On the Road to Recovery: post-Hospital visit

sooo, if you weren't aware, I was hospitalized on Thursday afternoon for just over 24 hours. Those 24 hours felt MUCH longer than that though. I woke up on Thursday morning with some weird abdominal pain and a sore back, and was really procrastinating on getting to the gym (I knew something was off at that point) So finally I ended up tagging along with mom as she went to the gym around 12 for her SECOND workout.. 
Feeling sick, but determined, I strapped on my heart rate monitor and got on the treadmill. Just WALKING, my heart rate shot up from 67bpm to 170!! My heart rate hovers around 150bpm when I'm running at 7.5! The pain in my stomach and back got worse, and I just went to sit down and try to breathe until my mom was done in her spin class. When I went to find her, I was having trouble catching my breath, my face felt heavy and stuffed up, and i was hurting. As soon as I sat in the car I had the WORST pain surge into my left lower back, near the kidney. I was having trouble breathing, and was really nervous as to what could have been happening. We were luckily in Greenwich, about 5 minutes from the hospital. My mom brought me straight to the emergency room. At that point, i was actually CRYING...like heaving with tears. That's how much pain my back was in. I felt like my lower back was on FIRE and throbbing. I couldn't sit still, it hurt to walk, I couldn't get my mind off the pain. Finally after almost 10 minutes, I was in a hospital robe with an IV in my arm and a big dose of pain killer. Soon enough, my pain eased from a level 10 to a 6 or 7 (still bad, WITH strong pain killers) and they sent me for a CAT scan, thinking I had a kidney stone. 
Turns out, there was no kidney stone. So why was I in the worst pain I've ever felt in my life? Well, they came across a 7.5cm (over 3inch) CYST on my left ovary. The weight of the cyst was likely pulling on my lower back muscles, and the excess fluid was putting pressure on places that were causing severe pain. The doctor said the fact that I'm really small made the cyst's impact greater on my system. Long story short, I ended up spending the night in the hospital, getting a dose of morphine every 2 hours just so I could bear the pain all night until having surgery done in the morning. My mom and Dad were by my side the whole time, and my Dad slept next to me overnight in an uncomfortable chair. Due to the fact I was supposed to have a surgical procedure done, I couldn't EAT anything, and was only allowed to drink water before my ultrasounds because they work best on a full bladder. I was able to have the cyst drained without anesthesia and without the labrascopic surgery, thankfully. It was an incredibly painful procedure, but only lasted about 35 minutes, and successfully drained all the fluid and immediately eased a lot of my pain. 

a little bony...

After the procedure, I got to eat and relax for a couple of hours before I was allowed to go home. My mom had brought me a nice big turkey sandwich on ezekiel bread from home, and lots of celery sticks and diet coke. That was probably one of the best meals I'd had in a LONG time. Being in constant pain for 24 hours was absolutely DRAINING, and I was pretty much advised to remain a vegetable for the rest of the weekend. And i did just that. I laid in bed watching tv and episodes of SVU all day saturday and sunday, with the exception of going down to the kitchen to eat my SO DELICIOUS Coconut milk ice cream, and refilling my cup of ice water to stay hydrated and flush the pain killers out of my system. I lost about 5.5 pounds during my stay in the hospital, and felt like a soggy cucumber laying in my bed. 4 days without working out made me NUTS, and my system was exhausted from the whole hospital ordeal. Even though I ate a LOT when i got home from the hospital, I still looked bony and gross on Saturday morning (when i snapped that pic). I continued to eat my coconut milk ice cream and lots of quinoa and yumminess on Saturday til I filled up again. I received beautiful flowers from beautiful people, and tried to give my body all the rest it could possibly need.

24 hours of THIS...

After relaxing ALL DAY Sunday, I thought I'd be ready for a workout by Monday. I was right! I went to the gym today, and um...kind of pushed my limits. As usual. I was told not to exercise for a WEEK....no thankyou! I promised myself I would take it easy but I just couldn't! I pushed past my weakness, I couldn't stand feeling like a soggy cucumber any longer! I chest pressed 30lb DBs today, a new record. Did lots of work with the weights and cables, and ankle weights, and truly exhausted every muscle group in my body (except the low back and abs...those areas are still vulnerable and I don't want to bother them.) Then the treadmill was just BEGGING for me to take a few strides. I couldn't help it. One minute I was walking at 4.5, the next thing I knew I was finishing up a mile running at 7.7mph with ease. I only ran one mile, but it was JUST what I needed to feel back on track after a tough strength training workout. I'm going to continue taking it slow, and I'm not even wearing my heart rate monitor to burn a crazy number of calories or have the most intense workout of my life. I'm just working out to regain my strength and speed, and slowly return to the animalistic workouts I was tapping into a week ago. My diet was almost perfect today, and i FED myself enough calories..unlike the few days before and during my hospitalization. I tried out a new post-workout meal today, it wasn't bad!

Post workout: (After drinking a HUGE glass of cold water with lemon)

1/3 cup 5 grain hot ceral (combo of rolled oats, barley, ground golden flax, etc)

3/4 scoop brown rice protein powder

--i made those in 5 oz water and 2oz unsweetened almond milk, and threw in cinnamon and 1tsp flax seeds and 1/2tsp vanilla extract while it was cooking. I added 2tbsp fresh blueberries. 

I made my mom the same thing. Good balance of carbs and proteins to refuel after a tough workout. Under 300 cals, Yes please! 

Tomorrow I'm gonna do some running! Still taking it easy...probably 3.5 miles of running and some walking afterwards. Not gonna take the speed above 8.0. 

Thank you to all of you who showed concern and love while I was in the hospital, it really means a lot to me!! 

Xoxo, glad to be healthy and back to the blog!