It's been awhile and I haven't really felt like writing. Being lazy when it comes to blogging is part of it; however, I have also been busy with work. Not to mention my running was a bit frustrating for a bit. Nevertheless, I had my MRI back on July 22nd. Another day trip to Vancouver and back. I was in and out quite fast. They initially talked about taking some images and then injecting a dye to take a few more, but in the end, I think I was in there for almost an hour straight and then I was allowed to go on my way.
The radiologist came and found me as I was getting changed back into my clothes. He told me that he only briefly looked at some of the images and asked if I had ever had pain on the left side of my pelvis. I told the doctor that I had the occasional pain there, but it was more so always on the right. He goes on to tell me that the image showed a dark shadow of sclerosis which indicates a possible stress fracture at some point. Hmm... interesting. He states that if I don't have pain there, then it just might be an error with the image and then tells me that he will have to look at the images more closely and that he'll have the report done soon.
I leave there and visit with my sister before heading back home. Being a Friday the ferries were extremely busy, but since there was an extra 2:30 sailing, plus the regular 3:10 sailing, I was hoping to make the 3:10. I arrived shortly after 2 and the line ups OUTSIDE the toll booths were horrendous. I don't know how many times I stopped and started my car, but I didn't even get to pass the toll booths until 3:15. There goes the 2:30 and the 3:10. I hope to god at this point that I make the 5:20 ferry. It was also hot out and there was practically no airflow in the car even with the windows down, so I stuck up a blanket over my drivers side window to keep the sun off of me!
It ended up being about a 3 hour wait at the terminal and I had no run to kill time with so I watched a movie on my ipod and luckily made the 5:20 ferry. I was on the bottom deck that is practically all closed in, so it was hot and stuffy as I had a nap. Glad to be home and glad the tests were finally done. Now I was just hoping for an answer.
The following week, I called St.Pauls to see if I could request a report be sent to me. After all of my experiences, I can no longer trust doctors. Turns out, St.Pauls is different than UBC (who sent me a report) in the fact that St.Pauls does not send reports to patients and only to the doctors office; however, St.Pauls does send images (with no mention of costs) to patients (UBC charges something like $60 for the CD and $30 to search for images). The catch was that I had to request the images in person (not convenient at all!). They also tell me that St.Pauls is currently running about a month behind on transcription services! WHAT!?!
I am advised to contact my doctors office as the doctor that can contact the radiology department and expedite the results. I sent an email to my doctor, who responded saying he is away from the office for 2 weeks and that he forwarded the request to someone else. They made the call and then I had to wait about another week until I got the results. The results basically stated Osteitis Pubis and also tendinopathy of the adductor. It also noted the possible stress fracture. Hmm great.
Generally with OP, athletes are advised to take 3 months completely off. Just as Marilyn Arsenault did (except I was fortunate and didn't have the nasty blood infection that she did). I on the other hand had cross trained for 2.5 months and then took 1 month off. But during that month, only 2 weeks was complete rest and then I was hiking. Really, I didn't take much time off at all, compared to what is suggested that is. I was a bit frustrated at this point because I honestly knew I could not face it mentally if I was told to take 3 months off.
I have been running sine Mid May now, so 3 months. I have fought to get back to where I am and yet I still have SOOOOOOOOOO far to go. If I had to start all over, I would crumble. So we decided to take it day by day and see what happens. If I am not experiencing pains like before, to continue with what I am doing and hope for the best. So that is what I will do.
In the meantime, the aches have been around off and on. I had a few rough weeks where my hip flexors were not happy. I still have aches every so often that are similar to those of OP, but they are not severe. I have requested the images from St. Pauls, UBC, and my bone scan results from here in Nanaimo. Once I get them, I plan to take them down to Victoria for a 2nd opinion. I need to get this solved and basically prevent it from happening again.
While I wait for the images, I will try to get back what I have lost. Workouts are hard. They have always been hard because they are supposed to be, but paces and efforts that used to be easy and comfortable are not at the moment. I have A LOT of catching up to do. 2011 has not been my year, but I can continue to work at getting strong so that I can make 2012 my year to shine. I have a lot I want to prove to myself. Let's get 2011 over with so I can finally get to where I want to be!
