Already need a few days rest.

I have been practically back pain free for almost two months...until yesterday.  It started in the morning and I didn't really think much of it, the doctor said it would happen so that's what I thought I was dealing with.  It progressively got worse throughout the day but I still felt like I could go to boot camp, especially after my recent motivational boost within.  So I get to class, start doing what we do and the pain is just too much.  I end up leaving class about 15 minutes early and while I am driving home I remember a recently forgotten memory from yesterday morning of me, while walking around the car parked in the street, completely biting it on the icy pavement.  I mean ass up, flat on my back fall on the ice.  I can't seem to figure out how I blocked this from my memory yesterday other than the fact that it did not hurt at the time, at all.  So now I give it a few days rest and see how I feel, then get right back to it.

You can actually see dudes face bounce of the ground.  Why is seeing people fall so funny?

I'm baaaaaaaack!!!!

I just met with the good doctors over at Commonwealth Orthopedic and go figure, after all this wondering, misery, self wallowing, and just plain bitching, my therapy is simple...exercise.  Exercise is the best medicine, as they say.  I only wish I could have received this information weeks ago.  To quote the good doctor, "There will be pain, but push through the pain and I assure you, this will get better."  Best possible news ever!  I could not be more excited about this.  I have been wondering what the treatment would be, a shot, physical therapy, surgery, and all along I just needed to get myself back in the game.  Of course, as with most issues, there is the possibility of needing additional treatment, a 15% chance actually.  I like the odds though, they are definitely in my favor.  So from this point forward it is on like Donkey Kong.

I have paid zero attention to food, exercise or physical activity of any kind.  Those days have come to an end my friends.  Back to life, back to reality.  Thank God actually, I cannot wait to get in a good workout.  My plan for the coming weeks...

Boom.

Official diagnosis is...

A herniated disk between L4 and L5 vertebrae.  What does that mean, you say??  I'll tell you....I have no friggin clue.  I have made an appointment with a orthopedic specialist but am unable to get in until February 7th.  Until then I am pretty much in the dark.  I don't know if working out can aggravate the disc more, if I can make it worse, if working out is okay and I just have to deal with the pain.  Frankly, I just don't know.  I am reading some online but who knows how much of this applies to me.  My doctor is just reading a report given to them from the MRI peeps with instructions to see a specialist.  So now I wait another two weeks, dealing with the pain and I guess not working out.

I have watched about a hundred videos on YouTube and this one seems to be the best explanation on what is physically going on inside of me.

Here is another video but I cannot get the video embedded into the blog.
http://www.spine-health.com/video/lumbar-herniated-disc-video

I guess I wait and try to get an earlier appointment.  Any one else dealt with this issue?  What should I expect?  Any suggestions on exercises?  None at all?

Relaxed, refreshed, rejuvenated.

What an amazing weekend.  We finally got in some much needed relax time.  Of course where we were in MD it snowed the entire time and now we come home to even more snow.  It has snowed on me every day since Friday.  About eight inches there and about eight inched here.  Only January and I am already just about snowed out.  If it's going to snow at least snow two feet so I could be snowed in!

Our room at the B&B.  A little slice of heaven.

I should be getting the MRI results in today, I called yesterday and no one has yet to return my call.  A bit frustrating but with my newly found sense of euphoria (see above) I keeping calm.  I have been just about pain free for going on five days now...until today.  On our babymoon we both had massages, and oh how magical it was.  The masseuse came up to me afterwards and said she could tell something was messed up in my lower back.  I think it's kind of amazing that she was able to pinpoint the exact location of my pain just by massaging my muscles.  That massage, along with a nice hot soak in the hot tub helped my aching body tremendously.  I was like warm butter sitting next to the fireplace in our room afterwards watching Sons of Anarchy (I know I am like five years late but holy moly that show is crazy good, we are hooked).  I am not sure if I ended up doing something to aggravate my back today or if I am just given a few days peace at a time.  I hope the doc calls today and we can once and for all figure out this back business so I can finally get back to business!

After a gluttonous weekend of eating Bed and Breakfast breakfasts, lunches out and one extremely nice fine dining meal, I am back on track in full effect.  Stocked up at the grocery store, along with all the other crazies before the storm and am all set with good, healthy meals for the week.  Homemade soup and sandwiches with lean turkey and whole grain bread for lunches.  Hila the brain genius has started making some crock pot meals, last night was a balsamic soy pork tenderloin, yum.  The idea here is to make a meal, eat it, then freeze some left overs for when Baby D decides to grace us with his/her presence.  One less hour in the kitchen then, means one more hour to hold this little wonder of delight in our arms.

Here is a Diptic pic of our meal at Lautrec.  Fantastic meal, the sommelier needs a small beating over the head with a soup ladle but otherwise an absolutely fantastic dinner.  Never a terrible night sitting across the table from this beauty!!  (Oh, on a side note, you are never going to believe this but the chef for the restaurant is a Mrs. Buttersworth...you can't make this stuff up!)

I have now started packing a gym bag for that day when I feel either good enough to go workout/swim/incline walk at the gym and another bag of cold weather gear if/when I decide to head back to class.  The way I am feeling today I am thinking boot camp is at least another week away but tomorrow may be a most excellent day indeed for a swim.

Focus for this week is yet again food.  Stick to my points, all week and weekend long.  Weekend being the hard part of course.  Make it to the weigh in on Monday night and hope for a zero pound weight gain since my last weigh in on December 2nd, I weighed in at 211.8 pounds that night.  I will be happy with a zero since that will mean over the holidays I did not gain weight.  Not easy to do these days!

Looking for that peace of mind.

There are two things in life that when not properly maintained seem to affect everything else in my life.  First a clean house, I thrive when my house is the cleanest.  I open the blinds, I love being home, it's easier to get up in the morning, and I am just more comfortable when the house is clean.  For the last month or so the house has been in absolute disarray.  We have two rooms currently under construction in the house.  The hallway guest bathroom and the nursery.  Other than a fresh coat of ceiling paint and some nursery room furniture assembly, these rooms are just about complete.  At least we are rapidly approaching the time where we wake up in a clean, non-construction site house everyday, so this part of my life will soon come back to some sense of normalcy.

Secondly is working out. It's my stress reliever, it's my calm after a storm, it's my natural sleep aid.  It's everything to me.  As mentioned before I have been slightly frustrated.  After my second doctor's visit I have been instructed to get an X-ray and a MRI.  I am off to get the X-ray today.  I was thinking that things were starting to get better the past few days, so today I have decided to hold off, for a long as I can, on taking any medication.  Already regretting that decision.  Yesterday I felt like a complete blob of crap by the end of the day.  Muscle relaxers plus pain medication plus frustration plus no workout equals a Bobbycrapcake.  I hate the feeling of staying medicated, it is beyond mind numbing.  I realize it's a necessary evil but at this point it is only masking the pain, not actually helping me get better.  I am hoping after these tests we can figure out what the H-E-double hockey stick is going on with my back.

Back to the whole workout thing.  Much like how a clean house helps me keep my life in order, not working out has an equal opposite effect.  When I workout consistently, I am much more aware of what I am eating and I am more aware of writing down.  I have found that since I am not working out I am just naturally letting other things in my life slip as well.  I have not yet read the Abs Diet book, (not that I could do any of the abs part anyway, but still) I have not actively been writing down all my food intake, I have been less motivated at work, (might have something to do with the meds as well).  I am slipping and it's only mid-January, not even really mid yet.  Not good.  It's not that I have been eating badly because I have not, I just have not been consistent with making sure I am eating within my point allowance.  I am sure that I have gone over.  If I don't track I go over, it's not one of those things where maybe I eat less, I mean let's be real, I am an eater through and through.  I wish I only ate to live but the reality is that I live to eat.  I just need to make sure I live within the realm of normal people and that is not the case when I don't write down.

I need to figure out that happy medium between not being able to workout and maintaining the rest of the aspects of my life.  That is hard to do, I am struggling to find that peace of mind during this time of injury.  Maybe I should just go home and clean.

Second trip to the doc.

I am S.T.ruggling with this back issue.  Going on three weeks and still not getting any better.  I am off to the doctor again today at noon and maybe the Chiropractor as well.  Muscle relaxers don't help so that is telling me it's not just a muscle spasm.  This cannot continue like this, sometimes I am in so much pain that I find myself lashing out at someone (even my wife, sorry love), and also finding it hard to work at times.  Last night the pain was shooting down my left leg, something is definitely misfiring in the old spine.  I am overly frustrated with this whole issue and am extremely anxious to get this fixed.

I wanted to walk the other day, or swim, but never made it out to either.  Before I can commit to doing even the easiest of exercises I need to fix this.  Fingers crossed for some good news at noon.  I need it.

Frustrated.

Frustration is consuming me.  Yesterday I snapped at someone on a call for work, yes he was kind of being an A-hole but I am usually pretty good at keeping my cool.  Yesterday not so much.  From the moment I got up until the moment I went to bed I was just plain angry.  At the time I thought it was for no apparent reason, now I know it was stress related.  Stress can and does turn you into a mad man, a raving lunatic sometimes, if it is not managed somehow.  Snapping at friends, family, co-workers, getting frustrated over the smallest of issues.  Stress can be an ugly beast if you don't find ways to relieve it.  For me, going on three years or so it has been leaving work and driving straight to boot camp.  I could be having the worst day ever, work consuming my thoughts, pissing me off all day, until my workout is over.  Once complete, calm as a hindu cow.  I have found that after a workout the thoughts of work do not even enter my mind, I get home, relax, sleep like a baby and get up and do it all over again.

This not working out is starting to catch up to me.  I am letting the stress, take over.  Actually I am not letting it, it is just happening.  I need to get out and do something.  Go for a walk, break a sweat, something.  One more day rest and tomorrow my plan is to do something.  I am not sure if I am up for going to class just yet, but maybe an incline walk on the treadmill at the gym.  This is what I would do when I needed to workout after my shoulder surgery.  I found a few incline walking workouts and just did it, sling and all.  Definitely got a few strange looks from people, but hey it worked for me, so I worked it.  This was also much harder than I anticipated.  #12 incline at 4 MPH is not easy.

I am to the point now where some kind of activity is a must and tomorrow is the day.  They finally opened the pool at my gym, maybe I will check that out as well.

Goal for tomorrow is to be frustration free!

WYCWYC

Two to four weeks.  Ouch.  That is my estimated recovery time.  I have a severe muscle spasm in my lower back.  Right here.

At this point there is nothing I can do but wait and try to stretch it out.  The doctor said the muscle was so tight it felt like there was a rock in there.  She hit me with a shot in the butt for pain and gave me some muscle relaxers for the nighttime.  Needless to say slept like a baby last night.  Unfortunately I woke up with the same pain as yesterday but as the doc said, it will take some time.  Two to four weeks...

Because I cannot workout I need to make sure I focus on what I can do.  Food.  Maintaining my food points for the next few weeks is paramount.  Obstacles are placed in front of us all day everyday, doing What You Can, When You Can will allow you so be less hindered and still achieve your goals.  Unfortunately the obstacles never stop and always find ways to creep in.  Right now I cannot workout because of my back, in less than three months we will have a baby, there will be bad weather, there will be social functions, there is always something that will be in your way no matter where it is you are going.  So the key is to do what you can when you can, #WYCWYC.  I am writing this down on a little piece of paper and putting it in my pocket as a constant reminder to keep focused.  Just because I cannot workout does not mean that I should just forget about everything else as well.  

If you cannot control your food, like with us in Florida, then do what you can when you can.  We focused on working out everyday and spent more time on portion control.  WYCWYC.  I had not heard this expression until yesterday.  Hila the brain genius, once again to the rescue.  I love it.  If you can't make it to boot camp class or the gym, go out and run  If class is cancelled do to weather, do your own workout in the basement.  If you can't use your upper body (like me for 3 months with my shoulder issues) go out for a walk or go to a spin class.  Do something, anything.  Don't let one issue bring you down completely.  There is always something the can be done.  

As for today I am set with meals and snacks.  Hila once again sent me off with a delicious egg wrap, with Canadian bacon and a tomato.  I have clementines, strawberries, yogurt, and a low fat cheese stick for snacks.  All very healthy and all deliciously delectable.

Even with the snow today find something to do that's active.  Take a walk, head up the gym, if you can't do any of these then try a 5-4-3-2-1 workout in the living room while watching Breaking Bad reruns, or if you are wobbling around like me just focus on eating well.  What you can when you can!  Do it.  

Not quite back to it yet...

7th day in a row of the same lower back pain means this old man is taking a trip to the good old doctor.  Just when you think something may be getting better, the pain wakes you up in the morning.  I am not a scientist or a brain surgeon or anything but I am pretty sure that is not good.  We will see what the heck is going on today at 11:40.  Wish me luck.

Time to turn it on and get it in check.

I am feeling better after last week and my back is not bothering me at all.  I had not felt any pain in a few days but was thinking that after my run yesterday (a run usually agitates the nerve) that it would start hurting again.  Thankfully no pain at all.  Thank God!

I am back to boot camp this week and will be doing a class and half since our two classes have been combined.  It will be nice to add in another 30 minutes of exercise especially since we are about a month out from each of my races.  Time to turn it on a bit.  I just hope that I can stay injury free.  These injuries have really put a damper in my training.  I have missed several runs and boot camp classes.  I am getting a bit nervous with the running since I have not kept the plan the way I intended.  I have another long run tomorrow, 7 miles, so I will see how I feel on that run.  Yesterday I was doing some work around the house and decided to go for my weekend run right after I ate lunch, literally right after.  I was worried that if I waited too much longer that I would end up skipping it.  I had dinner plans and football was on so there were too many distractions that might keep me away from getting that run in.  So even though I just ate I said screw it I can do this and went for a run around Burke Lake.  Probably not the best idea.  I did complete the run but it was hard and I was cramping.  In hindsight I should have just waiting an hour and I would have been fine.  But if I waited that hour would I actually have made it out for the run??  We shall never know.  

I have not done too well with my eating this week either.  With the holiday dinner on Wednesday and eating more easily prepared food (Trader Joe's frozen food section...) since Hila is has been out of town, I could have done better.  We will see how I did tonight at the weigh in.  Honestly I am worried.  I had the big gain last time and really need to get this in check.  No more tomfoolery, from this point on I am on it.  Counting everything, no cheating and actually spending some time in the kitchen preparing more healthy meals.  If I stick to the plan and I can achieve my goals!!

Do yourself a favor and don't ever tear your rotator cuff!

The good news is, I'm not dying.  The bad news is that my spine is as crooked as a politician.  The diagnosis is simple.  Because of my multiple shoulder surgeries my right side is so much stronger than my left that the muscles on my right side are literally pulling my spine to the right, that is issue number one.  Essentially when I workout I am overcompensating for the weakness in left side by using more of my right.  I have known for years that I do this, simply because I am weaker due to all my shoulder issues.  Issue number two is again because of my surgery, my shoulder blades are no longer aligned with each other.  My right shoulder blade works normally but left does not, the muscles are not yet strong enough to make the blade move properly throwing my entire back off kilter.  Well the silver lining is that the doctor wants me to keep working out and he thinks he can fix me.  He said he needs me to keep working out to strengthen my left side.  So back to boot camp I go, pain and all.  He said to listen to my body and if something hurts too much then don't do it, he also does not want me doing anything that opens my back like chest press and chest fly.  So we will see how tonight goes.  I have another appointment on Friday to follow up and to assess my pain from tonight's workout.

I am glad to be back in class tonight, its Jen's last day and we are doing a little happy hour for her.  So sad she is leaving.  At this point we still do not know who will be taking her place as trainer.  All we can do is hope for the best!!  She will be missed by all that is a fact.

Hila's dad came over for dinner last night and we ordered Chinese.  It's difficult to be good when ordering Chinese especially since my favorite is General Tso (17 points a cup!!!).  I usually opt for steamed dumplings (2 pts each), egg drop soup (3 pts), and a side of either broccoli or green beans in garlic sauce (2 pts).  All very good especially from Tau Tau in Burke, possibly the best Chinese food place EVER.  My entire dinner last night was 18 points, silly me went to bed without dessert and had three points left over for the day.  Oh well, saved a few calories.

Can't wait to see what the doc says.

So I am off to the doctor this afternoon to see what is going on with my back.  This whole thing is definitely weird because right now I feel great, but I felt great on Monday as well until about 10 minutes into the workout.  I am really hoping that we can fix this right away.  Like I said yesterday I miss working out, I need it.  Especially since I have so much that I am training for with the 10 miler and the 25 mile bike ride.

Tomorrow is my trainer Jen's last day at our site and I heard whispers of us playing boot camp Monopoly again.  I would really really love to do that before she leaves, it really is such a fun way to work out.  Plus Linzi and I won last time we played, I want to keep the streak alive.  Regardless, health comes first.  Fingers crossed!!

My mom wanted me to post some more pictures of myself, you know how moms are.  I guess instead of me just rambling all the time.  So I was able to find these pics from the bike races I did a few weeks back.

More to report tomorrow once I see what the doc says!

Well yesterday was a complete disaster.

1.  Weigh in - Atrocious!  I gained badly.  I think the gain was worse because of our dinner Sunday night which was red wine and lamb and copious amounts of each.  I gained 3.8 pounds.  There is something not right about that one bit.  Maybe if the weigh in was tonight instead of the very next day after such a large heavy meal it might not have been so high but the scale does not lie.  I weigh almost 4 pounds more than my last weigh in.  That not only is a lot of weight on my body it also weighs heavy on my mind.  I need to stay focused and not lose track of what I am trying to accomplish here.  Gaining that much weight is ridiculous and not worth the food I ate at any point in time.  Get it in check Bobby!

2.  Boot camp - Disappointing.  Made it less than halfway through the first set before the back pain kicked in full force, so badly that I had to leave class early.  I am now at a week with this issue so it's time to call the doc.  I made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon so hopefully we can get this fixed sooner rather than later.  I am highly upset that I am not able to work out.  Maybe that had something to do with the weight gain as well.  I only burned about half the calories I normally would in a week.  Regardless I need to take care of my body, working out does no good if I cannot move and I definitely don't want to injure myself even more.  So here is to another few more days off from working out.

Without being able to workout all I can do is focus on eating well.  I don't think we have too much going on this weekend with eating out and social events so it should not be too bad.  Focus, focus, focus!!

My first injury to contend with.

I am not sure what happened but somehow I have kinked my back or I have some kind of pinched nerve or something.  Sucks getting old.  I have no idea how I did it but it but it started a few days ago and got significantly worse in class yesterday morning.  I am going to play it by ear but there is a strong chance that I will need to take the night off from working out.  It is definitely not something I want to do by any means but I think that at this point it may be necessary.  I need to workout but I don't want to risk hurting myself more and having to take even more time off from class.  So I have to deal with this and hope that it gets better sooner rather than later.  Not really much else I can do.

We did make it to the Farmer's market yesterday.  I love the Farmers market.  Such beautiful fruit and vegetables.  OMG the tomatoes, pure heaven.  Picked up some zucchini and squash for the grandparents and a nice watermelon, not to mention the most fantastically large bunch of basil I have ever seen, and only $3!!!!