MIles and MIles,
It's been a minute since I've shared how my labral tear journey has been going. and it's safe to say it's felt much, much longer than six weeks since I started down this road to recovery.
The first two weeks of post-injection were dedicated to being a literal potato, the less movement the better to allow the plasma to work it's healing magic. After two weeks I was finally cleared to do some physical therapy, pretty light stretching, and core every other day. By week four exercises every other day became every day and finally getting cleared for cross-training, which needless to say I was very excited about. The only catch? With Northern Virginia still easing its way out of quarantine finding a place to elliptical or swim, my only two options due to the nature of my tear, was like finding a needle in a haystack. My usual cross-training haunts were still closed and because of Northern Virginia being basically DC while the rest of Virginia was opening back up, NOVA was going at a much slower pace. Needless to say, I was pretty frustrated at finally being able to do something, but having no resources to do so.
Being an athlete one of the biggest downsides for me has been missing milestones like family events, holidays, and the like due to travel, competition, training, etc. During a normal year right now I'd be in the midst of a fully-fledged track season probably out of town on the way to a meet. However, this is not a normal season by any means. With nothing holding me back in Virginia and cheap-ish flights available I found a way to kill two birds with one stone; cross-training and being present for some of those moments I normally miss out on. I spent the last week and a half in my hometown of West Palm Beach being able to celebrate my sister's graduation, my dad's birthday (the first one I've been present for since 2014), and adding cross-training back into my schedule.
As we all know Florida is essentially the wild west right now. Beaches have been open for a while and an alarming number of people still don't see the value in wearing masks or social distancing for that matter (you can check out this gem from my hometown that's made its rounds across the internet).
I took advantage of the beaches being open to go swim for the first time since early March. I quickly learned open water swimming is something I love and want to do more of and that it's way more difficult than I thought. My first swim back beat me up between the waves and the current, luckily even though beaches are open they were not especially busy during the weekdays and no one was in the water.
After a week and a half of some solid swimming and telehealth physical therapy my hip was feeling almost back to normal.
By my six week followup, I was able to walk normally and not feel discomfort for the first time in months and the ultrasound showed the improvement I was feeling. My once very noticeable tear on the screen was now filling in. The good news? My hip is slowly, but surely responding positively to the PRP. There is however a small portion of the tear that still needs a bit more TLC. The bad news? TLC area needed another round of PRP, phase two of #newhipwhothis which meant going all the way back to where I was at six weeks prior- no more physical therapy, no cross-training, back to being a potato.
While I'm not excited to be back to ground zero slow progress is still progress. I left my appointment a few vials of blood lighter, sporting some fresh bruises, and hopeful to be back to normal training by the end of August/ early September. Fingers crossed this is the last found of PRP I'll need, but come August 6th I'll have some answers on how well my little spots have been doing just. If all is well I'll pick up where I've left off here and resume more consistent cross-training, slowly adding in light running.
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