Doing well 6 1/2 months after surgery – Peter M

Hello Fellow Hipsters and Friends,

I’m pleased to report I am doing very well. It has been about 6 ½ months since my THR turned back the hands of time and transformed me into a young man. I feel at least 5 or 10 years younger than I did at the beginning of this year!

I am comfortably running very slowly about 3 or 4 times per week. Last week I got up to a total of 16 miles. My pace on level ground is a mercuric 12 minutes per mile, and I am ecstatic about that. While I was not able to compete, I was able to finish all 8 July trail races up in the hills, just as I did when I was younger. It felt great to be out there with my friends and family again. I never was a speedster, and I never will be one. But I can see improving my pace to under 10 minutes per mile in the very near future.

I chose today to inform you about my progress because it is the anniversary of my final steroid injection on 8/6/14. A year ago, I was still under the delusion I would find some miracle cure for my ailments. The injection lasted for about a week. Then my condition deteriorated rapidly to the point where I could not walk without severe pain.

They gave me an assortment of heavy pain pills that did not work. Then, they supplemented the pain pills with a weekly pain patch. That didn’t work either, but it kept me stoned all the time. I shook myself out of my drug induced stupor when they called in the cardiologist and wanted to put me on blood pressure medication. This led me to the realization I was all wrong. The pain pills and the pain were the causes of my increased blood pressure. Now what would be the side effects of this blood pressure medication? I refused to take it. And I stopped taking the pain medications as well. That was the turning point that ended my downward spiral and began my return to health.

You thought I was joking about training for The Marathon in my prior post? Not quite! Deep down inside I knew I would run another Marathon. That is one of the reasons I finally decided to undergo the surgery. I am now confident my youthful and invigorated body will cross the finish line on November 1, 2015 at the NYC Marathon. It may take me all day, but I guarantee I will finish.

Speedy Petie a/k/a The Hipster   8/6/15