Pain in the um, er…side.

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Bo

Boy am I miserable. After a check-up at the doc last week, I was instructed to rest and give my torn intercostal muscle time to heal. It’s meant no gym, no spinning and no running (not even at my slow pace which some might consider a stroll in the park).

I’m trying to be patient. I know that running the Old Eds 10km race two weeks ago was most probably not the wisest of moves and potentially made my condition worse. If only I had listened to my body, I might have started to heal much quicker.

To make things worse, everywhere I look, people are running. Scrolling through my Twitter timeline and running mates are gearing up for Soweto marathon. Others are kick-starting their half marathon training schedules into gear. KK is waiting to see whether or not City 2 City will go ahead. Me? Well I’ve been resting. Lying on the bed after work, glugging down glasses of glutamine and rubbing arnica oil on my side.

I’ve never been the most patient person. I confess that I wake up each and every morning hoping this irritating side stitch will go away. But it lingers…

In a way, it’s been a blessing in disguise. The ‘time off’ has allowed me to check in with my goals. I’ve realised what matters to me the most. I now know what I want to achieve with my running. I know what I want! In my head, I’ve decided on my new challenge. My new goal. My new training regime. But physically, not yet ready to launch… Come on body!

Forced to sit this one out

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Bo

New Year’s resolutions look differently when you’ve had the rough December I’ve had…

On the 17^th December, I lay in a hospital bed with a drip in my hand in the Sandton Medical emergency room feeling absolutely miserable. Just a week away from celebrating Christmas, I realised that the last three months have been the worst I have ever felt battling a disease I have tried desperately to hide from majority of those around me. Managing the actual disease has been fine but the extra-intestinal manifestations of Ulcerative Colitis have really taken its toll.

Excruciating arthritis attacks on the joints of my hands and shoulders; painful eye infections due to the arthritis which caused my whole cheek to seize up; a revolting rash (and another late night hospital visit) which turned out to be Urticaria; constant mouth ulcers and now something new… Crippling pain in the right hand side of my abdomen shooting up into my shoulder.

I’ve spent quite a lot of time reflecting on my health during December. Being an utter control freak it’s difficult accepting that there is absolutely nothing I can do to control an auto-immune disease which at the moment seems to be attacking me on all fronts. Ironically, the worst part is that I’ve not been able to run.

I had planned to do so much running while I was on leave during this time, especially training for the Dischem half marathon which would kick-off my 2014 running year. But with the pain and no energy, all I managed was a 5km run at the gym.

My blog has always been focused on my running speed. My slow pace and my insecurities about my running. But sitting on that hospital bed, all I wished for was that I was healthy and able to put on my running shoes and head out for a run. I thought, who the hell cares how slow I run. I don’t even give a damn if those walkers come past me. I just want to be healthy and fit enough to run.

Running means I’m strong. Running means I am healthy. Running means I am able to conquer my fears. Running means I am in control of my body. I’m sure I’ll be fit soon but for now, my New Year’s ~~resolution~~ wish is for a healthy body.

Sick as a pig

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Bo

As I write this post, I feel like death warmed up. Never in my life have I felt so sick. It started on Sunday afternoon and instead of me resting, I simply thought a couple of medi-keels and throat spray would sort it out. I went to work on Monday because I had “so much to do” – sound familiar?

As I got home on Monday night, I jumped straight into bed, thinking I could ‘sleep’ the flu away. Tuesday was spent entirely in bed, no TV, no mags, no blogging. But when I woke up on Wednesday, it was worse. I realised I would need to get to the doctor. But as per usual, I thought I would get as much done before going to the doctor so I quickly scooted off to my dietitian appointment at 7am and into the office to sort out some emails.

When I finally got to the doctor, she was horrified. I have blisters all down the back of my throat and my muscles ache so bad, I groaned when she touched my legs and my ribs. I am sore, there’s no doubt about it. Very sore. It’s only when she said she needed to do a throat swab to rule out swine flu that I suddenly stopped and started to take notice. Swine flu? She reassured me that it was just the strain going around and I had the same symptoms but nothing to worry about. But it’s still not the words I wanted to hear.

I’m at home, in bed, feeling very sorry for myself. But I’ve learnt some hard lessons from it all:

Nothing else is as important as my health. When my body speaks to me and tells me there’s something wrong, I need to listen. AND obey.
Work can wait. In fact, the share price doesn’t drop if I am not there. Work carries on without me.
My colleagues are supportive. The power of the pig is strong. I mentioned the words swine flu and boy did they kick me out the building! I guess it’s not fair to go to work sick but how many of us do?
I usually take my chances and go running when I feel a cold coming on. I ran on Sunday morning and I wonder if it wasn’t all too much for my body to handle? Did I ignore the signs? In a way I am so desperate to get back into running. Wits and Old Ed’s is coming up soon and I want to run.
I need to look after myself all over. Sticking with the pig theme, even my dietitian told me I must stop eating like a pig (my interpretation).

The test results for my throat swab come out on Friday but I have been booked off from work regardless. Even if it’s not pig, it’s still flu. As frustrating as this is for someone like me who never takes sick leave, I have no choice.

On the topic of pigs, one of my Twitter BFFs @lucypeta has a pig as a pet. His name is Merlin. Here he is, giving me a smooch hello! *love him* Isn’t he just gorgeous!