Aud's Odds

Today marks the second day of Physical Therapy. I feel like it's making a difference even if it is slow. Today Jadon and I took a 45 minute walk with ups and downs (which I couldn't do before) and I felt ok. Running still hurts but walking is the first step to running again. The physical therapist taped my knee again and I think it really helped. It's crazy how this kind of taping works. Here's what I learned about it, and a few pictures. This amazing taping method was developed by Dr. Kenzo Kase over 25 years ago in Japan. Since then, KinesioTaping has become the standard for therapeutic and rehabilitative taping. The Kinesio Taping Method involves taping over and around muscles in order to assist and give support or to prevent over-contraction. The first technique gives the practitioner the opportunity to give support while still maintaining full range of motion. This enables the individual to participate in his/her normal physical activities with functional assistan...

Today was my first day of physical therapy on my knee. It was pretty painless, but I'm sure it won't always be that way. When I was in fourth grade I found out that my right leg was 1/4 inch short than my left leg. I was told that some kids just grow unevenly, but that my legs would eventually be the same length. Sometime in High School I stopped wearing a 1/4 inch lift in my shoe and I assumed both of my legs were the same length since my legs and hips felt fine. WELL.... I found out today that my right leg is still shorter and it may have something to do with why the muscles on my left side are so tight. So maybe if I use a lift in my right shoe again my knee will improve sooner . The physical therapist also did kinesio taping on my hip, leg and knee. I'll take a picture and post it because it's very weird looking. It did make my knee feel better when I was walking but I still couldn't run - so biking and swimming it is for now.

I know I wear pretty cool clothes, but I didn't think Maya cared until she went and got dressed in my clothes a few days ago. I guess dogs can do more that just a judge of character, they are also good judges of fashion!

Why does life have to hit in flash floods and not gentle rains. Yesterday right after I finished blogging I was hobbling the whole 50 yards from the library back to our house when I hit an icy patch on the road. There was no "catching myself" - my legs flew up in the air and I landed with a crack on my tailbone. In a rush of adrenaline I scrambled up and ran inside. It didn't hurt for a few seconds and then it hit me. I felt shaky and nauseous. At that point I thought I had probably broken my tailbone because it hurts so bad. I spent the two hours before I had to leave to see the knee doctor, laying on my stomach with an ice pack on my tailbone. At 4:00 I saw the knee doctor and since I was already getting x-rays of my knee; i told him about my tailbone and asked him to x-ray it as well. I was the last patient of the day so there wasn't the normal hour wait that I experience at most doctor's offices - which was nice. I found out that I didn't break my ...

On with the "knee saga" - I'm going to a bone and joint doctor today. The pain is to bad to wait any longer. I can hardly walk. Right now I don't even care what's wrong I just want to know what's causing the pain. On a brighter note - On Monday Jadon and I went to Salt Lake City to check out a college that offers a degree to become a personal trainer. I've wanted to be a personal trainer for a few years but I've never been close to any place that offers training for it. There are on-line courses but their certification is a little iffy. If I'm going to do it, I want to go to a good school and know that I'll learn what I need to and be able to get a job afterwards. The school is called "Eagle Gate College" - we met with an admissions lady, learned all about the program and got a tour of the school. It's a small college, classes are limited to 15 students - which I'm used to thanks to Barclay. Their personal training program loo...

Something is seriously wrong with my knee. Last week I ran 6 miles on Wednesday and for the first time my knee started hurting. At 3 miles I felt a few twinges of pain and by I barely made it through mile 6. It has hurt ever since. I can ride the bike but running is killer. Yesterday I decided to go to my chiropractor in Rock Springs to see if he could help me. He told my my feet where out of place and that was making my knees hurt. He adjusted my hip, knee and feet and sent me home with new insoles that he said would help. On my way to Rock Springs the Expedition started shaking if I drove faster than 50 mph. It was scary and I didn't feel safe at all. I drove slowly to Rock Springs and after seeing the Chiropractor my dad went with me to take the vehicle to a mechanic. I'm glad my dad was there because I had no idea what they were talking about. All I understood is that something major was wrong and that it wasn't very safe to drive. They would tighten things ...

I want to know what teenage girl designed Valentine's Day. A day completely dedicated to love, red, pink, roses, hearts, chocolate, and oozing emotions. Not that I'm against it. The concept of Valentines Day is wonderful, it's themes and decor that I don't like. If I were to design Valentines Day the colors would be blue or brown, men would buy women North Face clothing and give them gift cards for massages. We wouldn't give conversation hearts, we would tell jokes and drink coffee. I'm sure America would love it ;-) All of that to say that I'm a lucky girl because my husband didn't give me flowers, red, chocolate, hearts or gushing words for Valentines Day. He knows me too well and knows that I would have had to act excited while I figured out where to put the flowers and wonder if my mom's chocolate stash needed refilling. I didn't have to worry about any of that though. Jadon took me on a "treasure hunt" date. He made up riddles a...

The doctor's was in and I have my diagnosis. I found out that my eustation tubes are blocked. In case you aren't overly familiar with eustation tubes, they are in your inner ear and they control your balance and equilibrium. So since mine are blocked it makes my feel dizzy, light-headed, naseous, weak, and funny inside. The docotor gave me this nasal spray that is suppossed to help them unclog. I'm also supposed to get a humidifier since the dry cold air is one of the major causes. I'm feeling better but I think it's going to take a little while for the dizzyness to go completely away. It's crazy how a problem in my inner ear could make me feel so horrible, but I'm also glad it's nothing worse

I think I'm sick and I'm not good and being sick. I hate it! I know that no one really likes it but I think I especially hate it. I'm not good and laying around and being content with it. On Saturday Jadon and I had another long run - 13 miles. I ran it all inside. 6 miles on the treadmill, 4 miles on the track and then 3 more miles on the treadmill. I felt sick almost the entire time but I was determined to finish. I thought it was just the clif bars I was eating while I ran. Well, when I finished the nausea didn't go away and then I started feeling all light headed and weird. It's Tuesday now and I still don't feel like myself. I'm going to the doctor here in about 10 minutes to figure out what's going on. Hopefully I'll get some answers and get back to feeling like Audrey.

There are things in life that lock you in, things you can't reverse. These are the things you must be sure of before you lock yourself in. I thought I was aware of these issues in life - you know, things like cutting your hair or getting a tattoo or putting your wool sweater in the washer. I had never considered the self cleaning cycle on my oven however. This morning I got the brilliant idea that I would clean the oven. I've never owned a self cleaning oven before and so I was excited to see how well it worked even though the oven wasn't really dirty. I wasn't planning on using the oven to make lunch and so I thought it would be a good time to try it out. It was simple I selected "clean cycle" and then pushed "start" Ta- Da ! The oven was cleaning it's self so I decided to paint my toenails (I kinda felt like I had a maid and so I could pamper myself) Well, about 1 foot into the painting I started to smell a horrible smell. I've hea...

I think monotony has more to do with the condition of your brain, rather than your circumstances. On Saturday I ran 12 miles indoors. 6 miles on the treadmill - (50 minutes of staring at the stationary bike, and heart rate poster across the room from me) then I switched it up and ran 4 miles on the indoor track (56 laps around the same gym and weight room) finally I switched back to the treadmill for 2 more miles (yep, same poster and bike) The wonder of it is that I didn't go crazy in the process. Last winter 4 miles on the treadmill used to kill me. My legs would start to feel heavier and heavier as my thoughts plodded down and down into complete and hopeless boredom. Somehow in the past year, all the running I've done has improved my mental stamina just as much as it has improved my physical endurance. I don't want to give you the wrong impression, I was still glad to be done; but I never felt the hopeless boredom I used to feel. I had a goal in my mind and I was ...