Out of Surgery today, still a bit groggy

Well, it doesn't appear that being a Celiac affects surgery for an ACL much, but I did find out quite a bit about the medical process. Every step of the way, I've told every medical professional and coordinator about my vitamins/supplements and that I was a Celiac. (. I wore my Awareness run t-shirt more than once). It must have been at least 10-15 people. Low and behold, I'm being prepped for surgery, I am doing one last review and Celiac is not in my surgery records! We fixed that.

Probably all well and good as things went fine, but what if they had to transfer me to a hospital?

Anyway, at least my anesthesiologist had a sense of humor and said, "I promise I won't feed you bread while you're asleep."

I wanted to publicly thank all those who prayed for me and had me in your thoughts. Given the amount of damage my surgeon saw in my MRIs that first week, I am doing much better than average. Please keep it up, maybe these nerve blockers will wear off and I will be able to feel my leg again soon!

Another two weeks of wait and see

I went to the orthopedist today. The swelling, while much better, is not to a point where it makes sense to operate yet. Of course, one big question was about whether being a Celiac affects this at all. Celiac doesn't seem to bear much on the issue, as there isn't much to worry about from a donor tendon in the way of rejection for the autoimmune side. On the medication side, I will need to talk to the anesthesiologist, but again, no expected issues there. I was really glad for my wife's moral support and for writing my questions down.

I did leave the surgeon with the first few pages of the Celiac medical package from our local support group, which he scanned with some interest.

He did authorize me to again try to gently cycle on my computrainer, so I may try some of that again this weekend to see how it goes. He suggested mucking with the seat height to give some gentle encouragement to the knee flexibility. At first I thought it would mess up my setup, but upon reflection I think the move would be for the greater good.

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments as I work through this.

I tore my ACL

Well, no posts for a while usually means things are going really well, or really poorly. This time around it is really poorly.

I was out playing "driveway tennis" with my son when my foot caught up in the tree roots at the back of the driveway. Man, did that hurt. I have never wanted to get away from a body part so badly. Thing is, the part (and the pain) comes with you.

Well, an xray and MRI told me what I already knew from the popping noise. I've spent the last two weeks trying to keep up at work (not so successful), and manage the swelling (not so successful).

When you lose a functional knee and are in constant pain, it is amazing how your focus changes to getting out of pain and figuring out how to do really basic things like putting on a sock and personal hygiene. It's really nice to have two young, homeschooled kids to run around and carry things for me.

Never mind that moving around on crutches is a workout all by itself. I haven't done a proper "workout" since the fateful day. Saturday I said to myself, "It's been two weeks, get on that bicycle and stop feeling sorry for yourself." So I pumped up the tires, laboriously pulled on my cycling shoes, clipped in left foot, gingerly swung my right leg over and clipped in. Success!

Then I tried pedaling. Of course my left foot worked just fine, but my right knee didn't want to bend. So I tried backwards, then forwards. Each time my knee bent a hair more and with heavy exhalations I managed a full rotation. After about 20 I was done. Or so I thought. I couldn't clip out! Laughing at myself, I had to call one of my kids up to loosen my foot strap so I could slide my foot out and escape. Maybe next time I'll bring a crowbar...

Anway, I have some truly spectacular pictures of the swelling and bruising, which I may post at some point. I'll keep intermittent posts on how the rehab progresses.

Foodmakers, beware your labeling...

Now that someone has been arrested for making people sick after knowingly providing gluten-containing food to celiacs while labeling it, "gluten-free," I wonder how far this line of logic would go..

Let's say you make cereal or flour. You test it, and it comes back at 20 ppm or 200 ppm. Then you slap a "gluten free" label on it in, because that is a definition somewhere. So far so good, right?

But then you have some Celiacs get sick from eating the product. Which law would "win"-- the law that defines what you can call gluten free or the law that says you can't sell products that make people ill? Could someone follow the definition and still end up arrested?

Celiacs involve AG in NC suit against "GF" breadmaker.

Well, this time gluten-free/celiac legal action has come to the United States, in the form of a company that sold "gluten-free" bread at the North Carolina State Fair. This blog reported in November 2009 that this a good trend for Celiacs in the long-term.

The facts are unclear. The company says the bread was gluten free when they sold it. The consumers say it was contaminated when they bought it. The state AG has asked a judge to shut the business down.

The message is clear to manufacturers, however. Label something gluten-free when it is not, and you put your entire business at risk.

UPDATE: The gluten-free statement was allegedly fraudulent and the business owner was arrested.

21st consecutive Houston Marathon 5:16

Short news: I was physically ready to run a 4:15 or so, but it just wasn't my day. This year, I am happy to have made the marathon program for running 20 consecutive Houston Marathons.

Race Recap:
I'd been having trouble staying hydrated all week. Felt great at the start (maybe a bit warm?). I started feeling "weird" at mile 9. I stopped to put some more vaseline on my feet at mile 10 (I had some hotspots, but I was still bang on pace after accounting for stops and visits), and then absolutely spectacularly exploded at mile 11, with nausea, lightheadedness (which just got worse and worse until mile 19) and minor stiffness. I attribute the mess to a combination of electrolyte imbalance and lack of water/something I ate the night before (not gluten)/or a bug I picked up. It was absolutely the fastest "collapse" I had ever experienced in any long race. (Usually, I just see the misery coming for about a 10K or so...) I had medical cut off my pace band as irrelevant just past the half marathon. I ran/walked until mile 17 and then walked until mile 22, when everything suddenly lifted. I ran in the rest of the way, just walking up the hills on Allen Parkway. I probably passed 100 people in the last mile alone. I file this one in the "just not my day" category. (I was already planning my next marathon at mile 16 of this one...) and I may have to do another marathon somewhere else this year just for time and just because.

Couldn't get to sleep the night after... Sore but fine this morning. Handling stairs with relative ease compared to other years. At the end of the day, I'm glad I traded time for a sure finish, and I'm definitely wearing my 20 year veteran shirt every day ;-). Is three days in a row too much?

Houston Celiac Awareness 5K Run/Walk

I braved the cold and the lines this morning to get the park for the Houston Celiac Awareness 5k Run/Walk today. It will be October 9, 2010. See you there.