Sometimes When It Rains, It Pours

I decided to break from running after my November 13th run.  I continued strong on at the gym, burning calories, lifting weights.  I even counted calories at home. 

Almost week later, on a Tuesday morning, I got a call as I packed for my first run back.  Yes, I admit, it was too early, my foot still ached, but I was dang tired of waiting.  The call was from the school nurse. Our youngest son injured his leg.  He was crying in pain, couldn’t walk.  They had to wheelchair him out to my truck.  He was smiling by then, but walked about the house with a limp.  He insisted he didn’t fall or hurt his leg during recess.  Still, I worried.  My guess was a hamstring injury.  He is our most active boy, always jumping and running.

I kept him home the next day.  And I called our family orthopedic surgeon (I think that’s funny that we have a family orthopedic surgeon).  I made him the first available appointment – Friday morning.  Thursday I  got my two oldest boys off to school, left baby boy at home with his papa and went off to a substitute teaching assignment (middle school fine arts).  I phoned home frequently to learn baby’s leg was much better.  Still had a limp, but no cries of pain.  Then my throat began to ache and my sinuses grew sore as well.  By lunchtime, it seemed every single joint ached.  I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep.

Back at home I lay in my bed with our baby boy, and every so often he would cry out from leg pain.  Ice and heat did nothing.  And he refused pain medication.  As I lay there with him, I noticed the pain came in waves.  It seemed to me he was having either spasms or cramps.  I kneaded around his leg to find some specific areas where he cried – around his outer back thigh.  This wasn’t his hamstring.  My concern grew.

Friday, I was so dang sick I could barely get the boys off to school.  I foolishly packed my bag for the gym, then brought baby boy to the doctor.  He was doing much better, no more cries from pain.  But I wanted to check this out anyway.  Turns out, he has bursitis.  Bursitis!  VIRAL Bursitis.  I saw the swollen bursa sacs right there in the x-ray.  I was so dumbfounded, my doctor simplified it for me and said, “It’s like he caught a cold, but in his hip.”

Can you imagine?  A cold in the hip?  Our baby healed very quickly.  I on the other hand, grew sicker.  Didn’t make it to the gym.  Instead, I slept off and on for the next two days, achy and lethargic. 

This morning, the first official day of our week-long Thanksgiving recess, I felt good enough to make a trip to the gym.  I rode 27 miles on the gym bike and noticed that my heart rate rose significantly higher than normal.  And so I neglected the weights, went home and took a nap. 

Twelve days have passed without a run.  But my son is well.  And that is most important.

Happy running to those who can make it out there.  I’m hoping for tomorrow, or the next day, or the next.