Good News and Bad News

I've been postponing this post hoping that it would contain only the good half of the title, but as I'm rapidly discovering, my life is very far out of my control right now. So the first bad news is that I waited too long to sign up for my half iron of choice, Timberman here in NH and unfortunately it oversold, so no waiting list. However, I did find another alternative in Rhode Island which, while it may not be as aesthetically pleasing, may in fact be better since it's flat :) I haven't signed up for that yet either for a number of reasons...

Now, the other good news...I've been dealing with a hip injury since January of 06 and while it's significantly better, it still bothers me. Having had poor to no health insurance for the last year, I've been left to apply my limited knowledge towards diagnosing and rehabing and finally decided this fall that I don't necessarily know what the hell I'm talking about. I took the fall off of running in the hopes that I would finally get better. No luck. However, I saw an orthopedic surgeon the other day and through talking to him, figured out that while I have a number of issues (including piriformis syndrome, some tendonitis, and possibly torn labral cartilage), none of them preclude running. I may piss of my hip, but I won't do any further damage. Now this is still our best guess because I'm in no position to pay for another MRI to clarify.

And the bad news. The purpose of my visit to the ortho was a strange mass that appeared in my left calf in June of 06 (bad year for my left leg). I've seen several doctors now, had x-rays, ultrasound, and MRI all to find out that I still don't know what it is. I know it's not what I'd hoped, a lipoma or simple fat deposit that was pushing on the surrounding muscle tissue. While all of the doctors so far feel that this mass is benign, no one will rule out the possibility of a malignant tumor. So Monday I head to Beth Israel Hospital in Boston to see a musculoskeletal oncologist for a contrast MRI, biopsy, and at some point, surgery and muscle resection. It's looking now like I might lose a good chunk of the medial head of my gastroc. I've been told I'll be able to run again but I may not be at the level I'm at now. Since I never quite attained the level I know I could, that news comes with so many layers of disappointment I can't even begin to talk about them now.

So that's where things stand for now. No half ironman until I figure out when surgery will take place and how long my rehab will be. And for now, I'm operating on my gut that tells me this is going to turn out to be completely benign and hope that that's not me living in denial.