As I told you last week, I was moving out of my apartment Wednesday and Thursday. I had a really hard time finding guys who were willing to donate their muscles to me and help me get everything out of my apartment, which was on the 3rd floor. Wednesday AM I ran 4 miles and felt really good the majority of the time. I was not in pain, but it did get a little humid and hot for me at the end of the run and I felt a little dehydrated. But overall, a very good run! For the rest of the day I carried boxes up and down my 3 flights of stairs. Woof...my legs were starting to feel a little dead! Thank goodness one of my good guy friends Chris Anderson was nice enough to loan me his muscles and help me get some of my bigger furniture down. I really appreciated his help! I decided to cool it for the night @ around 8:30 and just rest.
Thursday AM I decided not to run as I was a little sore from moving the day before and knew I still had quite a few trips to make up and down the stairs. I had a chiropractor appointment with the amazing Dr. Metcalf that morning. This man is a miracle worker! He works with a lot of the Gopher football players as well as with a lot of gymnasts. I saw him 2 times a week towards the end of my training for my first marathon and I am convinced I would have had so much more pain had I not been seeing him! On Thursday he did some acupuncture on my lower back along with stem treatments and stem treatments on my rock hard shoulders/upper back thanks to the stress I carry there. He also realigned my body. He said it was obvious I hadn't been in for a long time and he also asked if I had been training on lots of hills or stairs. I told him about the move and he said he could tell from my knees and hips that I had done that. Anyways...leaving the office and heading to finish the move, my body felt fabulous!
I moved some smaller stuff downstairs by myself and cleaned a little waiting for my friend Jackie to come over and help me move my bed down, when my landlord came in and said I only had an hour left before I had to be out, when I thought I had 6! So, I started rushing. In that rush I attempted to lift a box of my kitchen plates, bowls, etc. that I had marked "HEAVY" 3 or 4 times. But, me being the stubborn person I am, I thought I could do it. I got to the last flight of stairs when I got my shoe stuck on the carpet, my knee kept going, my foot stayed back and my leg/knee completely twisted underneath me with my foot about 3 steps highed than my knee. Oh, and the box was on top of me, and I couldn't get it off. Luckily a man heard the fall and came to my rescue. He lifted the box off me and helped me up. At first I was kind of in shock and I couldn't tell what hurt. From my knee down was pretty much numb. Then I kind of walked it off (or tried) and realized it was my knee that hurt the worst. It definitely did not feel right. But, I had to keep moving. I knew I shouldn't but I had to get everything out. Thanks to Jackie, the nice gentleman (who was a stranger by the way), and one of my neighbors, I got everything out like 4 hours later. My knee got worse and worse when I would sit in the car to bring another load of stuff to my parents, and even worse everytime I went up and down the stairs. I was miserable and depressed when I was done. My main concern was my training and fundraising.
After working so hard and being totally bummed by my injury, I needed some R&R and someone to vent to. Luckily, one of my best friends Lindsay Boelter had also had that kind of week. So, we sat out on her deck, me with my leg up and a bag of ice glued to my knee, she grilled dinner for us and we had some cocktails and just unwound. It was so nice. It is amazing what time with a great friend can do for you.
I didn't sleep well at all due to the pain. My mom took me into the ER the next afternoon because nothing else was open due to closing early for the holiday weekend. I was swollen and in a lot of pain and couldn't walk much at all. The ER took forever. X-rays were negative, she said it felt a little unstable and said she wanted to brace it and put me on crutches. She said I might feel great by Monday or it might take much longer. She thought it was an LCL sprain. When I told her I was training for a marathon she immediately told me to see a specialist the following Tuesday (the day after the 4th). So, with my brace, crutches, and some awesome pain killers, I was on my way.
I left Saturday morning for KC. I woke up extremely swollen...way worse than the day before (the picture doesn't do it justice). I mean, I had no shape whatsoever in my leg. It was just...fat.
And woof...is it fun to travel with that brace on (not)!! And, to top it off, of course my bag was 61lbs and they wanted to charge me $75 extra, on top of the $15 I had already paid to check a bag at all! So as I was trying to move all my shoes to my carry on and decide which toiletries I could throw away, another nice guy who worked for Frontier came up and ask me "What the heck I was doing?" I told him it was too heavy and he was like ummm no. I'm not charging you, let me take this for you and I'm calling you a wheelchair! He was my hero that morning :) So, I got wheeled to the front of security (nice), but had to get patted down thanks to the brace (not so nice). But, I made it to KC and have had an amazing time with some of my great friends from college! Makes me miss my friends seeing as most of them do not live in MN. However, it does make seeing them that much better when it does happen!
By Pikul's orders, I did a lot of ice bathes. They did make me feel better, usually for like 30 minutes at a time.
I went into a specialist Tuesday as ordered. Thanks so much to my best friend Sarah Pikul for driving me and sitting with me during the appointment (we had a great day despite my knee!). I'm not sure how I felt about him but he ordered an MRI and said there was a possibility of meniscus or other cartiledge tearing/damage. So I got my MRI today and will get the results by the beginning of next week. I'm still quite swollen and in a lot of pain. This scares me but I am trying to stay positive. He did say I can water jog in the pool, so I'm going to try that out tomorrow.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and concern for me that you've expressed through calls, texts and facebook. It really does mean a lot (even your evil comments Sarah Woodard!!!!!!!!). I hope everyone had a fabulous 4th of July. I am babysitting 4 kids in KC this week while their parents are out of town...it should make for some interesting blogposts, so stay tuned! Also, I will let you know when I know the results of my MRI.
As always, please help support PAWS Chicago and their fight to save innocent animals: Visit my page: http://pawschicago.kintera.org/teampawschicago2011/kellymcdonough
