Score!

Today we won the daily double, the unobtanium of unobtaniums.   Today is the first time I've ever seen the CFE in the wild. And Automatch is almost as rare.

Random 5 Friday 03/20/15

Linking up with Nancy at A Rural Journal for Random 5 Friday.  

1.  My daffodils we planted as a gift from my Mom are blooming.  They look nice.

2.  I scheduled my shoulder surgery this week.  It will be in late April.  I am really bumming that I have to do this as it will set my fitness back at least 3 months.  It messes up all my plans for the year.  I've got a sub scapular tendon tear and a dislocated biceps tendon.

3.  We are temporarily a two dog home now, after having to put our Cody down this week.  It has been hardest on our kids, as he was always one of  'their dogs' having bonded to our youngest most strongly.  His cancer simply got to be too much for him to bear.  He now runs pain free with our Charlie, the two Old Friends together again.

4.  The weather this past week was somewhat conducive to biking!  DH and I got out a couple times.  He's still way faster than I, but my speed has been averaging in the 15's, which is a big jump for me.  So the winter spent weightlifting has paid some obvious benefits.  The other big improvement has been getting the Carbon Encore recumbent.  It is a great bike!

5.  A month or so ago, we went out to the Rescue Ranch to meet some of their available dogs, and see if we could be matched with another dog.  Roy, the founder of the Ranch, is a great matchmaker, and we were successfully matched to a big boy named Ranger.  We will probably bring him home soon.

The last full measure of devotion

Cody
02/20/2003 to 03/18/2015

Saying Goodbye

Today is that day that all those who have given their heart to a dog to tear, come to dread.  The tumor has grown so rapidly, that it is now hard to manage and control Cody's pain.  It breaks my heart to hear him whine with every exhalation,  to know he cannot get comfortable in rest, to hear him cry, howl and bark at night sometimes. 

He tries so hard to conceal his pain.  He's damned good at it too, but in the last week or so I know it has been overwhelming him.  Whenever he can though, he tries to act like his young self.  He still loves his food, and treats.  His cloudy eyes still light up when he gets excited over something.  But he is suffering, and I cannot, we cannot allow that to continue unabated. 

Today will be a day of treats and visitors for Cody.  Some of his favorite humans will come over to see him one last time.  We will spoil him senseless if we can.  We all want this day to be comfortable for him, a good sendoff as it were.  I have enough pain meds to control it for the day.

In time, we will remember the good times.  The tears will abate for the most part.  I will do a memory book, especially for Monkey3, who is Cody's most special person.  In time...

Goals setback

Well, my goals for the year just took a major hit.  A fair bit of Marine Corps grade language got uttered in the doctor's office.  I just got the report on my shoulder MRI, and it isn't pretty.  Partial thickness(or was it partial full thickness?) tear of the sub scapular tendon, and the biceps tendon is also out of its groove.  This is eerily familiar.  It's practically identical to what was wrong with my right shoulder that was repaired in the winter of 2009.

That surgery took 12 weeks to get out of the brace and sling, and a couple months of therapy after.  

A scenario like that will pretty much crush the life out of my strength-fitness and my cycling season.  Doc did say I could probably start road riding the recumbent at 2 mo post-op.  And I can ride as much as I want on the bent before that, if I put it in the rear wheel trainer.  Two months on the trainer in the heart of the regular ride season is pretty much soul crushing, but at least I could keep my cardio up and some of my leg strength.  Doc also said NO lifting with the left side for 3 months post-op.  It scares me to think how much I will lose over a 3 month lay off.

Complicating all this is the need to fix our back fence.  DH really needs me functional to do this, and that means it has to be done before I have the surgery.  And we have to coordinate with out neighbor, and his schedule.  

All of that just shoves my surgery date further and further out.  And delays my healing.  IF I can get the fence done before a possible surgery date of April 16,  I might still salvage some of the ride season.  I theoretically could still do Hotter'n Hell, and should be fine for Octoginta.

If I wait until late October, everything would be great from an activity standpoint...BUT, I run the risk of the tendon contracting and not being repairable.  I got lucky on that front in 2009.   Due to DH's schedule back then, I had to wait two months to have surgery.  It went well then.  I might not be so lucky this time around.

I'm afraid of what I might lose, and what I might never get back.  I'm willing to put in the work to rehab this thing--it's NOT my first shoulder rodeo.  But to be honest it will probably be close to a full year to get back to where I am now strength wise.  I'm afraid to fall so far behind where WE are now.