14 August 2010
Injury/Health Report
First Two Weeks of November 2009 (On- Snow Training Camp: Vuokatti, Finland): Woke up second morning of skiing barely able to walk. Left Achilles in much pain. Saw trainer from New Zealand who conjured it may have resulted from something in weight room weeks before. Recovered in roughly 10-12 days.
Last Week of December 2009/First Week of January 2010(US Nat's: Anchorage, AK): Final 30-60 seconds of each sprint heat & final 10 minutes of distance races hit with cramping in shoulders. Coaches ponder over body's ability to absorb electrolytes. Legs tired and recovering slower than usual.
Mid January 2010: Took a small break from racing, as coaches advise body needs extra recovery time.
Late January: Re-enter into racing. Severely exhausted. Recorded 50 hours of sleep between Monday and Friday one week. That same weekend attempted to race: faint chest pain [now realizing it comes from upper back], legs completely exhausted, body exhausted, horrible performance]. Never recovered after this. Then began experiencing tingling sensations in legs and feet , sometimes arms.
Early February: Met with physician [Dr. George Conover @NMMC]. Ran through blood tests. Found abnormally high levels of Creatine Kinase (CK) on one test; back to normal on follow-up test. Found very low levels of Vitamin D; put on six week prescription of 50,000 units of Vit D; Dr. dismissed tingling as overuse of the repetitive movements used in skiing. Found abnormal HR and funny sounding heat beat; ran EKG and other tests-everything fine. Also dismissed the faint chest pain. Hurt [in upper back/neck] to look down at toes or straight into sky.
Mid March: Re-tested Vitamin D levels [rose from 16 to 48-rough numbers]. More random tingling and numbness of arms, legs, hands, and feet. Haven't been racing or training at this point since February 16,17. Sat out Junior Olympics. Coach Will Sweetser suggested ending usage of Doxycyline, as he heard of similar instances of exhaustion because medication stole incoming nutrients from body.
Late March: With much time off, body started to feel a bit better. Raced twice in which weakness and exhaustion in legs were only setback. Began to train again. See attached sheet for idea of what the training looked like. Legs were never recovering, even with ice baths and lots of stretching. Had tingling in legs and feet.
Mid-May: During road biking workout feet and legs were tingly from start (usual); numbness would increase and pool in feet after going hard up a hill; at 2.5 hours buttocks all the way down to back of knees, along with lower back went completely numb; soon after a very sharp pain in all the above places joined the numbness; had to get off bike and it was even hard to walk. Stopped training.
Early June: Met with Shawn Berry [Cary Med. Center PT]. Ran summary of events to him. Performed physical tests; found that reflexes in knee were very weak; when lying down pulse seemed fine with straight legs; when lifting one leg and taking pulse it was very faint. Mr. Berry said he could guess that a disk was bulging or herniated. Was unsure of arms and suggested seeing neurologist.
Late June: Met with Dr. Tungol who sent referral to get MRI of Cervical, Thoracic, and Lumbar Spine. That morning coach Will Sweetser and PT student Meagan Toussaint noticed misalignment in hips, chest, neck when lying down; thought they found 3 points where vertebrae out of place when feeling back with hands. During MRI lower back was completely numb, as was left arm; pain in neck and left side of head with tingling in left ear.
(As of late June):
Current Remitting Symptoms/Situation: Pain in upper back, neck, lower back. Tingling, numbness, weakness in legs and feet. Arm used on the steering wheel goes numb. If put both arms up on pull-up bar both hands go completely numb. Arms go numb if put in air while lying down. Not training. Hands are sometimes numb. Shooting basketball [on June 27], the shooting hand would go into pain after a shot, then fade until the next shot.
A couple weeks later: Met with TAMC neurologist Dr. Tungol who reported significant disk herniation at L5-S1 with loss of lordosis, degenerative disk disease at T7, T8, and loss of lordosis in cervical region. Could not explain upper body. Prescribed three weeks in bed using traction during all waking hours.
Early August: Did not trust Dr. Tungol's prescription, met with Coastal Orthopedics and Sports Medicine's Dr. James Glazer (In Freeport, ME). Main focus was to treat L5-S1 disk herniation through physical therapy and with a boost of anti-inflammatory steroid (Prednisone).
Met with Dr. Glazer's PT, Patrick Nelson (In Bath, ME), who concluded that lower back had to become mobile to compensate for extremely immobile hips. Prescribed stretches and exercises, as well as an E-Stim unit to alleviate nerves and muscle in the back. Plan to communicate with a PT in Aroostook County and work together.
The Following Week: Met with Dr. Eva Shay [PI, ME], who has been practicing Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, Family Medicine, and Holistic Health for 15 years. Re-checked blood tests from February. Noted that Vitamin D levels were still too low [Dr. Conover treated D-3, and not D-2 -which is more important; D-3 measured 48 (still too low), but D-2 was only at 10]. Thyroids were not tested, neither were B Vitamins. Also sent testing for Iodine levels, to see if Bromide Toxic, and advised to continue PT. She reported from the blood test that there was very little inflammation anywhere in the body, when symptoms were at worst. She advised it would be completely unnecessary to take Prednisone. This also provides more support in her conclusion that there is something happening metabolically, as just some bulging and herniated disks could not cause all symptoms. It also is rare for a teenager to acquire disk problems.
Currently: Just finished testing Thryroids, B Vitamins, Iodine, and in turn Bromide Toxicity, and more. Have appointment with Dr. Shay on the August 17. Hoping for a diagnosis. In the meantime continuing PT exercises on own, but will be starting with Shawn Berry of Cary Medical Center the week of the 16th. Have been taking 5,000 IU�s of Vitamin D-2, 500 mg of Magnesium, a handful of Sea Salt, staying very hydrated, eating mammoth amounts of fruits and vegetables, practicing patience and doing best to stay sane. Have been taking temperature every morning [ (F)97.7,97.2,96.5,97.8,97.6,97.4,97.0,96.8,97.3].
Symptoms: Trouble with bowel movements, muscle pain and guarding in neck and upper back, dead legs and arms, numbness and tingling in arms and legs at some times, fatigued.
Test
At the pop of the gun firing, six guys, all thinking they are the best, anxiously throw their feet and hands from the line, until they can double pole fast enough to escape the enormous hubbub of the crowd. A sharp right out of the stadium, the team of combatants, flying atop Presque Isle's white corn, can only hear each other breathing and their hearts pounding.
The fight dwindles to five, as the over-anxious kid gets thrown into the woods. Whipped around the wrath of the first turn, and heading up the climb into the stadium takes an unfeasible amount of coordination to fit high tempo and power into a beautifully formed dynamic stride. Across the top of the course, shooting down into two quick hills like the humps of a camel, and down the other side, the course opens to the final hill sending a gut-check to the weak. That is where I planned be in in position to get airlifted past the leader around the next bout of turns into the straight away on the home stretch. Giving The County the show they wanted, I could finally throw my hands up, pump my fist, and make myself, coaches, parents, friends, and town proud.
At the moment, the best Junior sprinters are finishing the last adjustments on their skis. Athletes are running to the start line, finishing up the last of their warm-ups. Coaches are making the last adjustments to skis, and fans and parents are getting ready for a show.
But, I'm not there.
For more than a year I've been envisioning the fixture, each dream never failed to rise me from my seat. Exhilaration, anticipation, elation, and a mammoth amount of eagerness drove me through an awesome summer and fall of training. I knew the latter vision would come true. It sounds silly to have that much confidence, but I knew I was going to be one of the best in March.
Months later, having fought an ankle injury, sickness, hives, muscle cramps and something eating away at my body, the struggle that would be the final climb of the course has become as difficult as climbing any stairwell.
Why did this happen? How did I get here? While my coach, doctor and I are running through many tests to determine what is feasting on my body, I have a little philosophical reasoning.
"Nothing is given to man automatically, neither knowledge, nor self-confidence, nor inner serenity, nor the right way to use his mind.
Every value he needs or wants has to be discovered, learned and acquired-even the proper posture of his body," according to Ayn Rand.
I have always been weak with setbacks. Fate had it in me to learn how to deal with something that lasts more than a day or two. I've needed to learn how to stick to my principles and rely on good character even when it gets hard to believe. One needs to learn most things through experience and never let it go. It's hard to go on a road trip with one headlight. And although my trip has hit an unexpected detour, Will and I will be back on the highway when this clears over.
Good luck to my teammates that do have the chance to race at Junior Nationals this week. I hope everyone can get out to cheer them on. John Dixon and Welley Ramsey have really come a long way in just one year of working with us. Joey Bard has overcome a lot, and I believe that they can really do a lot of damage in Presque Isle. A big thanks to Will and Austin, Gabby and Kurt and the large group of people that have made it easier to "smile when it hurts the most".
The weather right now is majestic in Maine, so enjoy championship month and welcome March Madness to Northern Maine with zeal and fervor. It's going to be a good couple of weeks!
Hildawg
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Neighbor
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Canmore, Alberta
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Brother and his snowman
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Truckee, California
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Pete Cowan
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