Shot well this week:
Mon - 84 arrows, weight training
Tues - 84 arrows
Wed - 114 arrows, weight training
Thu & Fri - too much running around, no time to train
Sat - 78 arrows
I decided to compete at the Georgia Cup tourney May 25 & 26, excited! I'm shooting from a stool now because of increased numbness in right foot and persistent heel pain.
After looking at old MRI from July 2011 and recent MRI, things that said mild/moderate on the old report now say moderate/severe. It looks things are moving in the wrong direction and my neck is collapsing. I have an appt with a local cervical doc to find out how fast things are deteriorating and then I plan to get a second opinion from Dr. Lenke's colleague, a cervical specialist, in St. Louis. Quite honestly, if I need surgery, I only want someone that Dr. Lenke recommends doing the procedure.
I talked with Dr. Riew's nurse in STL and was trying to make an appt to see him at the same time I see Dr. Lenke in October. Unfortunately, Dr. Riew will be gone the entire week that I will be in town. The nurse was very nice and asked a lot of questions about where my numb areas area, balance issues, etc. She said that I probably want to come in sooner than later because of the increasing numbness. She explained that if the damaged nerves are left too long, they may result in permanent numbness.
There are 7 bones in the cervical spine and discs are the spongy areas between each bone. Healthy discs are plump and have a whiter appearance in the middle area. Unhealthy discs loose their height and the middle areas turn solid dark in color due to the watery gel deteriorating.
You can see the upper discs have lost their height and lost the healthy white core (you can see the whitish core in the healthy bottom two discs). The upper vertebrae are shifting into the spinal fluid area (white areas on each side of the dark gray spinal cord) and there are three levels that have bone spurs caused by cervical degenerative disc disease.
Sheesh!
Archery has been a nice distraction from all of this stuff. A few more test results are due soon from Neuro and she will make a diagnosis. I think it will be nice to be able to pin point all my issues to one source, possibly my neck, but who knows. Praying for God to keep me strong and at peace, to place the right doctors in my path and give them wisdom to make an accurate diagnosis.
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| July 2011 |
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May 2013
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WEEK #3
Things were going great during week #3:
Mon shot 84 arrows, weight training
Tues shot 84 arrows
Wed shot 120 arrows, weight training
After Wednesday night's fall, I spent Thursday and Friday at different doctor's offices getting x-rays and MRIs. I was quite sore until Tuesday of week #4 and ended up taking several unplanned days off from training. :(
WEEK #4
Docs found no fractures in knee, hip, shoulder or spine, thank God! Since the fall, my right foot feels like it is buried in sand and there is pain radiating from my lumbar into my gluteus maximus. Dr. Lenke (spine doc) wants me on steroids for 6 days to reduce the inflammation caused by the fall.
Other updates include my neuro not find any lesions in my brain - no MS! :) She did see that my neck has deteriorated more since the last MRI in 2010, but nothing is pinching the spinal cord. I'm waiting to get the 2010 and 2013 reports to see which disc(s) are the problem. I have a few more tests with her before she can make a diagnosis.
Yesterday, I saw the RA doc and she said while she sees slight inflammation in my right hand, she wants me on arthritis meds for 3 weeks and she'll do another ultrasound on the sore joints. If the meds don't help me and if she sees more inflammation, she'll treat me as RA patient.
I started training again this week:
Wed shot 84 arrows
Thu shot 90 arrows
Fri weight trained
I have a shooting stool now and shot with it yesterday. It is SO comfortable! I'll take the weekend off from training and am excited to get back on track Monday.
It was a busy week last week as I closed out Week #2 of my sprint. Last week's results:
1. Shoot x4 days a week at 30m (blank bale in AM) - DONE
2. Shoot at least 72 arrows each shooting day for weekly total of
288 - DONE AND THEN SOME!
3. Weight train x3 days a week - DONE
I actually shot an extra day last week because I was feeling really good.
TOTAL ARROWS SHOT: 495!!!
Mon - 102
Tues - 112
Thu - 72
Fri - 124
Sat - 85
My original goal for last week was a weekly total of 288 arrows.
Coach Jim had me shoot 50m last week and I was so tickled I actually hit the target! Hubby was such a sweetie; extended my shooting lane to 50m by clearing out more trees. :)
Last week's 30m shot:
I hate when this happens! Let's just say, arrows and trees are not a good mix:
It is still a challenge to make my scapula move since my back is numb. Anyone have advise on how to make a numb body part move? I'm working on lowering my elbow and slowing down my shot. Another challenge I have is, if I hold a shot too long, my bow arm starts to fatigue. I'm sure this will improve over time as I gain strength.
One of the worst things than can happen to a person with a fully fused spine happened to me the other night. I was getting ready to head up to bed and was heating water in the microwave. I turned to get the water and didn't look to see if there was a dog laying near me. I took a sideways step and quickly realized our biggest dog (9 month old German Shepherd) was laying next to me, I tried to recover my failed first step, but my other foot got blocked by Indi too and down I went. My knee took the hit full force and then my hip and shoulder as my torso hit the floor. Hubby was out of town and thank God Lizzie was home!
I didn't feel anything pop in my back (popping means a rod snapped), but my knee is swollen. It was a helpless feeling when I didn't know how to get up off the floor. I landed on my right side. Lizzie slid a chair over, put a pillow under my head and knee and then pushed/lifted my lumbar area while I tried to log roll onto all fours. PAINFUL! From there I pulled my torso up with the help of the chair seat.
Dr. Lenke and my local doc had me take x-rays (spine, hip, knee and shoulder) yesterday so I'm waiting for the results. I'm not an expert, but the crack in my pelvis by the bolt has me a bit concerned.
MRI results are due next week, too, Stay tuned.
Today starts week 2 of my training sprint and I'm quite shocked at my results from last week. I forgot to mention in my last post that this sprint is not only archery training, but weight training too. My weight increased last week to 25# so needless to say, the one day where I had both weight training and shooting, my arms were like noodles. On that particular day, last Monday, I did AM blank bale immediately followed by weight training and then did PM shooting at 20m. Today I have both weight training and shooting on my To Do list, but will instead shoot AM, PM and then weight train. We'll see how I feel tonight.
OK, here is the recap of last week's results:
Goal: shoot x4 days a week at 20m - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Goal: weight train x3 days a week - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Goal: shoot x50 arrows per shooting day for a weekly total x200 arrows - FAR EXCEEDED GOAL!
On Monday I stopped shooting at exactly 25 arrows in the AM and PM for a total of 50 arrows shot. Later that day, I thought about how good it felt to shoot and that I was a little disappointed that I stopped at 25 arrows each session. Then I remembered what Coach Randi said, "... stop shooting when your form fails." It was at that moment, I decided to rethink my goals: trust Coach Randi's advice and trust my body.
On Tuesday, I kept Coach Randi's words in my head and was able to shoot a few more arrows until my form failed. I repeated the process the remaining x2 shooting days of the week:
TOTAL ARROWS SHOT 284:
Mon - x50
Tues - x60
Thu - x72
Sat - x102
My original goal for last week was a weekly total of 200.
Monday's 20m shots:
Saturday's 20m shots - 1st time all gold:
Saturday's 20m shots - 2nd time all gold:
My adjusted goals for this week are:
Shoot x4 days a week at 30m (blank bale in AM)
Shoot at least 72 arrows each shooting day for weekly total of 288
Weight train x3 days a week
I need to take video of me shooting, but cannot find my Flip video at the moment. :/
Last Thursday I had a glorious massage which I believe attributed to my sudden increase in arrows shot. The massage therapist said everything in my back was rock hard but that she was able to achieve some release. It was an odd experience because my entire back is still numb, I could hear her hands on my shirt, but couldn't feel her hands. When she found a tight spot she was trying to release, I would feel a bee sting sensation deep down in the muscle but then it dissipated. Very strange. After the massage, I felt incredibly relaxed and my neck pain was greatly alleviated. Looking forward to this week's massage! :)
The target has been moved to 30m for this week so I'm super-duper excited to see how my progress unfold. Ideally, my plan is to train at 40m next week and then move to Kennesaw Archery Club for 50m training the week after. I've got the Georgia Cup tournament on my radar which is the end of May. I've got a few weeks before I have to commit to sending in registration. The deciding factor will be, how am I shooting at 50m because that is the tourney distance I will need to hit.
Heel/ankle pain is increasing to the point where it is impacting the way I walk. Balance issues are increasing too along with numbness in hands and feet and now seeing multiple black dots in right eye. Appointment with neuro is this week.
Off to shoot!
Paralympian team coach, Randi Smith, and Coach Jim helped me design a training program to achieve my goal of shooting 6 days a week. Today marks the start of the 6 week sprint with a goal of shooting 75 arrows per day, 6 days a week by May 25, 2013. This week's goal is shooting 50 arrows total, blank bale in the AM and 20m in the PM, 4 days a week. I'll incrementally increase the amount of arrows and days during the sprint. I'm eager to compete and have my eye on a few summer tourneys. At the end of the sprint, I'll evaluate my progress and decide which tourney will be my first. My weight training bumps up to 25# today too. I should be sleeping like a rock!
Dr. Lenke gave me a prescription for PT massage which I will cash in very, very soon. I'll make some calls this week and look forward to a little bit of pampering.
I've been having some health issues (non-spine related) and am trying to narrow things down to the source. My doc feels that I have RA (rheumatoid arthritis) and I FEEL like I have it too, based on where the pain is. While I tested negative on the two RA blood tests, my doc said 30% of those who test negative still have the disease. I'll be off to see the rheumatologist soon to see what my course of action will be. The worst pain is in my knees, ankles and heels (pain is in other places too, but these are at the top of the list). The pain in my heel is causing me to walk differently which isn't good for my spine. After shooting Saturday for almost one hour, the pain was shooting up into my calf and knee. I'll talk with coach about designing a shooting stool for me.
Another issue that has reappeared are MS (multiple sclerosis) type symptoms that I had the summer before my surgery. At the time, my neurologist confirmed a severe deficiency in B12 which can mimic MS symptoms. I started weekly B12 injections and the symptoms practically disappeared. Late last year, the symptoms started slowly reappearing and as of 2 months ago, the symptoms are almost as bad as they were in 2011 (memory/balance/strength, etc. issues. My B12 blood work showed a normal range which is good, but that means, my symptoms are no longer related to a B12 deficiency. My doc wants my neuro to revisit the MS possibility; I'll see her next week.
Off to shoot! :)
This week I increased my weight training from 15# to 20# and WOW, what a difference! Here are the seated rows:
Glad to see things moving back there. ;)
