The Mono Saga Continued:

Wednesday came along and I went into work. I hadn’t trained in over a week, but I was beat. I still hadn’t eaten and it was almost impossible to swallow water. My boss sent me home as soon as I walked in. I sounded like I had swallowed a tennis ball.

I went home and crashed for an hour and called the doctor. That first doctor wasn’t available, but another one had an appointment so I headed back in. They did the 3rd negative strep test… They poked around… The doctor wasn’t sure what was going on but he said the tonsils might have to come out.

Thankfully this doctor was aggressive. A doctor after my own heart. I bent over for a shot in the rear, I got some vicodin and some heavy meds. We made an appointment Friday to check my tonsils but he said, “if these get any worse, get your behind back in here EARLY tomorrow.”

I went home and tried to get comfortable. I still couldn’t keep food down and I slept a total of 4 hours even with the vicodin. I woke up Thursday and couldn’t handle it. I went back to the doctor, falling asleep in the waiting room; I laid on the butcher paper in the smaller waiting room as they took blood and did more tests.

The doctor came back quickly, but I knew what was up. I could hear him in the hall. I had Mono, but then he threw a curveball. I was severely dehydrated and my tonsils were taking over my life. I had to get to the hospital for observation and some serious rehydration!

My mom came from Ames and drove me to the hospital. I sat there rehydrating for hours before the doctor came. He prescribed some steroids to get the swelling down and a cocktail of drugs to battle what he decided was Mono and Tonsilitis.

I was in the hospital for two nights and I’ve been laying low ever since. A cupboard full of soup and a freezer full of popsicles are nursing me back to health.

I had to email the people at the Copper Creek Tri and let them know I’d be gracefully bowing out of competition this year. So, I’m still waiting on that elusive first triathlon.

The Doctor is closely monitoring my spleen and all my other inner functions with weekly blood tests so I can get back to training for RAGBRAI as soon as possible. As of now, I’m pretty nervous. I feel like I was struggling to balance the tri and RAGBRAI before I got sick, and now that I have time to focus on RAGBRAI I just hope it isn’t too late.

I laid in bed last night a little bit thankful that I wasn’t trying to figure out where to park for the tri, and if I needed a wet suit, and how exactly transitions would shake out. But now my thoughts have turned to camping gear and how I’m going to charge my cell phone on the RAGBRAI route.

All that’s left to do, this month before RAGBRAI, is to power full steam ahead. Getting ready for the greatest party in Iowa!

The Demise of the Tri

I’ve been training hard since January for both RAGBRAI and the Copper Creek Triathlon. I started back in January at the YMCA downtown taking spin classes and getting in the pool. As it warmed up I added some runs at Grays Lake and took the bike out on the trails.

I was feeling confident, I started early, I loved riding my bike, I was really getting the hang of the running and swimming and I was starting to envision myself at the transitions and I was looking at wetsuit rentals. But then something happened that I wasn’t prepared for, I hadn’t trained for it and nothing in my Triathlon Magazine even mentioned it…

A few weeks ago I started to wonder if I was overtraining a little. I was sleeping a little more than usual, I was forgetting things and I was a little snippy with my friends and family.

I was in Ames visiting my parents and my throat started to hurt so I went to the family doctor. She gave me a strep test but it came back negative. Apparently sometimes it shows up negative but you actually have it, so she gave me a Z-pack to treat the strep anyway, told me to TAKE IT EASY and sent me on my way.

Five days later I was getting worse. I couldn’t eat or sleep. I hadn’t eaten anything solid since Sunday and, it was extremely painful to drink. So I headed back to a doctor in Des Moines on Sunday. He decided it was Mono, but it was too early to test, so he said, TAKE IT EASY, come back on Friday if you’re still sick.

I told him I was two weeks from my tri.. When would I be able to get back into it? He took one look and said, “I think you’re going to have to skip the tri.” In my weakened state I burst into tears. I felt horrible for this very professional, serious doctor. He sorta walked out, and then walked back in and got me a tissue, and walked out, and walked back in and stumbled over an explanation and then walked out and sent a nurse in after me.

I finally pulled myself together, I just needed a few pity tears to make up for the blood and sweat I had shed getting ready for the tri. To be honest, I had a little hope left in me that I’d wake up the next day feeling 100% and I’d be able to rock it out. But that wasn’t the case.

Now you know, I’m skipping the Copper Creek Triathlon. RAGBRAI, however, is still in the plans. But I need to take a nap. I have a long road to recovery. The rest of the story is coming soon!