Health Posts

13May
2

Once Broken, Always Broken

Remind me to never break anything again.

I’m at a complete loss as to why my broken finger is now “healed” but still won’t bend all the way. I still can’t make a fist and it hurts like hell. Oh and since I started trying to bend it/make fists it’s started getting swollen again. What in the world is going on here?

I think it’s true what they say – broken bones are NEVER the same again.

My doctor recommended physical therapy. I laughed. For a pinky finger? That’s ridiculous. That said, I’m starting to consider it….

Anyone ever broken anything? Please tell me it gets better!

Posted by Caro in Health
18Apr
0

Day 8

Day 8 of “Life with a broken finger” and the only thing that’s changed is my level of pissiness lol. The novelty of this has certainly worn off, as has some of the swelling that was protecting my injury when I inevitably bang it against something. And boy does it hurt when I do that!

I’ve been taking pictures of the progression, but I’ll spare everyone. It’s nasty. Meanwhile I still can’t make a fist, much less hold weights or play softball. My diet is totally off track and I’m getting angry :(

20 days to go!

 

Posted by Caro in Health, Rants and raves
11Apr
2

I’ve Done It Again

And by “it” I am referring to injuring myself in the stupidest, least respectful ways possible.

When I was 16 I managed to break my big toe. How did I do this? Playing any of the 1,000 sports I played? Doing something cool? Nope. I invited a few people to my house, including my boyfriend at the time. We were hanging out in my room, and said boyfriend decided to look through my stuff. Not in a nosy “I don’t trust you” kind of way, more like a “let’s see if you have anything cool” kind of way. Somewhere during that process he came across my 4th grade school picture, which featured a pre-pubescent Caro, the one with horrendous glasses (clear, plastic/metal frames that apparently had gold and pink music notes in them) and braces. To say it was an awkward stage for me is really putting it nicely. He decided to keep this picture, which is clearly unacceptable, so I chased him as he ran out of my room.

On my way out I tripped over the carpet and broke my big toe. Despite never having broken a bone before I knew immediately it was broken. Apparently you need your big toe to walk. Who knew? It was a ridiculous injury that sidelined me for quite a while. Do you know how embarrassing it was to be on crutches and when people asked what happened I had to say, “No I didn’t break my foot. I tripped over the carpet and broke my toe.” FML.

Fast forward to yesterday at softball practice. We were taking turns batting so everyone could hit and practice their fielding position. The first batter hit a low fly/line drive short of me. I ran in to catch it, but the ball missed the pocket of my glove. Instead it hit the outside part, where my littler fingers are. Man did it sting!! I figured this was just a little thing that would go away and shook it off. I made it through my own turn batting (which really sucked for my finger) and then fielding again for the rest of the batters. By the end of practice I was alarmed my finger 1. hurt really bad 2. was swelling up and 3. was kind turning purple. I also couldn’t bend it.

Within 2 hours of getting home I knew it was definitely broken. Got some X-rays this morning….yep. I have a chip fracture in my knuckle. Basically a piece of bone has chipped off. Awesome. My softball season has so far consisted of 2 games and 1 practice, and I’m out for the next month.

So now in my life I’ve broken my big toe and my pinky finger. Can’t I just break my arm like a normal person?

Posted by Caro in Health, Sports
16Feb
2

Motivation

I officially feel like a slacker. I mean, I have been doing my share of working out, but I’ve also been doing my fair share of finding excuses to sit on my couch. Like this past Saturday? I left Jenny Craig thinking “I’m pumped! Let’s go to the gym!” But then I went with the fiance to buy a new printer and stock up on supplies for our BBQ. By the time I cleaned my house for said event, it was time to shower and get ready. No gym. This happens way too often.

It has recently come to my attention that 3 of my 6 bridesmaids are running half marathons this spring/summer. It seems they all train pretty regularly, all with the end goal of running, nonstop, for 2 consecutive hours. To me this sounds like HELL. But it’s pretty inspiring. I’m not able to run because of my foot/leg, but I can do something, right? Tonight? Yeah I’ll go to the gym. I won’t skip spin class tomorrow, and I’ll even go to my body sculpting class on Friday. Yep, this is the class with the weird ass lady that tells us to feel like we are birds. I’ll even do that too.

I’m also going to take the plunge next month and sign up for a swim class. I might not be physically able to run right now, but my lack of swim skills shouldn’t be a deterrent. I CAN swim. I’m just not good at it. So if three of my close friends are challenging themselves to run 13.1 miles, I’ll challenge myself to make it from one end of the pool and back again. Maybe even there and back a couples of times ;)

Wish me luck!

Posted by Caro in Health, Life, Sports, Weddings
09Dec
0

Safe-Sex PSA

This is so hilarious that it made its way to someecards. So much for a realistic/informative ad campaign!

Posted by Caro in Health, Hilarious, Random
12Aug
1

C25K Hiatus

Maybe you noticed that I haven’t been updating my C25K progress lately. And then today I took that page down. Why? Because I can’t run anymore.

Anymore = indefinitely.

I went to the foot doctor yesterday. Apparently my feet are “not anatomically designed for running”. What does that even mean? I have feet. They work (sort of). One in front of the other!

But apparently running is a problem. Something about everything in there being defective in some way, causing pressure in all the wrong places but especially on my nerve. So to avoid further nerve damage, I can’t run for the foreseeable future.

I like running though. And I certainly don’t like being told that I can’t do something. This might be a tough one for me. But I guess now is as good of a time as any to learn how to swim better. Or take my bike out. Pretty much anything that will give me exercise without another cortisone injection.

Posted by Caro in Fears, Health, Life, Rants and raves, Sports, Things to do
09Aug
0

I Suck @ This Right Now

Sorry for the epic neglect folks. Life is BUSY at the moment. Here’s a quick status update on a lot of miscellaneous fronts. And read all of them, cuz some are kind of exciting :)

1. Work: Same shit, different day. I’m still working 3 jobs. I still hate working 3 jobs. A major source of my blog neglect lately has come from one job in particular, wiping me out so I have NO energy to blog when I get home. I mean 4 grants + coordinating a scientific conference? I’m one person, and I work there 20 hours a week. Whew!

2. Marla: She hurts. I saw a neurologist and got an EMG and NCV on Friday. SO STRANGE. They put things on my foot then shocked me with a cattle-prod-thing. Get the results on Wednesday.

3. Italy: Um….I have done NOTHING Italy-related in a month. I’m starting to feel bad. But I have other things on my mind…..

4. Love Life: Well, I’m 7 years into my current relationship. We live together. AND WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!

J took me on a weekend adventure, and wouldn’t tell me anything. I had a feeling, but then again, I’ve been waiting for a while for this and thought maybe I’d have to keep waiting (boys are kinda dense). But then he took me to Sea World, where we did a behind the scenes penguin encounter. Apparently everyone else on the tour knew but me. I have tons of pics and a video of me/us petting penguins. Then we went into the back of the exhibit, and magic happened :)

Basically you can go right up to the barrier that separates the staff and the penguins, but you can’t go onto the snow (oh yeah, it’s about 20 degrees in here!). J and I walked up to this barrier, and as luck would have it, a penguin was intrigued and waddled right over to us. The little guy came all the way to the barrier and stuck his beak through it. SO AWESOME. I think I squealed in delight, and then said (to the penguin) “I love you!”. J thought I was talking to him, so he said, “I love you too, (pulled out a ring) will you marry me?”

And so we’re engaged. And we’re 100% ecstatic about it. I feel lucky to have found the love of my life, who is also my best friend, and to know I will spend the rest of my life with him. I mean, he proposed with penguins. This is clearly the guy for me! And that brings me to #5…

5. Wedding Planning: I’ve been engaged for 9 days, and I think I have a venue set. We’ve come up with our first two choices for dates (2011) and are waiting to hear back from the event coordinator. I went out to dinner with some of my friends 2 days after the proposal and they had made a bet as to how many spreadsheets I had already created (2). A week later, I have 5 total. Although the big day is over a year away, I’m not wasting a minute. Planning a wedding is kind of fun (remind me I said that if I start getting stressed 10 months from now). J is totally wonderful too. He is totally interested in this, at least so far, and while I’m the lead on the wedding planning, he’s taking the reins on the honeymoon.

So yeah. I’ve been a busy bee. I really don’t want my blog to turn into a wedding planning frenzy, so I’ll do my best to keep variety. I’ll also do my best to keep up, rather than go for weeks with no posts. And on that note, I’m going to bed. Good night world! :)

Posted by Caro in Blogging, Health, Life, News, Things to do, Travel, Weddings, Work
21Jul
0

Cramps

I have horrendous cramps.

Not that kind.

These cramps are in my feet. Mostly the bad foot, but also occasionally the “good” one. What’s going on here? Seriously I’ve had 15 spasms in the last hour. My toes are curling all over themselves. They’re also splitting into some really funky shapes. The muscle or tendons or whatever tightened as much as it could, tightened some more, and won’t let go. It’s like a crocodile clamping down on a victim. No bueno.

Posted by Caro in Health
13Jul
0

Running Log

Mostly to self-motivate, but also to get others into it, I’ve started a new page on this blog to track my progress at the c25k. I did workout #4 last night and am feeling pretty good today.

Anyone looking for a great starter program, this is for you.

Anyone looking to kick my ass into shape, monitor my progress and let me have it if I’m slacking!!

Posted by Caro in Blogging, Health, Sports, Things to do
08Jul
0

C25K

When it comes to some things in life, I need a little motivation to get started. Like working out. I mean I love the idea of being in shape, looking good, feeling good, and being able to do fun outdoorsy activities without getting winded. But do I like going to the gym? NO! Are you crazy?

Over the past few months I was blessed to have a friend who felt the same way. Coincidentally, he lives a mile away from me. So a couple of times a week we go get pumped at the gym. It’s awesome. Sometimes you just need that little bit of motivation (a person coming over) to get you started. And I know once I’m started, it’s all good. Get me TO the gym and I will workout.

But then summer came. My gym buddy works for a school, so his lucky ass gets summers off. So he surfs all the time, and doesn’t have the time or desire to come to my janky apartment gym.

What have I been doing since summer vacay started? Well, lots of things. But sadly, not one of them has been “gym time”.

Then I saw some tweets from @itsKrust about C25K. What is that? So I google it, and it’s pretty awesome.

Basically it’s a running program designed for the person who is 100% completely out of shape and is literally starting at 0. Hence the name “Couch to 5K”

3 workouts per week for 9 weeks and you’ll be off your couch running about a 10min mile pace for 30 minutes. This is my cup of tea. I did the week 1 workout 1 yesterday and found it quite easy. So I mixed it up a bit. Added a 1.5 incline and sped up the walking portions. Also ran the last 5 min. Not too bad. I think I’ll skip ahead to week 2 next time.

The only potential setback I might have is that my current workout schedule is 2 days a week. This means I’m going to have to actually get off my couch on Saturday or Sunday to do the 3rd one each week. J said he would do it with me on Saturday. For him, this really is couch to 5K.

Wish us luck!!

Posted by Caro in Discoveries, Health, Life, Sports, Things to do
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