Author: Lera

I'm a small town Michigan girl making my way through life with my faithful cats and dogs, biking, running, and Japanese books. One day I hope to be a Japanese translator and interpreter.

April 2024 Update

On By LeraIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Just going to keep this short and sweet since not a lot has happened since last time.

I had another follow up for my knee injury. It’s been trying to get better, so I opted not to talk with a surgeon at that appointment. It’s still limiting me enough that I’m still considering surgery, but I figured if it seems like it’s trying to improve, it would be best to hold off for now. The lateral knee pain has gotten better in that it’s not every day anymore, but it does still bother me if I stand with too much weight through my left leg, or it I have my knee bent a while and then straighten it. I haven’t noticed major issues with the lateral pain after I workout. The posterior pain is an ongoing issue, as is the joint as a whole feeling swollen after I run, and sometimes if I bike more than an hour. I’m usually good to run for a mile to a mile and a half without having pain later, but more than that and it isn’t pretty. I’ve pushed my running to three miles a few times, and while I usually feel okay during the run itself, I have pain soon after stopping and I hurt for the whole rest of the day, sometimes into the next day.

My doctor still thinks a lot of my issue is my IT band, but I’m just not so sure. When I get the lateral pain, it’s different than when I’ve had IT band pain. The pain I get now is lower. Back near the beginning of everything, I did have that very classic IT pain, but now I just don’t know. He explained that the IT band can cause pain where it attaches lower down the leg from that “textbook” area, but I’m hesitant to cut it until I feel sure. Still no clear idea of the cause of the posterior pain. May be my torn meniscus, may not be, especially since the area of pain doesn’t overlap the tear most of the time. If I have surgery, they’d look at everything first and then the plan would be to release some tension on my IT band and fix/cut out the tear in my meniscus, along with fixing whatever else they find while looking inside. It just scares me to mess with my IT band because what if it isn’t the problem after all and then it’s too lax? I don’t want to set myself up for future injuries.

I follow up with the doctor again at the end of May, and honestly if there isn’t ongoing improvement, I’ll likely just go the surgery route. The surgeon he wants me to see is very busy, so I assume surgery would be pushed out a couple months anyway. If in the lead up to it I feel things have improved, I could just cancel. It sucks to be at this point where I don’t have conservative options left and I’m just playing a waiting game. I’m having a hard time knowing what the right decision is here for myself.

One Final Push

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, running, SurgeryLeave a comment

Had another follow up with the ortho clinic two days ago. I’ve had very minor improvement in my knee since the last injection, but I’m still getting pain with even walking still sometimes. I can walk farther most of the time before it starts bothering me, but I still have days where it just doesn’t like me to walk on it at all. After every activity that involves weight bearing, I have pain. I get pain after walking, after running, and even after standing twenty minutes to cook or greet people at the doors at church. Biking is almost normal, but I’ll still get pain after that if I ride longer than about 45 minutes, but shorter rides are okay 85% of the time.

All that said, I feel like I’m back to where I was before I injured myself further at the 5K race in November, but even before that I was still struggling with these same issues for 3 months. Now we’re at 7 months, and it’s not looking great that they will resolve without help. The doctor told me there’s still a chance that they can improve, but told me to look at it from the perspective of how much it’s limiting me from the activities I want to do. The truth is that it’s holding me back.

At my appointment, I had fully planned to discuss my surgical options, but I was so undecided about it. The doctor was really understanding about it and told me to take the next month and see if things improve, and during this next month, he told me (directly quoting him) to “beat the shit out of it as a field test”. He told me to increase my activities and see how it responds. Just based on how the weekend went, I think it was stupid of me to push surgery off another month, but I want to be sure I need it. I really don’t see things improving in the next month, but I’ll make suer I run consistently and keep doing my rehab exercises and see what happens.

Steroid Shot Round Two

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, running, SurgeryLeave a comment

I had my ortho follow up yesterday. I did get some relief from the steroid injection into my knee joint last time. It gave me some off my range of motion back and helped with some of the pain, but it didn’t help with everything. I remain unable to bend my knee all the way, or straighten it all the way, so trying to do some of the stretches the doctor gave me hasn’t been going well. It’s still too painful to attempt a quad or hamstring stretch, but I’ve been able to do most of the strengthening ones pretty decently.

Given continuing symptoms at my appointment today, the doctor injected my distal IT band to see what that does for me. I’m still getting lateral and posterior pain, and walking still isn’t comfortable, but biking has been feeling a little better. I’m having less pain and stiffness after a ride as long as I keep it slow. Although any amount of pain is still too much, it’s at least a step in the right direction.

If this steroid injection doesn’t fix the problem and get me starting to run, I’ll be discussing surgery when I go back in 6 weeks. Hopefully it won’t come to that, but that’s the very last option. I’m not crazy about the idea of surgery when we don’t even know for sure what’s going on, but I’m pretty sure arthroscopy can aid in diagnosis, and they can fix the problem if they find something right at the same time, so I’m trying to be as positive as I can. The doctor mentioned possibly releasing tension on the IT band, but that’s assuming that’s the cause. The area where it hurts isn’t the same as where I had IT pain before; that was a little higher up on the knee and this is lower. He still doesn’t think it’s likely to be my meniscus even though it is torn since it’s on the medial side, which is the opposite side of my knee. I also have a Baker’s cyst that could be the cause. Basically, we’re both just crossing our fingers and hoping we can at least narrow down what’s going on. Unfortunately, it could be one or all of those things.

I felt pretty good when I woke up this morning (waaaay too early at 2:45 am thanks to insomnia being a side effect of the injection), so I took myself out for a walk at 6 am and managed to hit two miles. I was really slow, but only mildly sore while I walked without a noticeable difference in pain later on, so that’s a good sign. If I can get the pain while walking to disappear over the next two weeks, I’ll try slipping in a couple tenth mile intervals into a walk. I don’t want to rush back into trying to run and make it worse again, but I also need the information for when I go back for my follow up. If I still can’t run, I’ll let them cut me open and see if they can find the problem. I’m far too young for this to be the end of my running, so I’ll give it a try if I have to.

I’ll let you guys know how things continue to go as always!

Knee Consult

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

Today I finally had my specialist consult for my knee, which I was ridiculously excited for. I’ve been waiting for at least some answers, and while I didn’t get as much information as I hoped, just having some sort of plan in place right now is helping keep me grounded.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was scheduled to consult with a sports medicine doctor at an orthopedics office. The appointment began with taking x-rays, which I didn’t fully understand because I had an MRI done already, but I guess they show different enough information. After that, I went to a room to await the official start of the appointment.

Their office works with a physician assistant coming in first and getting a history, asking questions, and doing a physical exam. I was fine with that since I was going to be seeing the doctor after that. However, this PA was so fixated on my X-rays showing the beginnings of arthritis developing that that was all he was focused on while he was talking to me. He made it sound like that was what he thought the cause of everything was, even though I specifically was able to point to it developing after a run, and specifically worsening when my knee snapped at my Thanksgiving 5k. There was no way I was about to walk out of that office with anyone trying to tell me arthritis was the cause of my problems. It’s nothing new to me when someone in healthcare sees my body still being overweight, sees something like that in an X-ray, and just can’t see past it. He also kept trying to tell me it would be better for me if I didn’t run and switched to biking or swimming.

Thankfully, the doctor listened to me a lot better and I felt like he actually heard my concerns. He also asked some questions and did an exam. He then pulled my MRI and X-rays up and showed me exactly what the findings in them looked like on the images and talked about why he wasn’t 100% sure that my meniscus tear was the cause of my pain and deficits. The place where my meniscus is torn is the medial side, yet I’ve had a lot more posterior and lateral pain. He did say the posterior pain could be from the meniscus, but also said it may not be and that rushing to do surgery on it may not fix it. I told him that I was willing to try conservative treatments first, and whatever it takes as long as I can run again.

We settled on trying a couple of injections spaced apart by a month. He let me decide if I wanted one that would help the pain in the back of my knee first or the lateral pain first. I chose to treat the pain the back first because he said getting rid of the inflammation in the joint, whether from the tear or something else, would help clear up the Baker’s cyst since it’s a result of too much fluid production from inflammation. I was hoping he would drain it, but he said this would work better.

So, I had the steroid injection done on my knee joint itself, and it was surprisingly mostly painless. It was a little achy when he was actually entering the joint, but very mild— much more mild than the pain I’ve been living with daily. The doctor said it would take up to two days to see full benefit. He also said that if this didn’t address the pain, he would try an injection laterally to see if it’s my IT band causing pain in a different spot than before. I at least appreciate his honesty that he’s not sure exactly what it is, but he’s willing to try a few things. He did say that if the injections don’t work, then it would probably be wise to consult a surgeon.

I go back for a follow up in a month. In the meantime, he gave me about a dozen different exercises to work on at home. I am allowed to try some walking and biking as tolerated after taking it easy the next couple of days to let the injection take full effect. Right now I can’t do either without pain, so we’ll see what happens in the next several weeks. My only fear for the long-term is that these injections do help, but it just puts a band-aid on a bigger problem. The steroids will help the inflammation and therefore the pain, but what if just masking the symptoms causes me a false sense of well-being and I end up injuring myself more? I don’t like thinking about something like that, but I also know that I’m extremely unlucky when it comes to injuries. At this point, it would be naive of me NOT to think of it.

As always, I’ll share with you guys when I know more!

Knee Damage

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

I had an MRI done this week after I injured myself even more at the Thanksgiving 5K. I got the results back and there’s a whole lot going on. The most serious issue is a meniscus tear, but I also have a moderately sized cyst behind my knee and a joint effusion. Basically, the whole thing is a mess. I had already set up an appointment with the orthopedics office before the testing, but they didn’t schedule me with a surgeon, they scheduled me with someone in sports medicine. They put me with him because I had no previous history of knee surgeries and a no specific diagnosis, which makes sense. Now that I have the results back and know it’s a tear, I asked my pcp if I should reschedule to one of the surgeons, and that is what he would prefer.

I called the office and asked if I could be rescheduled to one of the surgeons, but the wait is out to March and April, which is way too long to let this go. I decided to just stick with the doctor I was scheduled with for now so I could at least get some questions answered about the severity of the condition, if the tear itself is likely to be causing the issues (it’s my medial meniscus that’s torn, but mostly I have lateral and posterior pain), and if it’s possible to try conservative treatment. My appointment is only two weeks away; at this point, it just makes sense to see what he says and I can always ask to book with someone else if I want another opinion. Letting this pain and loss of function go on for three more months is unreasonable. I can’t bend my leg all the way, I can’t straighten it all the way, and it’s affected my gait for a month now.

Honestly, I’m scared of what I’m going to hear. I know that a lot of people with meniscus issues still have trouble with it even after a repair. I also know that it’s unlikely to just heal itself, so I don’t know what I’m facing. I would love to know how severely it’s torn, and would like to hopefully get the cyst and/or fluid drained so my knee doesn’t feel so stiff and swollen. I think just that would go a good way toward me feeling better.

I’ll keep you guys updated. I had dreams of doing a color run in April, but it really all depends on how this consultation goes.

Mystery Injury

On By LeraIn Life, running, weight lossLeave a comment

Did my first Turkey Chase this year! I had decently high hopes for this race. The last few weeks I had been able to run a bit and was looking forward to seeing what I could do. The plan was .2 mile run/ .1 mile walk for this race. I, unfortunately, was not able to do as planned. I was trying to pass a huge clump of walkers, so I hopped up on the curb to pass, and when I came back down, I heard the side of my leg make noise, a burst of pain, and it buckled. Managed not to go down thanks to grabbing on to a cement barrier on the bridge, but that was the end of my running for the day—just before the one mile arch. The last two miles felt like an eternity grinding my way through the pain and trying to hold back tears of frustration. I did my best to stay present in the moment instead of spiraling downward, but it was a battle. By far my worst race to date, but I’m glad I was able to at least finish.

It’s been over two weeks, and while the pain has improved some, something is still off. I’m having the same trouble I was having before, and something new thanks to that race. My doctor suspects maybe something with the meniscus, but my knee wasn’t doing it’s usual thing at the appointment. It sure did buckle on when I got out of my car at work after that, though— just like when you take a car to a mechanic and it doesn’t make the noise. So, now I have an mri to do in a week and an orthopedics appointment in January. We had discussed waiting until the ortho appointment and doing imaging then, but since that group was booking out a bit, I didn’t want to delay things even more. Even if the mri doesn’t show anything going on, that’s still valuable information for that appointment.

Needless to say, I won’t be doing any more events this year. My coworker told me she wants to start running and wants to do a color run in the spring, so hopefully I can start training again soon! I don’t care how many setbacks I face or how many times I need to start over; I will make my running goals a reality.

November 2023 Life

On By LeraIn Life, running, weight lossLeave a comment

Hey guys! It’s been about a month since I’ve updated you, so here it is! I’ve been steadily working on losing weight. It’s slowed down to one pound a week. It’s frustratingly slow, but I realize that means I have a higher chance of success in keeping it off. I could always eat less to increase my deficit, but with working out, I need to make sure I’m getting enough nutrition, especially while trying to heal an injury. I am finally starting to fit into regular sized clothes, so I’m looking forward to having more options available for that. It was definitely the ego boost that I needed right now. Still, though, in the last 9 months, I’ve lost 48 pounds, which I’m thrilled with.

As far as my leg goes, I still don’t know what’s wrong with it. I feel like physical therapy was a waste of time for the most part. I think I would have been better off waiting for the clinic that was booking a month out because I think I would have had better treatment. I only did 5 sessions, which were once a week, all under 30 minutes, and all I did was the same exercises I was working on at home. The IT band area does feel better, so in that regard it wasn’t a waste, but I still have a lot of pain after a run a little lower down and around the back, pain so bad with kneeling that I can’t do that anymore, and there’s a lump there, so that’s going to need to be addressed when I follow up with my doctor in a few weeks.


All that said, my PT did tell me I could run short distances and try to build up from there. I had too much pain trying to run one mile straight through, but I split that up into walk/run intervals of 0.1 mile walk, 0.2 mile run until I hit 2 miles, and while I was sore the day after, it was less than running all the way through a mile. I ended up signing up for a Thanksgiving Day 5k, which I have wanted to do every year since I started running and have always ended up injured, but I simply don’t care this year and am going to go and do it anyway, even if I have to walk.

PR From Walking???

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

Good evening, guys! It’s been an eventful week. Sunday I absolutely crushed that 5k I signed up for, even though I couldn’t run. I really didn’t want to go and just walk it, and I was going to be there alone instead of with friends like usual, but I knew I’d regret not going more, so I laced up and headed out. My only goal was not to get caught by the sweepers, but it turns out I didn’t need to worry about that. I kept as quick a pace as I could walking and actually set a new PR! That’s how much my fitness has improved this year. I never thought I’d get a PR walking a 5k, but I did. I’m so pleased with it, but it makes me wonder how fast I would have been able to finish if I could have run it. Hopefully someday soon that will happen.

Thursday I started physical therapy. The PT I worked with also thinks it’s my IT band, but he didn’t really say anything about why it would hurt in the back like it is. I still think something else is also going on, but I’ll give it some time following his recommendations. I had to go to a new clinic because of insurance, and I just don’t know how I’m going to feel about their process. The initial consult didn’t even last a half hour. He felt my knee and did a couple quick tests, and didn’t really ask many questions. I tried to explain that the main issue is that it hurts in the back more than anything, especially when I bend it all the way, and that while it did hurt on the side when I stopped running, it hasn’t done that in weeks, but hurts in the back. I didn’t really feel heard, and the appointment was so quick. He gave me five things to do with three reps each, then told me I wouldn’t be coming back until a week and a half later. This is different to every initial consult I’ve ever done. I’ve always had at least a one hour appointment and been told to schedule another in a few days. I’ll see what they tell me when I go back, but it just feels very strange to me. I want to get this issue fixed, and it’s already been nearly two months. I don’t want to waste time. I want to get back to being able to run and squat and kneel without pain.

September Setbacks

On By LeraIn Life, running, weight lossLeave a comment

I feel like the title is a misnomer, because August is actually the month where things started holding me back. I ended up hurting myself about halfway through August and I’m still not better. I went for a rainy day run and felt great during, to the point where I intentionally got a new PR, but later that night it all went downhill. The worst part is that I don’t even know what the issue is. My doctor thinks maybe my IT band because it hurts on the side of my knee when I run, but I can walk or bike without that same pain. I also get achy behind my knee, and when I bend it all the way, it feels like there’s a painful lump or something that’s preventing it from bending to its max. So basically, I am the master of injuries. My doctor told me to try to self treat a little longer, but I think it’s going to end up being something I need PT for. I thought it was doing better last weekend and I did 5 very short run intervals in the middle of a 3.5 mile walk, and those didn’t hurt at the time, but a couple hours later, the pain was awful and has been present in varying degrees since.

So, while I can’t run, I have been walking and biking. I still need to get some sort of movement to help with my weight loss. I’m up to 43 pounds lost this year, so at least that’s something going in the right direction.

My biggest source of sadness right now is being stuck walking my 5k on October 1st when it should have been a PR race for me by a solid five minutes. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded walking it, but I just found out that I’ll be doing it by myself. None of my friends want to do this one this year. This is the first race I’ve run in 3 years where I won’t even know one person. I guess it was bound to happen, but I’m still feeling really down. If I was able to get a refund, I don’t think I’d bother going because it’s just going to feel like a shell of the experience I’m used to.

Anyway, that’s life right now. I’ll let you guys know how the race goes. Maybe I’ll get lucky and I can try to run a little. I know it looks like I’m probably not going to be doing the Thanksgiving Day 5k this year, which stinks, but if by some chance I heal quickly, I’ll sign up.

A Race for July

On By LeraIn Life, running, weight lossLeave a comment

I ran my first 5k of the year on Thursday! My performance was absolutely awful, but I still had fun anyway.

It was a hot and very humid evening with the race starting at 7:30pm. I started out really strong with one of my fastest miles ever. I got a cramp in my calf just five minutes into the race, but I was able to push past that well enough and finish that first mile on track to PR. After that, I slowed down to a slow jog, and then ended up walking. The heat was making me feel dizzy and I ended up just walking most of the rest of the race. It was my own fault for starting too fast. I was happy enough to just finish this one.

After the race, there was a concert and dinner that was included in the race entry fee, so I met up with my running friends and we enjoyed a picnic on the grass while listening to the music until the sky grew dark and the fireflies came out. All in all, it was a fun night, even if I had one of my worst races.