Ow, my bum

It's been a week since my second lot of PRP injections, and boy, has it been a long and difficult week.

Apparently I did too much after my injections last time so this time Dr Kuah said, very clearly, that I was not to run or ride for two weeks. I could swim but only if I used a pool buoy. He then wrote it all down and underlined the word 'STRICTLY' on it. He was serious.

The purpose of all this is to give the tendons the best possible chance to repair. It makes sense, but that doesn't mean it's easy.

Do you know that swimming using just your arms is boring? And slow?

To be honest, the main thing that has been hard to deal with isn't being told I can't ride or run - yes, that's not fun but I can see it has a purpose. The biggest hurdle I'm facing is coming to terms with everything I'm going to miss this year.

No Canberra Marathon. No SMH Half. No state road 10k. No SMC. No Woodford to Glenbrook (there goes the chance of winning five years in a row). Highly unlikely I'll be able to do M7 Cities Marathon.

It's a bummer alright and I spent quite a few days feeling really down in the dumps. And frustrated. And I probably wasn't the most fun person to be around. (Public apology to my husband and thanks to family who went on a 'cheer up Joh' campaign on Sunday).

Physically, I think the post-injection pain has been a little worse this time. I didn't bruise as much as the first time, but sitting in a car for more than 15 minutes really hurts it. When I'm working on my computer I move around a lot (the joy of laptops) so I'm constantly changing position. I joked with my husband that I think Dr Kuah must have done something different this time in order to stop me running too soon.

I'm back doing rehab exercises and my right side is responding really well - I actually think the right side might have been OK with only one injection. As for the left side, Dr Kuah said he feels it'll probably need a third injection in four weeks, but Brent (physio) will test things out before that date and we will decide from there.

I'm hoping it doesn't need another one so I can start getting into some proper (if modified) training. Another injection means more time spent doing nothing (OK, pool-buoy swimming). Having said that, I'm obviously going to do whatever Dr Kuah and Brent recommend. They're the experts, they've got a lot of experience with high hamstring tendinopathy and I've got a lot of confidence they're giving me the best treatment and advice.

Oh I miss running. Miss, miss, miss it so much.

PRP injections

I had my first lot of PRP injections yesterday.

The whole process was pretty amazing. My husband and I went to SSMC after work (he had to come because I wouldn't have been able to drive home after the injections, especially in peak hour traffic. When I went in to see Dr Kuah, he looked at my MRI scans and talked me through what he was looking at. He said it was what he expected from someone with high hamstring tendinopathy. He then talked to me again about the PRP injections and why he recommended them. I'd already done a lot of research on them after seeing Dr Kuah last time so I was prepared to go ahead.

One important thing I did ask was about shock wave therapy, which someone else I know has been treating HHT with and has been getting good results. Dr Kuah said shockwave therapy has a good result with calcific tendinopathy (which she has) but not with what I've got. Apparently with me it may have some immediate results, but wouldn't help the tendon long-term, which it what I want/need.

To start the PRP injections I had four vials of blood taken out of my arm. This was then taken away (to a centrifuge I assume) so the plasma could be separated. While this was happening I had a local anaesthetic in both legs (just under my butt), which Dr Kuah put in with the guidance of ultrasound. I found it fascinating to watch the screen and I wanted to talk to him about it but I didn't want to distract him and make him mess up so I stayed silent!

Dr Kuah then went and 'harvested' the PRP. While I was laying on the bed in his office it was very reassuring to see signed photos from gold medal Olympians and Comm Games athletes with messages saying, "Thank you for keeping me in one piece." If they trust Dr Kuah with their bodies, I certainly do too!

The PRP injections were painless (just felt a bit of pressure) and I watched them go in on the ultrasound. This time Dr Kuah talked to me so I figured I was able to ask him about what I was looking at on the screen. He pointed out different things (I was way off - what I thought was the tendon was actually the bone) and I saw how he moved the needle around.

After the injections Dr Kuah asked if I had any pain medication at home and recommended I get Panadeine or Panadeine Extra because things were going to get a bit uncomfortable. I nodded but had no intention of getting any - I rarely take any drugs and I figured I'd be fine.

About halfway home (in peak hour traffic) the pain started to kick in a bit. My husband said we were going to the pharmacy just in case. I acquiesced.

I ended up taking one tablet but it didn't really do much. The night was uncomfortable, as was today. I didn't do any form of training because I physically couldn't. I'm walking like the tin man, it's uncomfortable sitting on my butt and I feel like I really need to stretch. This was all explained to me and expected and I'm hoping it'll be greatly improved tomorrow.

In four weeks I go back to get my second lot of injections. In between now and then I've got to keep up all my physio excercises (once the pain from the injections is gone).

I hope it's not false hope but I'm feeling a lot more positive about things now. I'm pretty sure Canberra is a goner this year (which is a bummer because it would have been my tenth Canberra Marathon and I would have become a Griffin) so I'm looking towards making the M7 Marathon in July my first one for 2013. It seems such a long way off, but better late than never.

I AM going to run sub-2:50 this year!!

Ouch my butt hurts right now.