The Day After…

I went to see the orthopedic doc yesterday evening. Good News, there isn’t anything structurally wrong. The long and the short of things are that the quad muscle connects just under the knee cap. The tendon that connects the muscle got aggravated and then became inflamed. The inflammation is what is causing the pain. I was prescribed some anti-inflammatory medicine and told that my body will tell me how much I can do. He said that there shouldn’t be any issues with doing the bike ride – but to listen to my body. If I am in pain, then I will want to stop… he he – like I needed an excuse.

So I guess at the end of the day it is good news. I’ll take it easy for the next few days. I think I will get back on the bike this weekend and go around the neighborhood, nothing too stressful really, just enough to get the joints moving. The loop around the neighborhood is 1.5 miles so a few laps is really easy to do. Depending on which way you start the laps there 1 hill specifically that kicks your butt. What I did last time though was ½ of the laps went in one direction (the harder way) and the other ½ I went the other way.

I just received the Deloitte Cycling uniform today. This year they went with a good manufacturer for cycling clothing (Voler). The uniform is the normal lycra / lightweight material that most cycling gear is made from. I am conflicted about what to wear the day of the ride. During the spring I have been wearing the padded cycling shorts (lycra) but had a pair of baggy shorts over them. It looks kind of silly, but it works. I have been thinking about not wearing the baggy shorts since I don’t see anyone else wearing them. I don’t know – I am a little self conscious. Maybe I just need to get over it. Most everyone that I saw last year all had the spandex outfits – when in Rome.

Cranky

I am feeling pretty cranky today.

We were feeling pretty good after Michelle’s baby appointment yesterday. The doctor decided to use the in office ultra-sound machine and got the information that she wanted. Awesome, that means that we didn’t need to make the weekly second trip to Frederick for another appointment.

WHOA! – Not so fast… A couple days ago I started having knee pain in my left knee (my good one – heh). Sunday evening it was a little swollen, nothing terrible though. I am use to a little knee swelling (especially as the weather pattern changes). It was really tough to sleep Sunday night. I just couldn’t find a comfortable position. I dealt with the pain throughout Monday. I have a pretty high pain threshold. That has been a comment I have heard from a few doctors.

This morning I made the decision to trek my happy self into the Urgent Care (ugh – another trip to Frederick). After a fairly short wait, I was taken back to be checked out. The mystery question was asked – “What did you do?” There is the question. I am not sure what caused the pain to start or the joint to swell. It wasn’t as if there was a cause & effect that happened. So they took an X-ray and the doctor thinks that it is tendonitis. He wrapped it in an ace bandage and told me that I should see an orthopedic doctor sooner than later.

Ugh! This is just what I needed about 2 weeks from the MS bike ride. I am scheduled to go see a Ortho doc tonight, so I will just have to wait and see what he has to say about training…

Isn’t life just a boat load of fun?

Quote for Today...

There are a ton of different blogs that I read on a fairly regular basis. On one of the blogs i read today there was a quote that struck me as quite funny...

"When I was your age, Pluto was a Planet... "

More of a chuckle than a laugh, but still...

Another year gone...

This week has been a blur. Not that there was anything too exciting going on, but life was just busy. Between driving back and forth to Frederick for doctors appointments and testing and meeting all of my work requirements I think we were run ragged.

My birthday was this past week. Tuesday the 22nd benchmarked my 34th birthday. This had to have been one of the most low key birthdays to date. Don't get me wrong, I am not looking for a huge celebration, but with everything else that has been going my birthday ended up being an after-thought. eh - it was what it was. That evening, the girls and I had soccer practice. While we were gone, Michelle made chocolate cupcakes (in lieu of a birthday cake). After dinner I went for a short bike ride. While I was gone, Michelle and the girls iced and decorated some of the cupcakes. That was a nice surprise to find.

I love cupcakes :-)

Well i am about out of steam for tonight. I am hoping to write tomorrow after my training ride. I will have to ask Michelle how I post pictures up.

Almost a month...

Well, my desire for this blog was to write more often than I have been. It has been a month (almost) since i last wrote. Things have been really hectic around our household. We have the new baby coming. My wife's doctors appointments have gotten out of control. They seem to be on a snipe hunt. I feel like they have it stuck in their craw that there is something a-skew about the pregnancy. Maybe there is - maybe not. So far the tests have come back within normal limits. It is physically and emotionally draining on all of us. I am finding it irritating because I feel like it is taking the luster off what should be an exciting time.

The office has been great with letting me shift my schedule around as needed. I am now working from home 3 days a week. This has been extremely helpful. Shuffling all of these responsibilities has been taxing. It will be worth it in the end so long as "Logan" comes out healthy and beautiful. Heh - The name Logan is still a point of contention between the wife and I. Hopefully this will be one of those things that will stay if I don't give up ;-)

Training for the MS bike ride has been slow going. I am looking forward to the ride. I wish I had more time in my schedule to work in some more rides. I have been trying to attend the shop rides. The shop i bought my bike from has rides that are 30 - 35 miles long. I find these rides important because a 30 mile ride is exactly what i am signed up to do on May 17th. The bike i bought is performing pretty well. I am really looking forward to getting another saddle. The one that came on my Bianchi is very unforgiving. I am riding with padded cycling shorts. I even spent the extra money on a better pair. After the last long ride (34 miles) I was quite saddle sore. The whole biking thing turned out to be more expensive than i anticipated. My objective was to get something better than low end and nothing as nice as high end. I think i did that. It just ended up being more than i thought.

Well that is enough for this evening. I will try to be better about writing. It seems to prove theraputic in a way.