8 Months Post Ablation - Michelle Update - Ottawa Marathon Runner of the Month

8 Months

I don't have much to report other than mandated rest and recovery due to Michelle. But I did have the least amount of activities according to Strava at a whopping 3 activites for 20km.

I know stellar, but having my first DNF at MEC Fortune Fell that resulted in my lack of activity, but on the bright side it just meant more mandated rest and recovery.

Michelle Update - Timeline

July 7 - As you know it was my first DNF and my Gr. 3 sprain

July 8 - After a trip to the ER ankle was all swollen and I await seeing my doc.

July 10 - After seeing my GP he told me to get an aircast

July 11 - A lot of pain and even the T3's didn't really help much.

July 14 - volunteered at the Hintonburg 5K w/Michelle and saw a lot of people out at the race.

July 16 - Met my saviour to date Dr. Joanna Taylor and was told at least 8 weeks before I can run again!

July 17 - volunteered at the Farm 5/15K with the girls including Michelle.

July 18 - met my EP since my ablation and that's when I received the best news of the NSR since May. I made an appearance at work which was almost impossible to do work when I needed to elevate that Diva Michelle.

July 19 - bruising increased to side of my leg which meant a lot more tearing along the sides of my leg.

July 22 - Made the Runner of the Month with Ottawa Marathon and the most praise to be given to my cankle buddy Michelle

July 23 - Session 2 with Dr. Jo and she did a lot more manipulation and needling...the joy. Also she said time to get rid of that boot and get a more flexible brace! So I did.

July 25 - Session 3 with Dr. Jo and my 1st exposure to Shockwave Therapy.

July 27 - another volunteer gig with Somersault Events seeing the cyclists zoom by.

July 31 - Session 4 with Dr. Jo and more needles and manipulation. 

Aug 2 - Session 1 with PT Taylor and she did some more manipulation and allowed me to be on a recumbent bike. W00t!

Aug 6 - Session 5 with Dr. Jo and more of the usual treatment.

Timeline in pics. They may/may not match the dates, but you can see the progress.

Day 2

Grades of Sprain

Les bruises

Hintonburg 5K Flyby sighting of Becky

Yes I felt this way...A LOT!

Bruising means more tearing along the leg

RO Run Crew and me as a volunteer

My girls helping out at the water station

Telling my Electrophysiologist the outcome of my Fortune Fell

Still bruised and swelling going down finally

Elevating and no aircast

Bedazzled update with a lace up boot

More volunteering

My Saviour and how she loves that we name our major injuries

Fast Forward to progress moving to a softer brace

K helping with some traction

My Cankle buddy Kathy and me with the XMC crew

Blogger won't let me put videos in so I'm trying a link. Maybe it will work.

Acupuncture w/ Electrical current
Shockwave Therapy #1
Shockwave Therapy #2

Ottawa Marathon - Runner of the Month

I have been honoured to be the July Runner of the Month for Ottawa Marathon and it was very humbling to be selected. I never realized the impact I had on social media and the run community but I was more than happy to be selected. Thank you Run Ottawa/Ottawa Marathon! Oh the link is just the sub-heading 😉

Oh and I was also honoured to be a guest with a new run club Evolve Run Club organized by Trevor and Leah who are very spirited run leaders I met at the Westboro Running Room and have seen cheering runners on and as well at some events on the trails.

VIP guest me and Michelle

Great chat at Bridgehead

The three most important letters in the Alphabet!

NSR

For a heart patient, especially for this AfibAsian, NSR (Normal Sinus Rhythm) are the best letters in the alphabet.  On Thursday, July 18th I finally met with my electrophysiologist and received the "all clear" to proceed and exercise with higher intensity. Of course during this time to maintain a more sensical approach so I will stay the course. Thanks to "Michelle" I'm a bit bound by taking it easy and will be forced to return to active running when I'm given the all clear, but it was the best news I've had since the ankle sprain.

So next step is to just make sure I follow the doctor's orders.

As for my EP he's ok with me doing things, but when I asked about training his reply was for running to stay fit, but if I had a goal and desire to do something is train within my limits. 

For now my updates will be more about "Michelle" the diva cankle and hopefully I'll be ready for some fall running.

If most of you know me then this is a huge milestone for me.

Moving forward! Lub-dub lub-dub

Normal Sinus Rhythm

Michelle Update - Fri. July 19th

Bruising from Acupuncture and a bit of Michelle

Volunteering

Since my summer running is on Hiatus...Thanks "Michelle" I've shifted to helping Miss L to get her volunteer hours volunteering at the last couple of events.

The Cyclelogik/Hintonburg 5K and the Farm 5/15 Run.

Always fun to give back and still get to see my running friends. Best run community!

Traffic cones err volunteers

Water Station with my girls

Courtesy of Ian Hunter

Courtesy of Ian Hunter

Courtesy of Ian Hunter

Courtesy of the cankle's namesake Michelle

23, 7 Months Post Ablation & Rolled Ankle Recovery

July 6, 1996

This year Kiera and I celebrate number 23 of married life together, but at least another 10 as a couple. Some quick highlights:

• started my civil servant job 1996
• bought our first car together 1997
• Had our 1st born in 2000
• Kiera finished her masters in 2000
• bought our first house together in 2000
• Had our 2nd child in 2003
• Kiera started her civil service job in 2004
• took our 1st destination vacation in 2008
• we got our 1st fur friend forever 2009
• moved and bought our 2nd home in 2010
• many more or either on my social media since really came alive around that time my life is pretty much on the Internet or rather our lives have been shared online.

Wedding Day July 1996

Multi-Celebration selfie

So this year we did something a bit different. We wanted to go try a spa, but nothing too crazy. I know Kiera loves Le Nordik, but we've done that so many times and I've wanted to do something different so we went to Strathmere.

We did a rest and relax package and I have to say if you want to get away this place really is a gem. It's tucked away in North Gower and the food and facilities are top notch.

We had a relaxing dinner and watched the thunderstorms in the distance, but it never hit North Gower. But it did knock out the power for a moment and reset the AC so our room was super hot so we called someone to check it out and found that the AC was on, but the breaker was tripped so it was registering 26C so it took some time to cool down, but by the late evening it was fine. Next morning we had our breakfast and couples stone massage. It was amazing! The breakfast and the massage. We enjoyed our one night stay and even extended by seeing Rocketman that afternoon before we went out for dinner as a family for #23 to celebrate all our achievements.

chilling on the patio outside our room

appy tacos

free range bison burger

tuna

ice cream sandwich

Options

Sangria

Food credit

Then our breakfast and morning stone massage

Waffles

Eggs Benny

Hot Stones

Post Massage

anniversary bouquet

7 Months

Not much to report other than the usual scarring and the lack of information from my caridologist/Electrophysiologist. I don't know why they don't to see me, but I've been checking for my last Holter, but with their computer switchover I haven't seen it uploaded yet so I will have to call again and figure out what is happening.

So I've had some issues, but it could be related to the next topic

MEC Fortune Fell

From my FB post:

Today I had my first DNF! As well my 1st trail race of the season ended after 600m into the race and my foot slid in some gravel and I rolled it really bad. I was thankful for Katherine Kate Vicki and a few others. Ranya went and got some help as I hobbled to the steps of the lodge while the medics looked me over and the. I was able to walk to their tent and get ice on it. It was quite the cankle! 
I’m disappointed I couldn’t enjoy the race that I was training for and I had to bail.
The medics were fantastic. They kept me humoured with anecdotes of bone saws and amputations. Thanks 🙄
But seriously they were fantastic.
Thanks to those that stopped by to check on me and even take the obligatory injured runner photo 👌🏼 Cliff and Cindy
Huge props to Rebecca for heading to my car to grab my change of clothes and being a human crutch to take me back to my car. It was very much appreciated. ❤️
Now to swallow my pride and hope to heal quickly. It was a tough way to end what started to be a great weekend.
At least I was able to celebrate 2️⃣3️⃣ with my life partner Kiera at Strathmere for an adults only stay paired with dinner, breakfast and a hot stone massage.

Team Awesome Reunion

Fell at 660m

trying to keep the swelling down

Making light of the situation. Thanks Cindy

Of course Cliff made an appearance with a Stephen aka Bytown Boy photobomb

Nothing broken

enlarged cankle

that looks terrible

Not exactly comfortable

Now I await the main verdict that I have a long road to recovery. Stay tuned as I'm now moving from heart recovery to ankle recovery. If you're following my social media I've named my cankle "Michelle" and the boot "AC-0707"!