Saturday, September 16, 2006
An Unwanted Break
So after the Half Ironman, I had to take a little time off. Not because I wanted to (even though Sunday morning I woke up and didn’t think I could move…I guess that bachelorette party wasn’t a good thing to attend when I got back in town), but because I had to have a tumor removed from my back. In the beginning of July I noticed something funny on the right side of my upper back. After a week when it started growing and bleeding profusely upon impact, I had a doctor check it out. Thankfully it was benign and he would be able to do it himself. I would just have to wait a few weeks till my race was over.
Tuesday after the Half I headed back to the doctor. After a bit of a surprise by how much it had grown over the past few weeks, he felt confident he could remove all of it. He numbed the area and before I knew it, it was over and I was being bandaged up. I was also being instructed to “take it easy” until I came back in to have the stitches removed. For those of you that know me, you know this is like asking for a miracle. I was good on Tuesday and Wednesday…mainly because I couldn’t move my right arm without pain shooting through my shoulder and back. But on Thursday I couldn’t take it any longer. Rob and I went for a bike ride. Since I couldn’t get down into the aero bars, we just did a nice and easy ride to the State Park and back. Hey, that’s taking it easy in my world. It’s not like I could just sit there and do nothing…I had another race coming up in two and a half weeks. And this wasn’t just any race, this was the Ludington Lighthouse Triathlon…as in my hometown. After over a year of racing, I had never done a triathlon here. I had to do it. Plus, I had convinced not only my dad to do the Sprint Triathlon, but my brother to do it as a relay with two of my friends.
Even though I biked and attempted to swim (which really just led to kicking), I was good and didn’t run for over a week. I won’t lie and say I didn’t try…I did and it hurt, so I stuck with the biking and swimming. I went back in to have the stitches removed two weeks later…6 days before the Ludington Triathlon. I was given the stamp of approval after the doctor removed the stitches, but with a warning to keep an eye on it.
With a box of band-aids and Neosporin, I was tumor free and ready to race!
Tuesday after the Half I headed back to the doctor. After a bit of a surprise by how much it had grown over the past few weeks, he felt confident he could remove all of it. He numbed the area and before I knew it, it was over and I was being bandaged up. I was also being instructed to “take it easy” until I came back in to have the stitches removed. For those of you that know me, you know this is like asking for a miracle. I was good on Tuesday and Wednesday…mainly because I couldn’t move my right arm without pain shooting through my shoulder and back. But on Thursday I couldn’t take it any longer. Rob and I went for a bike ride. Since I couldn’t get down into the aero bars, we just did a nice and easy ride to the State Park and back. Hey, that’s taking it easy in my world. It’s not like I could just sit there and do nothing…I had another race coming up in two and a half weeks. And this wasn’t just any race, this was the Ludington Lighthouse Triathlon…as in my hometown. After over a year of racing, I had never done a triathlon here. I had to do it. Plus, I had convinced not only my dad to do the Sprint Triathlon, but my brother to do it as a relay with two of my friends.
Even though I biked and attempted to swim (which really just led to kicking), I was good and didn’t run for over a week. I won’t lie and say I didn’t try…I did and it hurt, so I stuck with the biking and swimming. I went back in to have the stitches removed two weeks later…6 days before the Ludington Triathlon. I was given the stamp of approval after the doctor removed the stitches, but with a warning to keep an eye on it.
With a box of band-aids and Neosporin, I was tumor free and ready to race!
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