Coaching
As many of you know, I have a part-time job as a running coach. I am in charge of a intermediate program at Fleet Feet in Tulsa training runners for the 10k & 15k distances. I have about 14 coaches under me that run with the 8 different pace groups 3 times a week. Many of these coaches are also in training themselves, usually for the 1/2 marathon and full marathon distances.
A Doctor’s Visit
Earlier this season one of my coaches, Angelika (pronounced with a hard G, like ‘guide’), broke a bone in her foot. Her husband had to be out of town on business so I recently accompanied her to the Doctor’s office for a procedure to help get rid of the scar tissue on the bone and hopefully facilitate it healing.
The procedure is called extracorporeal shock wave therapy. Same type of thing used for breaking up kidney stones. It sends very powerful waves into the location with the intent of breaking up the scar tissue that is at the broken ends of the bone, keeping it from reattaching and healing.
The marks on her right leg are due to her having to have it in a boot all day. She had just come from her job as a nurse, where she has to be on her feet sometimes for 12 hours at a time.
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The Numbing
The procedure is very painful so for it to take place she had to have her foot at the spot of the break numbed. One of the reasons Angelika was so nervous about the procedure was she knew it takes a LOT for her to be numbed. She’s had horror stories from her youth about going to the dentist and them not being able to numb her enough to do the work necessary. She made sure to tell the Dr. and his assistant of this. They gave her extra and waited longer for it to take effect, just to make sure. She was still worried it wouldn’t be enough.
The x marks were put on by the doctor to let him know where he needed to numb the foot. I felt bad for the turtle since it looked like it had been shot in the head. At this point we are waiting for the Lidocaine to take effect.
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The Hammer and Chisel
This is how it looked as the procedure happened. The black round thing up against her foot is filled with water. The shockwave is pulsated through it directly to her foot. The machine makes a very loud hammering sound, so loud we were required to wear ear plugs. The goal was to have 2800 pulses hit the foot, which should take about 30 minutes.
The procedure took a while so I spent a bit of time drawing her in my sketchbook as she lay on the table.
It turned out Angelika was right. The Lidocaine dosage was not enough. She was in increasing pain as the pulses went on. She said it felt as if someone was taking a chisel to her bone. The procedure was stopped and a second dosage was given. It helped a little bit but in the end she just had to bear the pain and get through it. She is a very tough woman.
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The Hope
But, after a tear or two, she made it through. She definitely wants people to know that if they want to avoid this sort of travail, listen to your body and stop running (or whatever it is you are doing) when your body says it’s hurting! Get it checked out and find out what is going on before doing further damage.
She (and her running friends) are very hopeful this procedure will be worth the pain and her bone will heal up in the next month or so. We are looking forward to her running with us again.
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Drawing, photos and essay by Marty Coleman
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