Global Running Day

On February 2nd I found out I had the tumor, which measured 4.9cm, in my foot.

May 3rd, the day I had the injection into it, it measured 5.9cm.

June 6th I went in, planning on a 2nd injection. When the Doctor ultra sounded my foot he took a long time doing it and discovered the tumor has shrunk down to 3.7cm, a full 40% smaller than last month.  We decided no injection today (YAY) and I'll go back in a month for follow up and we hope it continues to shrink.

 June 7th was Global Running Day and I celebrated by going out to the forest for a run, my first in about a year. I ran for about 25 minutes and went about 1.27 miles with very little pain or discomfort.

One Month Later

Its been almost a month since I got the injection in my foot and here is what happened.

Day of injection: It was a painful process, first the shot into my ankle to deaden the foot, then I could still feel the injection into the foot. When the doctor did the foot part it had more pain killer in it, then he switched over to the cortisone and as he depressed the plunger he said look at it fill up like a balloon.
I wore a boot home and had it on all day for any walking I needed to do. The boot supports my weight so barely any of it was on the sole of my foot. As the pain meds wore off it hurt a little but not a lot.

Day 2: Called and asked doctor for pain meds, prescription strength Ibuprofen but he said no. I wore the boot for most of my walking but was able to do it without the boot. Pain not too bad with OTC Ibu.

Day 3: Doctor said he was giving me a script for pain meds, it was an accident that he didn't do it before. The foot felt pretty good, barely any pain but I picked up the meds just in case.

Since then it's been different pain on different days and I never know what to expect. I know if I get more than my regular step count of 10k then its sore the next day, sometimes it doesn't hurt nearly as much and then I'll take a step that does hurt. A lot.

I have another injection scheduled for June 6th.

The Big Day

Today was the big day, got the steroid injection in my foot.

Doctor had given me an injection into my ankle to deaden the foot, then he marked it with ink so he knows where the mass is.

And here it is after its all finished. Pretty swollen up after the stuff went in. He said it worked perfectly, was like putting air into a balloon.

I need to get a photo of it without the bandage but I don't have any.

And heres my new boot and ride.

I just want to run again, without pain.

Ironman Texas

A good friend finished Ironman Texas yesterday, his 11th attempt. Finish time 12:50.  34th in Age Group 55-59.

Ironman & Barn updates

Lan hasn't been training for Ironman at all while we're replacing the floor in the house. There are a million little things he's got to do to be prepared for the wood and with his calf injured it's OK that he's not training and giving it a good long rest.

 

Yesterday Dave came by to help with the Trump Wall and ceiling repair. He made it look nice and professional, unlike the way I had it but I BUILT A WALL. Its not dry so I can't sand it yet or apply the texture, maybe tomorrow.

 

My own injury is irritating the hell out of me. It feels like my sock is folded over all the time and lately if feels like the sock is thinker and thicker. I've decided to go with injections, or, ONE injection, and see how it feels after that. If there is no significant improvement I'll schedule surgery in mid October. Then I'll have 2 weeks off, go back to the doc for stitch removal and checkup, then 2 weeks vacation in Arizona where I can laze around in the sunshine, walk on flat ground and ride pedal bikes on perfectly flat ground and if its OK, I'll swim in the 85* pool outdoor pools. I'll have a knee scooter for when Lan races and I'll put a race bib on it. Then if its healed well enough after my vaca I'll return to work, if not I'll still have 2 more weeks I can take off work.

 

In the barn there isn't a lot going on but we did find a cement guy who will do it extremely cheap. His dad owns a cement company so he's got all the stuff and all we have to pay for is the cement. All the forms and equipment will be free to use. I can't wait for the floors to be finished so we can begin the barn!!

 

I've got 6 chicks in the old water trough, all supposed to be hens. Julia and I are going to hatch a bunch more to sell at the small animal exchange next month.

Barn Floor Work

I've got 2 new guys coming out to give bids on the entire barn or barn floor, Can't wait to get it started.

In the house, we have all the old flooring up in the living room, office, dining room & old kitchen area. There is a lot of damage to the subfloor though so we're thinking we need to replace all that and get new, about $800 we hadn't previously planned on. We don't even know if the old floor is glued down or just nailed down, glued down will be just as bad as the condition as whats there now.

Today I'm painting the Ombre brown on the stairs wall, can't wait to see it finished.

Flooring Ordered

Finally, we have made a decision and ordered our new flooring. We chose Bellawood engineered Acacia.This has been a long and drawn out process; we wanted solid hardwood but with a 185# dog we can't get just anything, it needed to be strong and resilient. Acacia is a harder wood but we were told the solid wood could warp in our damp weather and both our floor guy and the store guys said engineered was tougher.

 

This is what it should look like when its installed.

 

So there won't be a lot of Ironman training going on for a while, we've got to get the floors in shape for this new topping. The parquet is gone, now to clean it up, remove the carpet, sand and or treat them and then we're ready. Of course, we've still got a lot of furniture to move too.