I had a bone scan performed yesterday. The bone scan involved a two part process. I had to go down to the radiology clinic for my first appointment at 10am. During that time they injected a radioactive fluid into my vein and took a few pictures of my legs. Following I had to lie on my back and hold my feet in a position where my big toes were pointed towards one another. The technician put a few wraps of masking tape around my shoes in order to hold my legs in position while they took a few initial pictures of my legs with a bone scanning camera/machine.
See the picture below, which I snapped from my blackberry camera phone. I got a kick out of it because it was called the "Detector 1"
That entire process took about 30 minutes and I hurried over to the office afterwards. My next appointment was set for 1pm, so I Metro'd over there, arriving a few minutes beforehand.
The same technician who politely handled the duties for me earlier in the morning explained that this process would take a bit longer. Again, I lied on my back underneath the "Detector 1." This time, however, it took an entire scan of my body. I was able to comfortably lie on my back. This time, though, they had me remove everything from my pockets. That's because they were going to scan my entire body, instead of just take a few quick pictures of my legs.
The technician informed me that it was okay if I wanted to take a nap, which was something I longed for. The past few nights have not consisted of great sleep for me. That morning, in particular, I awoke at 5:30am and wasn't able to get back to sleep. That's a common occurrence when I'm nervous or anxious about things.
The Detector 1 started just a few inches from my nose. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe deeply into a state of relaxation. The entire body scan took about 15 minutes. Halfway through it, I opened my eyes and noticed that I was able to view the monitor of the scan. I could make out the outline of my skeleton of the area where the Detector was hovering over. Halfway down it was around my waist, and I anxiously kept my eyes open, hoping to catch a glimpse of when it moved over my shins.
The image was a black screen with a lot of white pixels which formed the outline of my bones. There were a number of moving pixels, too, reminding me of a busy highway viewed from an airplane window high above the road. As the scanner hovered above my knees the image became a bit wider, and my adrenaline rushed through my veins.
As it made its way over what I presumed were my shins, I tried to see if the right one looked any different than the left. In fact, on the monitor, there were two sets of images side by side. I wasn't exactly sure why, so my mind started to wonder if the "left" image was that of the left leg and the "right" image was of my injured, right leg. In all honesty, all four of the "bones" were very skinny and straight, so it could have easily been either two images of each leg side by side, or two different sets of my pair of legs.
Nevertheless, eventually a bigger "blob" began to appear towards the bottom of the monitor and I wondered if that was the "hot spot" of activity that I had been anticipating. But, as soon as I was readying myself for bad news, I realized that it was visible on all 4 bones on the monitor. I quickly realized the scanner had moved its way over my feet, and the blobs were my ankles, followed by my feet.
The timer on the Detector signaled the end of the scan, and we quickly took a few more pictures of my lower legs. One set was straight over my legs, with my feet taped, similarly to what we'd done earlier that morning. The second picture was done with me laying on my left side with my legs apart in order to capture a profile view of the bone.
The technician, who had indicated he'd seen a number of runners this week, and had been very cordial and comforting, told me that though he wasn't in the position to truly analyze the scan, he didn't see much difference between my uninjured left leg and my supposedly injured right one.
I lightly stepped down from the table, still cognizant of the sore feeling in my right shin. It hasn't been painful, really, however it's noticable. In fact, as I sit here and type this now I can feel the soreness in the tender spot along my shin. What it all means, I'm not sure.
Dr. Pribut is out today, so I'm not entirely sure how I am going to have him analyze the results or consult me on what is best for me. I've rested this entire week, but think I may try to run a short 2 miles tomorrow morning. When I first saw him he told me that another runner who he'd seen prior to me had a sore shin and he'd recommended she do a 2 mile run on Friday (today).
I had a dream this morning that I was out for a two mile run, but found myself more than two miles from home. I was really concerned about the potential damage it was doing to my leg. Part of me thinks I could get away without running at all, however, taking 5 straight days off without running almost makes me wonder if I'll even remember how to run come race day.
I've attempted to do some limited yoga and stretching, but it's been hard. Again, I don't want to compromise my leg before the run, but also don't want to go into the race on a completely different schedule of operations than I executed for any of my training runs. I was loving the days I ran when I'd done yoga the night before. It allowed my hips to open and hamstrings to stretch. Now, my legs will be rested, but will they be loose enough? These are all questions I'm milling over in my mind. I've had a lot of conversations with people who are concerned about my health. I'm truly grateful for every single person who has checked in on me or offered a voice of concern. However, what's really worrying me now, is whether or not my confidence will be on the level necessary to run a sub-3 hour marathon. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Race day is not very far away.
See the picture below, which I snapped from my blackberry camera phone. I got a kick out of it because it was called the "Detector 1"
That entire process took about 30 minutes and I hurried over to the office afterwards. My next appointment was set for 1pm, so I Metro'd over there, arriving a few minutes beforehand.
The same technician who politely handled the duties for me earlier in the morning explained that this process would take a bit longer. Again, I lied on my back underneath the "Detector 1." This time, however, it took an entire scan of my body. I was able to comfortably lie on my back. This time, though, they had me remove everything from my pockets. That's because they were going to scan my entire body, instead of just take a few quick pictures of my legs.
The technician informed me that it was okay if I wanted to take a nap, which was something I longed for. The past few nights have not consisted of great sleep for me. That morning, in particular, I awoke at 5:30am and wasn't able to get back to sleep. That's a common occurrence when I'm nervous or anxious about things.
The Detector 1 started just a few inches from my nose. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe deeply into a state of relaxation. The entire body scan took about 15 minutes. Halfway through it, I opened my eyes and noticed that I was able to view the monitor of the scan. I could make out the outline of my skeleton of the area where the Detector was hovering over. Halfway down it was around my waist, and I anxiously kept my eyes open, hoping to catch a glimpse of when it moved over my shins.
The image was a black screen with a lot of white pixels which formed the outline of my bones. There were a number of moving pixels, too, reminding me of a busy highway viewed from an airplane window high above the road. As the scanner hovered above my knees the image became a bit wider, and my adrenaline rushed through my veins.
As it made its way over what I presumed were my shins, I tried to see if the right one looked any different than the left. In fact, on the monitor, there were two sets of images side by side. I wasn't exactly sure why, so my mind started to wonder if the "left" image was that of the left leg and the "right" image was of my injured, right leg. In all honesty, all four of the "bones" were very skinny and straight, so it could have easily been either two images of each leg side by side, or two different sets of my pair of legs.
Nevertheless, eventually a bigger "blob" began to appear towards the bottom of the monitor and I wondered if that was the "hot spot" of activity that I had been anticipating. But, as soon as I was readying myself for bad news, I realized that it was visible on all 4 bones on the monitor. I quickly realized the scanner had moved its way over my feet, and the blobs were my ankles, followed by my feet.
The timer on the Detector signaled the end of the scan, and we quickly took a few more pictures of my lower legs. One set was straight over my legs, with my feet taped, similarly to what we'd done earlier that morning. The second picture was done with me laying on my left side with my legs apart in order to capture a profile view of the bone.
The technician, who had indicated he'd seen a number of runners this week, and had been very cordial and comforting, told me that though he wasn't in the position to truly analyze the scan, he didn't see much difference between my uninjured left leg and my supposedly injured right one.
I lightly stepped down from the table, still cognizant of the sore feeling in my right shin. It hasn't been painful, really, however it's noticable. In fact, as I sit here and type this now I can feel the soreness in the tender spot along my shin. What it all means, I'm not sure.
Dr. Pribut is out today, so I'm not entirely sure how I am going to have him analyze the results or consult me on what is best for me. I've rested this entire week, but think I may try to run a short 2 miles tomorrow morning. When I first saw him he told me that another runner who he'd seen prior to me had a sore shin and he'd recommended she do a 2 mile run on Friday (today).
I had a dream this morning that I was out for a two mile run, but found myself more than two miles from home. I was really concerned about the potential damage it was doing to my leg. Part of me thinks I could get away without running at all, however, taking 5 straight days off without running almost makes me wonder if I'll even remember how to run come race day.
I've attempted to do some limited yoga and stretching, but it's been hard. Again, I don't want to compromise my leg before the run, but also don't want to go into the race on a completely different schedule of operations than I executed for any of my training runs. I was loving the days I ran when I'd done yoga the night before. It allowed my hips to open and hamstrings to stretch. Now, my legs will be rested, but will they be loose enough? These are all questions I'm milling over in my mind. I've had a lot of conversations with people who are concerned about my health. I'm truly grateful for every single person who has checked in on me or offered a voice of concern. However, what's really worrying me now, is whether or not my confidence will be on the level necessary to run a sub-3 hour marathon. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Race day is not very far away.
posted by Mike Mowery at 8:09 AM
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