Seeing as November is still ticking along, I figured that this update should be it's own post... well that and this is the latest in the development of my ankle saga that seems to be never ending...
November: November started out well. I rested in LA for three days after my surgery before flying back up to San Francisco. Election Day came around and I could walk without much of a limp. I cooked a yummy dinner for Adam and my friend Leah, and we popped champagne once it was confirmed that Obama would get to serve a 2nd term and that I wouldn't have to run away to begin a new life in France. All was well... or so I thought. Little did I know that I had some nasty bacterias growing inside my ankle about to kick my butt! By the next day (Wednesday evening), I had some strange sloshing in my lower leg... yes sloshing, like water being tossed around in a ziplock bag. And as I touched my leg, I could see fluid rushing around and it sounded like a soapy water bed. At first I was intrigued... this was certainly the strangest form of inflammation I'd ever seen... but then I got a little concerned. Unfortunately though, Goggle isn't much help when you try to found out why your leg sounds like a soapy water bed...go figure. (I thought Goggle knew everything). So Wednesday night, I slept with my leg elevated, but quite a bit of the fluid was still in my leg come morning. Upon waking Thursday morning, I immediately texted my LA surgeon, describing everything going on with my leg. He simply told me that it should be able to get worked out with my upcoming physical therapy session. Sigh. So I thought I was overreacting and carried on with my errands that day. However, by 4pm I had to get home and rest my foot. Despite all my efforts to "RICE" my foot kept getting worse. By 7pm I couldn't flex it or walk on it. I called my LA surgeon but no answer and thinking once again that I was overreacting, I didn't leave a message. By 4:30AM Friday, the pain was absolutely unbearable despite my high pain tolerance. At 7:00AM I texted the LA surgeon and he simply responded "Ice it. PT will help." (PT as in physical therapy). Sigh once again. My physical therapy was scheduled for 12:30 that afternoon. But Adam refused to accept the LA surgeon's response and convinced to me to call my Stanford surgeon, who in stark contrast to the first doctor's response, insisted that I get to the Stanford clinic immediately because he feared it could be a blood clot or an infection.
The Score: Stanford "13,0000" - Los Angeles "2" in my book.
I've never liked LA and now I have more fuel for that fire cause my Stanford doctor was right! I had 2 nasty bugs wrecking havoc on my right ankle: one of the bacterias was Staph (MSSA), the other one couldn't even be identified through a DNA sequence test but they know some clues about it. Due to the less than wonderful advice I received from the LA surgeon, the bacteria had time to multiple in such large amounts that no series of antibiotics really seemed to help initially. The infection had even spread into my ankle joint. It took 2 surgeries and 8 days in the hospital to calm the infection. I finally got released from the hospital the night of Nov. 16th. I have a PICC line (long-term IV) inserted in my left arm to give myself IV antibiotics, I have to go to the hospital weekly for up to 2 months to have my blood drawn, and the real kicker... I can't walk. Sigh.
What a huge change from the November I was planning to have... 1: Obama wins (CHECK) 2: Submit MBA applications (CHECK...even though I had to submit them while drugged up on a hospital bed) 3: Begin training efforts so I could start a full fall training regimen in December (FAIL) 4: travel to Thailand with my little sis for bonding time and her first overseas trip (FAIL!) 5: Get to Thailand and lounge on various islands for 5 days then run around Bangkok for 4 days (EPIC FAIL!)
Well that about wraps up my post 2012 Trial life. I was gearing up to get excited about the possibility of a comeback 2013 season, but seeing as I'm barely walking right now and will have an IV line for quite some time, I'm not holding my breath. BLEH! But I don't want to end this post on such a down note!... I will be using this rest time to start catching up with my blogging again. I'll try my best not to have any more 5 month gaps. lol. If you have any questions or suggestions for posts, please send them my way!
~xoxo (plus... peace, love, and pancakes!)> (
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5 comments:
Ms.McLain,first & foremost, allow me to say Thank You ! for replying to me on twitter ( my twitter-name is @Reloadednow ) & may you PLUH-EEZE continue to stay strong and positive on your path and journey towards that kind of recovery which is needed in order to succeed @trials next year ! I know you can do it & it will happen. I am no stranger to pain & injuries myself as I've suffered from a similar freak ankle injury. Given the time of when it happened ( in 1996 ) and my lack of exposure and medical knowledge back then, I called in retirement too early and may I admit to you that it's been on my mind ever since : that nagging question of WHAT IF ? I am sure you heard and asked yourself that very same question countless times ( you wouldn't if you weren't an athlete! )also going along with that very negative thought of calling it quits ! Please don't do that ! Please ! Nowadays medicine is far too advanced to pack it all in just because of an ankle injury ! You need examples ? I am a former pro bball player and so, just take a look @GHill who had like 5 ankle surgeries & a staph infection and STILL performs very well @ age 40 in the NBA on a crueling 82 games + schedule ! Sometimes peoples ask for the why and why certain peoples can do this & that and others can't ...? Well, to me, it all starts with the right mind-set & as long as YOU & YOU only is convinced of something, you gotta do it ! You gotta go out and do it ! You do it not to show it to others or to prove this or that to others but to do that what's DEEP inside yourself and what makes you YOU !!! If YOU & only YOU wants to do this & continue to do it the way only you can by have gained more strength & wisdom on your path that others would ve given up long time ago, then only you shall be able to collect all those very accoldades along the way. When I tak about accolades, I , by no means, refer to a succesful result in order to qualify for the Olympics or the World Championships,for that matter; but, rather, to the foundation to all that ! Which is the daily struggle to even make it outta bed @a time when others sleep ! Or when you find yourselves @gym the very 1st person for practice & last person to leave - still doing your post-workout stretching while others are hitting them clubs ! That's exactly when a CHAMP's born ! To me - based on what I've been able to read from your tweets - you are a champ in your own right and the very reason sports's still my fascinating very tale ! Why can't your fairy tale of qualifying for the Olympics be a reality ? I have faith in you & I am sure you, too ! Time to get fully healed NOW & to go all McLane ( copyright Bruce Willis in 'DieHard' ) on your comps come that time ! GO FOR IT - WHAT WE DO IN LIFE ECHOES IN ETERNITY ! Your biggest fan, Peter aka @Reloadednow aka [email protected]
It happened to me once but my big toe was infected due to my ingrown toe nails. The operation hurt and I had to take anti-biotics for two weeks.
Good thing you’re doing well and can barely walk, after your operation and therapy sessions. That’s a good feedback and I wish for your continuous recovery.
My, that is something that should have gotten an urgent care attention in the ER! Infections and allergies like that can still be triggered if you eat something that the bacteria love, so be cautious this time.
That sucks. That LA doctor should've been more vigilant in checking the symptoms of that injury. He shouldn't have been complacent as to let a serious infection as that slip him.
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