Coming Back

 Awesome read.  It's good to read that you are finally finding some results.  Good luck with your surgery - I hope it solves the problem for you and you are able to do all you want!

I am trying something similar going to doctors with a fresh slate to see if I can find a better answer.

I'll send you all the shin mojo I can!

I was injured in the military and military doctors told me I needed to start getting ready for a life where I would never walk again. That I may be able to walk with an appliance.

Wrong. Ehhh. Not. Cancel.

I left the military and got treatment in the private sector. One year later I took my first running steps after my incident on Ali'i Drive in Kona while I was there covering the race for a magazine. Two years later I did Ironman again. A few years after that (and a few surgeries) I was the top U.S. finisher in a 106 mile ultra distance running race near the Jordanian/Iraqi Border. My injured leg was so banged up and full of hardware it took years to come back. Here is a photo of me in Northern Africa at a 152 mile ultra-running event in the Sahara. Look at the difference in the size of my left leg versus my right leg:

My point? Don't give up. A bad diagnosis can happen. Take care of yourself but don't surrender the dream. Don't give up your long term goals.

Set intermediate goals and check them off your list as you work toward your primary goal. You'll get there. You're a Marine.

This story is so freaking awesome. I am ecstatic for you! Don't know what I would do if doctors took tri away from me. You will definitely be a woman on a mission come race time.

My cousin recently had surgery for compartment syndrome and it has alleviated all of her issues. I hope it's successful for you as well. Good luck!

Good luck with your doctors.  In the end, I did google searches for doctors in my area.  Once I found a name I would try and find reviews on them and see what other people thought of them.  I tried to do as much homework on a doctor as I could.  For me personally, it was finding a doctor at a teaching hospital with a repituable sports program that worked best.  Good luck and thanks for the shin mojo!!!   :-)

Congratulations on all your accomplishments.  I'm sure finishing with a swollen leg made, your accomplishment all that much greater.  

Yes, I do realize bad diagnois do happen.  From this point on I will not look back on them and realize that it was just a wall that was once put up in front of me and know it is knocked down and I will start rebuilding a better one.  I also realize that baby steps are what is going to help me be the most successful in the long run.  I hope sometime very soon in the not so distance future I will be able to experience the joy you had in finishing an Ironman.  I hope in the not so distance future that I will be able to write to fellow BTers here on the forums and tell them my complete journey of becoming an Ironman.

I am officially 8 days post-op.  My ankles are swollen and some tightness in my calfs.  I start physical therapy on the 13th.  

Since I have been spending much time on the couch, I have been doing looking at runs and marathons to do.  I sold everything I had triathlon related in order to pay for doctors to find out what was wrong with my shins including my bike, so I am having to start all over in buying gear for triathlons.  Knowing that my goal for completing an IM will be in 2013.    I would love to do a HIM before hand, but money may be somewhat of an issue.  If push comes to shove, I may have to resort to using my husbands bike, since he is short it may be able to work.  We will see.  

Until then if you know of anyone selling a bike or bike shoes or anything tri related please tell them to IM me.  I'm 5'4-5'5 and my men's shoe size is a 7.5 (sorry don't know my women's size).

Thanks again for listening.

Welcome back, and I hope you keep healing well. It really sucks to pay out the nose for health costs, but the good news is it is possible to do triathlon--even long course--on the cheap. Keep your eyes peeled in Pay it Forward and on low-cost sites where they offer X deals for X minutes or hours or until it sells out.

It has amazed me how I've been able to not just 'make do' but get really solid gear that works at very little or no cost.

Is there a tri club in your area that you can connect with? Sometimes members are happy to give others who are hard up their lightly used or not-quite-right gear.