured heel.  I might have to search for the 10s which I've been wearing the last two years.