Thursday, January 26, 2012

Three Things Thursday

1. Pain relief. After months and months of pain, I finally could take no more and went to the chiropractor yesterday for my shoulder and related pains. I haven't been able to fall asleep or sleep well for over 6 weeks now as the pain has progressed. It started with elbow pain - from desk work, I believe, back earlier in 2011. Then in September I was doing some fairly heavy and repetitive shoulder workouts with my girlfriend and in the first week felt like I injured both shoulders, the right more than the left - and yet, I kept it up. Add in boot camp classes and in came the pushups, pike presses, etc and I'm left with pain so bad that in the past week I thought I would vomit.
My old doctor has moved from chiro to teaching pilates, so I was scheduled to see Dr. Marasco who does a lot of Crossfit AND had the same injury as mine last year. He did some ultrasound for my tennis elbow and then worked with it a bit. Then for my sprained shoulder, I had some lovely massage and a spinal and neck adjustment. What did all that spell?
RELIEF!
I fell asleep fine and slept through the night. I'm to continue twice a week for now and see how it goes. Fine by me :-)

2. My husband saved my dogs life last night. I've had the stomach flu and my three main meals yesterday consisted of popsicles. I left the sticks on the table next to the couch I slept on all day and when I managed to rouse myself to take Mai to basketball practice, the dog decided to eat sticks...which got lodged in the roof of her mouth and throat. Steve came out to find she had puked all over the house and was dramatically scratching at her face and mouth and causing a bloody mess. She eventually started choking so badly that he though she was going to die. He reached in to find two sticks lodged in her throat and made the decision that he must just rip them out immediately and worry about how that might hurt her later. She seems fine now, but was quite the pitiful pooch last night when I arrived home.


3. Our Sisters Of Pain group met up this last week to discuss strategy for the The Wild Canyon Games

We are an all women team of seven. Our motto? No Mercy. Our signature drink? To Be Determined. We are happily trying out many drinks to find the perfect one that states what we are all about. The goldschlager one is high on my list.

Here are the events involved in this two day adventure:

Triathlon:
    Swim 
    Bike 
    Run 
 
Geocaching:
   
 
Challenge Events::
    Zipline 
    Ropes Course
    Canyon Swig
    Blob Tower/Iceberg 
    Adventure Course 
    Cliff Jump 
    Waterslide 
 
Creek2Peak:
    300 Meter Sprint 
    Cyclo Cross
    Obstacle Course 
    1/2 Mile Sprint 
    1/8 Mile Swim 
    1/4 Mile Hill Sprint 1
    1/4 Mile Hill Sprint 2  
 
In the challenge events I am doing the 35 foot Ropes Course that includes a "leap of faith". I will be honest and say that I'm a little disappointed to not be doing the Canyon Swing or Zipline, but I'll survive. I'm happy to say I'm not doing the blobbing. Some poor woman broke both ankles on that one last year.

In Creek2Peak I am starting things off with the 300 meter sprint. It is one of the most important jobs of that event as the race starts to get very crowded once runners are forced into a narrow tunnel to complete the race. We need to get a head start in order to have the rest of this race run smoothly. Consider me working on my sprinting skills.

On day one, three teammates are competing in a triathlon while the other four teammates are off geocaching over 177 square miles of Eastern Oregon wilderness. Because my team hates trusts me, I have been honored with the job of geocaching. This is so wrong on so many levels but I'm up for the challenge. We've decided to wear BRIGHT colors so we won't be like those two guys that were so lost last year that they had to spend the night out by themselves and most of the next day because the helicopters could not see them for rescue.
 
*Both times I've been to a chiropractor, they have rocked my world. Have you ever used one?

*What's the wierdest predicament your dog as ever been in or the funkiest thing they've eaten?

Have you ever had to be rescued?

17 comments:

Coy Martinez said...

Dogs! I'm telling you , they get into EVERYTHING!! Seriously! I have the same issues withe mine! He's such a junkyard dog and will eat anything! I'm glad yours is ok!!

Get that shoulder fixed! I've been to a chiro a few times but I always get scared when they pop my neck. FREAKS ME OUT! I'm such a chicken! :0)

Laura is Undeterrable said...

I love my chiropractor. I like that he does more than just crack my bones and send me on my way. We talk about my pain, then figure out where it is originating from, and then, as I like to say, he kills the little demons living in my muscles. I started spasming a couple weeks ago and he has me back to normal now.

Speaking of my back going out, last summer it was out reallllly bad. I was asleep on the couch with all my meds on the coffee table next to me and my dog decided to chew the lid off the ibuprofin and spill all the pills. We don't know if he actually ate any, but we couldn't take any chances. 2 days at Dove Lewis and a mortgage payment later, he was all better. I'm just thankful he didn't get the stronger stuff I had next to it.

Jill said...

I don't have a dog but know many similar stories...so scary. I'm glad to hear yours is better now...um but 3 popsicles for your meal? Heck, I'm moving in with you! :)

Good to hear the chiro was able to fix your shoulder and you finally got some decent sleep. Never used a chiro but I swear by PT, and they're pretty similar.

Michael said...

I would have freakded out if that happened to my baby dog....so glad your husband was there to save the day!!

I love the Chiropractor! Love alternative medicine in general I guess. Seems to fix things that Drs just can't.

Good luck Geocaching! Sounds like a more than interesting adventure.

Kate Geisen said...

Glad you're feeling better, both from the pain and the flu. Ugh!

1- No chiropractor before

2- My stupid dog will eat anything...cat litter is a special delicacy for him. :P

3-Not yet.

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, so glad your dog is ok!!!!!!!!! YAY for chiro!!! BTW my foot is still sore from those stupid Bikilas! arggg

Anonymous said...

Whoops! Sorry that Bikila comment was for Coy! HAHA

Julie said...

Oh Julie!!!! that pain sounds awful and your, poooorr,poorrr doggy!

Ok the Chiro...I think I have finally convinced myself that it is easier to go when the pain first starts then to wait and end up going several times a week for several weeks. In fact I am now going to go once every 4-6 weeks to just keep things right instead of waiting for a problem.

That looks like one totally crazy weekend!!!

Christy @ My Dirt Road Anthem: A Runner's Blog said...

Wowza this is quite a post~!

1. so glad you got your pain relieved and got some sleep.

2. Nice job on your husband saving your dog, poor dog, hopefully he learned his lessong.

3. That sounds like so much fun!

Pam @ herbieontherun.com said...

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad your dog is okay! I worry all the time about mine doing something like that. Especially Bella. If she finds ANYTHING in the floor, in her mouth it goes.

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

That "race" sounds insane. Seriously you are a bada##. I should be knitting something, I'm so lame in comparison!!

I have two dogs. When they we both much younger, Hubbs and I went for a short run. The dogs were inside in our unfinished basement. When we returned about 40 mintues later. Dog 1 had gotten her jaw under the collar of Dog 2 and twisted around in the attempt to get free. That cut off the oxygen to Dog 2. What we saw when we got there was like a horror movie. Both dogs bleeding from the mouth, ears, eyes from trying to get free. Dog 2 was about to lose her eyes from the pressure. Fast forward and after our intervention and call to our local vet, we have dog 1 no worse for the wear and dog 2 who is mentally still that young dog. They are both 13 years old now.

Average Woman Runner said...

My chiropractor walks on water!

Emile said...

I honestly can't imagine what 'blobbing' is, but if someone broke both ankles on it I'd say mark it off the list. But that's just me.

Glad your husband was able to save your dog. That sounds like it was pretty traumatic for the poor animal.

Terzah said...

I would be TERRIBLE at geocaching (and I wouldn't like blobbing either--I'm glad you got out of that one), but that sounds like an amazing adventure--so much fun!! I can't wait to hear more about it.

I'm glad your sweet dog is OK. Dogs are like garbage disposals, and not always successful ones. My sister's dog once at an entire bin of flour and had to have his stomach pump. He's a Weimerainer (sp?), which means he's like a male model: beautiful....and stupid.

ajh said...

Oh your poor dog. So glad your husband knew what to do.

I love my chiropractor. When no one else could help he did and has!

Raina said...

I have never actually been to a chiropractor- just for massage. But there have been PLENTY of times I wanted to go to a Chiro.
Sure hope you are feeling better for good!!

Average Woman Runner said...

I just tagged you in a post!< Come by & SEE!