The next few days were pretty boring, so I won't go into as much detail :-)
Thursday
Chest x-ray
back to 95%
Friday
Finally let me sleep
Still bubbling, not going home today
Still bubbling a lot
First attempt at a shower
Saturday
Low heart rate alarm. I forget to tell them I'm an athlete.
Clamped the line to see if my lungs were pressurized.
CT showed no other issues in my lungs.
Chest X-Ray showed 20% deflation
Trying again tomorrow
Changing the dressing hurt like hell.
Sunday
Water seal
Chest X-Ray showed I was good
Valve installed.
Going Home!!
Monday, October 31, 2016
Monday, October 24, 2016
Chest Pain Surprise, Day 1
I woke up at 5AM like any other Wednesday, planning to eat breakfast and ride for an hour or so before work.
When I went to the bathroom, I noticed a major pain in my chest on the right side in the pectoral area. I thought I'd pulled a muscle or slept on it funny. It ached each time I took a step going downstairs and it hurt to breathe deeply to the point that I couldn't actually breathe in all the way.
All through eating I wondered if I should go back to bed, but I decided to do an easy ride. I did about 15 minutes at a light 120 to 130 watts.... and the aching just got worse. I got off the bike, went upstairs, and took a shower... it still hurt, so I laid back down in bed. Lying on my back, it was still pretty uncomfortable. Lying on my left side, it was much better. Lying on my right side was EXCRUCIATING.
I went in to work planning on calling my doctor the minute they opened... so at 9:01 I called and got an appointment for 11:00. All morning I noticed I was able to breathe less deeply before it started to hurt and I got to the appointment 15 minutes early to try to get in early.
I also noticed that when I was talking, I had to pause to breathe a lot more than usual. It's odd for me to not be able to talk a lot :-)
I told the doctor the story and they thought pulled a muscle as well but my pain level and difficulty breathing didn't add up, so they ordered a chest X-ray. Luckily they have a radiology lab on site. I was able to see the image through the window... I didn't see any spots or anything but I thought my lungs looked really asymmetrical... that didn't make any sense.
When I got back in the exam room, the doctor was acting weird. She had a second doctor looking at it and they were talking back and forth about stuff I didn't quite catch. Then they told me that I had a collapsed lung. Their instructions: go to the hospital NOW.
I kind of went against medical advice... I went home, picked up a few things, and waited for my wife to get home from work.
Two hours later, she drove me to the ER. With chest pains, I went to the head of the line and was talking to a doctor within 15 minutes. They repeated the chest x-ray and confirmed a collapsed lung that had decreased in volume by 60%.
One of my lungs had a hole in it, allowing it to leak air into the space around the lung. That air built up enough that it was decreasing the amount of volume in my chest for my lung, causing it to get smaller and smaller with each breath I took. At its current rate, it could have killed me before the end of the day. Yes, I asked :-)
What I had was called a spontaneous pneumothorax. That means it was a collapsed lung that was not the result of any other illnesses, injuries, or any other known or visible cause. It was not a result of hard cycling training, wood working, breathing in wood stains, seasonal allergies, or any other activity. In fact, the two leading causes are lung cancer (the tumors eat a hole in your lung) or being extremely tall and thin (like 6'4" and 150 pounds... I am neither)
Within another hour, they put in a chest tube to drain out the extra air and maintain the proper pressure around my lungs. Putting it in HURT. It turns out the space around your lungs is really sensitive, which is why it hurt to breath and why it hurt to push a 1/8" tube about 12" into it, starting near my shoulder and reaching almost to my stomach.
I could breathe again almost immediately and without pain... except some major discomfort from the tube that was now poked into my chest. When I inhaled all the way, I could feel it in there... and it was kind of a creepy feeling. They also had to cut a decent hole through my right pectoral muscle to out in the tube, making it pretty painful to move my right arm.
Before long they had me hooked up to a suction box with constant vacuum pressure to make sure that any air that got out of my lung was immediately pulled out. The box bubbled every time I inhaled, telling us the hole was still there. I was going to be staying in the hospital until the bubbling stopped, indicating the hole had healed. For most people that takes 2 to 5 days. Being relatively young and healthy, I thought I'd be on the low side. I didn't realize just how large the hole was yet.
Here's the crazy part: I didn't have a single risk factor. I don't smoke, don't drink, don't do drugs, and I exercise regularly. I spent most of the day repeating the same story: I woke up with chest pain. I have no idea what happened.
They officially admitted me to the hospital and I got my own room. It wasn't much, but at least it was private.
They hooked me up to the suction in the room, ran the tubing around the bed, and got my vacuum box all set up, then handed me the TV remove/call button. Note to designers: it's easy to mix up "turn TV on" and "call nurse". They also hooked me up a half dozen leads for a portable EKG machine they kept me hooked up to the entire time I was there.
I didn't get out of the bed for quite a while. I had so many wires from the EKG on me and the tube was taped down so much, I was almost afraid to move so I didn't pull anything out... and the tube hurt so much going in I was afraid of putting any tension on it at all.
Various doctors and nurses who would be involved in my care came in and introduced themselves. They all seemed really nice and were all shocked that an otherwise-healthy, 42-year old person would have such a severe issue. I started to wonder if they didn't believe me.
The pulmonary specialist said the soonest I should expect to go home would be Friday. Ugh.
Shelli stayed with me until about 10. She really wanted to stay with me, but there wasn't any decent furniture for her to sleep on and we figured at least one of us should get to sleep at home, especially since the hospital was less than a 10-minute drive from home.
After she left, I decided to try the indignity of going to the bathroom. I paged the nurse and together we figured out how much I was able to move... which turned out was pretty normal except for the limits in my right arm range of motion and strength. She helped me figure out where all the suction tubes ran and how to get them up over the bed so I could get to the bathroom. I was able to go on my own, I just had to get there and back. I watched where every tube went so I could do it again myself and not have to call for help every time I had to pee.
Once I was back in bed, I used a combination of the adjustable bed and the assortment of pillows they gave me to build a position I could sleep in without pulling on the tube. Surprisingly, I got to sleep pretty quickly. Of course, they woke me up every couple hours to take vitals and blood. Thanks, guys, nothing helps you heal like a broken night's sleep!
(The rest of the hospital time will be in a later post...)
When I went to the bathroom, I noticed a major pain in my chest on the right side in the pectoral area. I thought I'd pulled a muscle or slept on it funny. It ached each time I took a step going downstairs and it hurt to breathe deeply to the point that I couldn't actually breathe in all the way.
All through eating I wondered if I should go back to bed, but I decided to do an easy ride. I did about 15 minutes at a light 120 to 130 watts.... and the aching just got worse. I got off the bike, went upstairs, and took a shower... it still hurt, so I laid back down in bed. Lying on my back, it was still pretty uncomfortable. Lying on my left side, it was much better. Lying on my right side was EXCRUCIATING.
I went in to work planning on calling my doctor the minute they opened... so at 9:01 I called and got an appointment for 11:00. All morning I noticed I was able to breathe less deeply before it started to hurt and I got to the appointment 15 minutes early to try to get in early.
I also noticed that when I was talking, I had to pause to breathe a lot more than usual. It's odd for me to not be able to talk a lot :-)
I told the doctor the story and they thought pulled a muscle as well but my pain level and difficulty breathing didn't add up, so they ordered a chest X-ray. Luckily they have a radiology lab on site. I was able to see the image through the window... I didn't see any spots or anything but I thought my lungs looked really asymmetrical... that didn't make any sense.
When I got back in the exam room, the doctor was acting weird. She had a second doctor looking at it and they were talking back and forth about stuff I didn't quite catch. Then they told me that I had a collapsed lung. Their instructions: go to the hospital NOW.
I kind of went against medical advice... I went home, picked up a few things, and waited for my wife to get home from work.
Two hours later, she drove me to the ER. With chest pains, I went to the head of the line and was talking to a doctor within 15 minutes. They repeated the chest x-ray and confirmed a collapsed lung that had decreased in volume by 60%.
One of my lungs had a hole in it, allowing it to leak air into the space around the lung. That air built up enough that it was decreasing the amount of volume in my chest for my lung, causing it to get smaller and smaller with each breath I took. At its current rate, it could have killed me before the end of the day. Yes, I asked :-)
What I had was called a spontaneous pneumothorax. That means it was a collapsed lung that was not the result of any other illnesses, injuries, or any other known or visible cause. It was not a result of hard cycling training, wood working, breathing in wood stains, seasonal allergies, or any other activity. In fact, the two leading causes are lung cancer (the tumors eat a hole in your lung) or being extremely tall and thin (like 6'4" and 150 pounds... I am neither)
Within another hour, they put in a chest tube to drain out the extra air and maintain the proper pressure around my lungs. Putting it in HURT. It turns out the space around your lungs is really sensitive, which is why it hurt to breath and why it hurt to push a 1/8" tube about 12" into it, starting near my shoulder and reaching almost to my stomach.
I could breathe again almost immediately and without pain... except some major discomfort from the tube that was now poked into my chest. When I inhaled all the way, I could feel it in there... and it was kind of a creepy feeling. They also had to cut a decent hole through my right pectoral muscle to out in the tube, making it pretty painful to move my right arm.
Before long they had me hooked up to a suction box with constant vacuum pressure to make sure that any air that got out of my lung was immediately pulled out. The box bubbled every time I inhaled, telling us the hole was still there. I was going to be staying in the hospital until the bubbling stopped, indicating the hole had healed. For most people that takes 2 to 5 days. Being relatively young and healthy, I thought I'd be on the low side. I didn't realize just how large the hole was yet.
Here's the crazy part: I didn't have a single risk factor. I don't smoke, don't drink, don't do drugs, and I exercise regularly. I spent most of the day repeating the same story: I woke up with chest pain. I have no idea what happened.
They officially admitted me to the hospital and I got my own room. It wasn't much, but at least it was private.
They hooked me up to the suction in the room, ran the tubing around the bed, and got my vacuum box all set up, then handed me the TV remove/call button. Note to designers: it's easy to mix up "turn TV on" and "call nurse". They also hooked me up a half dozen leads for a portable EKG machine they kept me hooked up to the entire time I was there.
I didn't get out of the bed for quite a while. I had so many wires from the EKG on me and the tube was taped down so much, I was almost afraid to move so I didn't pull anything out... and the tube hurt so much going in I was afraid of putting any tension on it at all.
Various doctors and nurses who would be involved in my care came in and introduced themselves. They all seemed really nice and were all shocked that an otherwise-healthy, 42-year old person would have such a severe issue. I started to wonder if they didn't believe me.
The pulmonary specialist said the soonest I should expect to go home would be Friday. Ugh.
Shelli stayed with me until about 10. She really wanted to stay with me, but there wasn't any decent furniture for her to sleep on and we figured at least one of us should get to sleep at home, especially since the hospital was less than a 10-minute drive from home.
After she left, I decided to try the indignity of going to the bathroom. I paged the nurse and together we figured out how much I was able to move... which turned out was pretty normal except for the limits in my right arm range of motion and strength. She helped me figure out where all the suction tubes ran and how to get them up over the bed so I could get to the bathroom. I was able to go on my own, I just had to get there and back. I watched where every tube went so I could do it again myself and not have to call for help every time I had to pee.
Once I was back in bed, I used a combination of the adjustable bed and the assortment of pillows they gave me to build a position I could sleep in without pulling on the tube. Surprisingly, I got to sleep pretty quickly. Of course, they woke me up every couple hours to take vitals and blood. Thanks, guys, nothing helps you heal like a broken night's sleep!
(The rest of the hospital time will be in a later post...)
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Starting Over
After months of riding without an focus, a few weeks riding easy to let my knee heal, and another week off for vacation, I'm doing something I haven't done in years: a true foundation period.
The simple fact is that I've lost so much fitness my body can't handle high volume, high intensity kind of training right now and I need to rebuild that. I had a good chat with Hunter the other night to help me come to terms with that and how to do it... it's been so long that I wasn't sure what I should actually be doing!
So, for the rest of 2016, I'll be gradually increasing the lengths of my rides, gradually adding in tempo and sweetspot work, and lightly sprinkling in a couple of bursts here and there.
I've also got a new tool to help me out. After years of love/hate with my CompuTrainer, I decided it was time to get something more modern and more flexible: the Tacx Neo trainer. A couple days in, I'm already loving the ability to use a wider array of training software and the fact that the trainer itself has a little give to it, making it feel more like a bike on the road and being bolted into a steeel cage. Their software offers some nice options I didn't have before and will help keep me entertained on some of the longer rides. Oh, and I've started riding on Zwift too.
The downside is that from all that time off (and LOTS of eating while we were gone), my weight is up. Hopefully it will consistently drop from here until Christmas.
Weekly Stats:
Avg Weight: 188.6 lbs
Avg Body fat: 22.5%
Training Volume: 7.1 hours
ATL: 48.3
mFTP: 203w
The simple fact is that I've lost so much fitness my body can't handle high volume, high intensity kind of training right now and I need to rebuild that. I had a good chat with Hunter the other night to help me come to terms with that and how to do it... it's been so long that I wasn't sure what I should actually be doing!
So, for the rest of 2016, I'll be gradually increasing the lengths of my rides, gradually adding in tempo and sweetspot work, and lightly sprinkling in a couple of bursts here and there.
I've also got a new tool to help me out. After years of love/hate with my CompuTrainer, I decided it was time to get something more modern and more flexible: the Tacx Neo trainer. A couple days in, I'm already loving the ability to use a wider array of training software and the fact that the trainer itself has a little give to it, making it feel more like a bike on the road and being bolted into a steeel cage. Their software offers some nice options I didn't have before and will help keep me entertained on some of the longer rides. Oh, and I've started riding on Zwift too.
The downside is that from all that time off (and LOTS of eating while we were gone), my weight is up. Hopefully it will consistently drop from here until Christmas.
Weekly Stats:
Avg Weight: 188.6 lbs
Avg Body fat: 22.5%
Training Volume: 7.1 hours
ATL: 48.3
mFTP: 203w
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Injured Reserve
It's been a really long time since I've had an overuse injury. The last one I can remember was way back in 1999.... but I just broke the streak.
In diving back into training, I got a little too eager. I added in higher intensity (muscle tension, anaerobic capacity, and VO2 intervals) too soon and gave myself tendonitis.
So, my plan of beating myself up going into vacation so I could spend the week recovering did technically work, just not in the way I had planned.
After a few days off the bike completely, I did an easy ride with almost no force on the pedals at all and my knee felt OK afterwards. I'll be doing that the next few days just to keep moving... and then pick back up when I get back.
Since I don't plan on racing next year, I'm starting to pick some round-number targets that I'd like to see, namely 400 watts for 5:00, 500 watts for 2:00, and 660 watts for 1:00. No real reason, I just want some targets to aim for this winter.
I don't have weight numbers this week... not riding for several days and eating a little more out of frustration, I don't really want to know.
In diving back into training, I got a little too eager. I added in higher intensity (muscle tension, anaerobic capacity, and VO2 intervals) too soon and gave myself tendonitis.
So, my plan of beating myself up going into vacation so I could spend the week recovering did technically work, just not in the way I had planned.
After a few days off the bike completely, I did an easy ride with almost no force on the pedals at all and my knee felt OK afterwards. I'll be doing that the next few days just to keep moving... and then pick back up when I get back.
Since I don't plan on racing next year, I'm starting to pick some round-number targets that I'd like to see, namely 400 watts for 5:00, 500 watts for 2:00, and 660 watts for 1:00. No real reason, I just want some targets to aim for this winter.
I don't have weight numbers this week... not riding for several days and eating a little more out of frustration, I don't really want to know.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Rebuilding
The worst part about letting yourself get out of shape is the process of rebuilding it all.
Training on a regular basis has all kinds of aches and pains and discomforts associated with it, but rebuilding from a lower level has the added aggravation of constantly feeling "I can do better."
The rides I'm doing are shorter, the power numbers are lower, and I feel like I did something twice and long and twice as hard afterwards. But I'm working on it.
I've gradually rebuilt my training volume so this week I'm back over 7 hours. I'm really trying to be patient and not add much intensity to the mix yet. I know my body can't handle it just yet... I tried a couple of really high-power 2-minute intervals on Tuesday and my knee just screamed at me for two days afterwards.
I've got one more week to build up before we go on vacation. I'm planning to really wear myself out before we go so my body can spend the time we're gone repairing and compensating.
When we get back, I plan to build back into the 8 to 10 hour range and then gradually start adding back in the intensity.
My training numbers overall are not great. My CTL is at 48 and ATL is at 72, so I'll be ready for an easier day tomorrow.
I still don't have any racing goals or anything... with all we've got going on, there's no way we could travel to races. I might do something different and just aim for some performance goals in a range I've never really focused on before.... we'll see!
This week's numbers:
Weight: 186.2 (187 last week)
Training volume: 7.4 hours (6.9 last week)
Training on a regular basis has all kinds of aches and pains and discomforts associated with it, but rebuilding from a lower level has the added aggravation of constantly feeling "I can do better."
The rides I'm doing are shorter, the power numbers are lower, and I feel like I did something twice and long and twice as hard afterwards. But I'm working on it.
I've gradually rebuilt my training volume so this week I'm back over 7 hours. I'm really trying to be patient and not add much intensity to the mix yet. I know my body can't handle it just yet... I tried a couple of really high-power 2-minute intervals on Tuesday and my knee just screamed at me for two days afterwards.
I've got one more week to build up before we go on vacation. I'm planning to really wear myself out before we go so my body can spend the time we're gone repairing and compensating.
When we get back, I plan to build back into the 8 to 10 hour range and then gradually start adding back in the intensity.
My training numbers overall are not great. My CTL is at 48 and ATL is at 72, so I'll be ready for an easier day tomorrow.
I still don't have any racing goals or anything... with all we've got going on, there's no way we could travel to races. I might do something different and just aim for some performance goals in a range I've never really focused on before.... we'll see!
This week's numbers:
Weight: 186.2 (187 last week)
Training volume: 7.4 hours (6.9 last week)
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Long Time Away
It's been a busy year, but not on the bike!
Back in January, I was working on some aggressive goals for this year on the bike. Around the same time, I got involved with Shelli's side business... which took off like a rocket. All my mental effort and free time went into that instead of into training and racing like I'd planned.
Now, the business is doing really well (for a side business, we're not doing it full time or anything), but I'm seriously out of shape and have gained 15 pounds just this year, reaching just under 190 pounds.
So, now it's time to get at least a little fitness back and lose some weight.
My average training week has only been 3 or 4 hours a week at best. I want to build that up to 6 to 8 and see how it goes.
Goal wise, I doubt I'll be racing on that much training volume. Mostly I want to get my weight back down around 170 (or a little under) and not embarrass myself when I go out riding with my friends and maybe get a few Strava KOMs back that I've lost.
Starting numbers:
estimated FTP: 210 watts
weight: 187 pounds
Back in January, I was working on some aggressive goals for this year on the bike. Around the same time, I got involved with Shelli's side business... which took off like a rocket. All my mental effort and free time went into that instead of into training and racing like I'd planned.
Now, the business is doing really well (for a side business, we're not doing it full time or anything), but I'm seriously out of shape and have gained 15 pounds just this year, reaching just under 190 pounds.
So, now it's time to get at least a little fitness back and lose some weight.
My average training week has only been 3 or 4 hours a week at best. I want to build that up to 6 to 8 and see how it goes.
Goal wise, I doubt I'll be racing on that much training volume. Mostly I want to get my weight back down around 170 (or a little under) and not embarrass myself when I go out riding with my friends and maybe get a few Strava KOMs back that I've lost.
Starting numbers:
estimated FTP: 210 watts
weight: 187 pounds
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Settling back in
One of my favorite business/management podcasts, Manager Tools, describes good management as being mostly routine and unsexy. Training is pretty much the same way.
One week in, I'm starting to build back up and it's not very exciting.
I've been getting into the boxing training, doing 15 to 20 minutes after work. It's a great stress release and burns a few extra calories. My knuckles are skinned to hell because I bought the wrong kind of gloves at first and they are healing up nicely now that I got the right gear. I'm gradually learning how to wrap my hands so I don't cut off the circulation.
On the bike I'm building my endurance back up. Yesterday I did 90 minutes... kind of pathetic by my normal standards but I was pretty happy about it at the time. I'm planning to gradually build that back up so I can get 3 hour rides on a regular basis, but that will take me a while.
My power numbers, well, they were not great. I lost a lot of ground the last few months. All I can do now is work on getting it back.
There's no doubt that I will need to reassess my goals for the year. It's all but impossible for me to reach the kind of power numbers I would need to win the state TT in 6 months, so I'll need to pick some other targets. I'm going to wait to see how quickly I can rebuild before I try to set anything specific.
One week in, I'm starting to build back up and it's not very exciting.
I've been getting into the boxing training, doing 15 to 20 minutes after work. It's a great stress release and burns a few extra calories. My knuckles are skinned to hell because I bought the wrong kind of gloves at first and they are healing up nicely now that I got the right gear. I'm gradually learning how to wrap my hands so I don't cut off the circulation.
On the bike I'm building my endurance back up. Yesterday I did 90 minutes... kind of pathetic by my normal standards but I was pretty happy about it at the time. I'm planning to gradually build that back up so I can get 3 hour rides on a regular basis, but that will take me a while.
My power numbers, well, they were not great. I lost a lot of ground the last few months. All I can do now is work on getting it back.
There's no doubt that I will need to reassess my goals for the year. It's all but impossible for me to reach the kind of power numbers I would need to win the state TT in 6 months, so I'll need to pick some other targets. I'm going to wait to see how quickly I can rebuild before I try to set anything specific.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
A New Ingredient
I always knew that sooner or later, cycling alone would not be enough training to keep me fit and healthy overall. As great as it is for aerobic fitness, it's lower-body only and not weight-bearing. I'll be 42 in a few weeks and thought maybe it was time.
I'm also struggling because I've lot a fair amount of fitness over the last few months. I've been on the road a bit and my motivation has been at a pretty low point. It seems like anything that I can do to help get me training, even if it's just fitness and not on the bike, would be a good start.
So, I got a heavy bag this week and started boxing training.
It's totally different from what I'm used to. My history in sports is make up entirely of repetitive motions: speedskating, lifting, and cycling. Once you can do one repetition well, it's just a matter of doing it with varying levels of speed and force. Boxing requires learning dozens of new skills and performing several at once.
Still, it's a lot of fun to do something new and different. I know it won't make me a better cyclist but it should help me be a fitter adult in general.
After the first day, my wrists, forearms, and shoulders are sore. I got short-finger gloves (like I'm used to for everything else) and skinned several knuckles already. We'll see how it goes from here!
I'm also struggling because I've lot a fair amount of fitness over the last few months. I've been on the road a bit and my motivation has been at a pretty low point. It seems like anything that I can do to help get me training, even if it's just fitness and not on the bike, would be a good start.
So, I got a heavy bag this week and started boxing training.
It's totally different from what I'm used to. My history in sports is make up entirely of repetitive motions: speedskating, lifting, and cycling. Once you can do one repetition well, it's just a matter of doing it with varying levels of speed and force. Boxing requires learning dozens of new skills and performing several at once.
Still, it's a lot of fun to do something new and different. I know it won't make me a better cyclist but it should help me be a fitter adult in general.
After the first day, my wrists, forearms, and shoulders are sore. I got short-finger gloves (like I'm used to for everything else) and skinned several knuckles already. We'll see how it goes from here!
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