life

Feeling lucky + grateful

October 21, 2023

Improvement

I am feeling so much better today, which is honestly a huge and wonderful surprise to me. Last night I had so much back pain and my wound (significant patch of abrasion/road rash on my hip) started to emit a siren song of pain so bad I thought I might need to go to urgent care for prescription painkillers. I was literally gritting my teeth and had flashbacks to labor (ok it wasn’t THAT bad, but it wasn’t far).

Josh had to run back to the hospital to do 2 cases BUT managed to run to the drugstore and pick up some lidocaine cream + antiseptic spray. THIS WORKED SO WELL. Honestly, I compared it to the relief of an epidural. I was able to sleep and in the morning was so pleasantly surprised that I could turn over in the bed without much pain or effort. I have no idea if the wound pain was linked to my back muscles spasming and hurting so much, but they both markedly improved overnight.

from Thursday; he did some wound care in his office . . . .luckily this is actually part of his training. My current dressing is much more professional than anything I would have come up with.

So I tried running and . . . IT WAS OKAY! I only did 4 miles and I cannot say it was pain-free, but the pain was akin to smacking a superficial bruise over and over rather than anything that seemed internal, if that makes sense. My gait didn’t seem to be impacted. And I feel like I can take normal deep breaths again – yesterday that wasn’t the case.

I am sitting here at gymnastics (the place I was just before the accident on Tuesday) just feeling so happy and grateful. Part of me (probably irrationally, but still) wondered if I had done something that would impact me forever and now I feel quite confident that I did not, and that even in the relatively short term things should be okay. I know I am incredibly lucky.

Rest of the weekend:

Piano + library

Date night (I told Josh even if we only made it through 1/2 of Into the Woods it would be okay, it’s a super long show and it’s been a long week)

Halloween costume shopping

Probably some kind of fall-themed Sunday dinner. (Anyone make anything great lately?)

12 Comments

  • Reply Arden October 21, 2023 at 10:56 am

    I’m glad you’re rounding the bend on your injuries. And the pic of Josh bandaging you is too cute.

  • Reply Gillian October 21, 2023 at 11:50 am

    Our au pair made pumpkin lasagna this week. It was delicious!

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger October 21, 2023 at 11:52 am

      That does sound kind of amazing!

  • Reply Lisa’s Yarns October 21, 2023 at 12:01 pm

    I’m glad you are feeling better! It’s nice to have a doctor in the family who is great at wound care!! Enjoy your date night tonight. We kind of limped into the weekend as the 5yo tested positive for strep and influenza A (younger brother tested positive on Monday). So we are laying low and the adults are hoping and praying we dodge these illnesses! I got out for a run this morning but only 3 miles as I figured I better play it safe since I feel so worn out/run down.

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger October 21, 2023 at 12:44 pm

      Oh no! It’s so inevitable to pass these bugs around 🙁 hopefully it won’t be too severe! I got strep from the kids last year and flu from Annabel!

  • Reply Kelsey October 21, 2023 at 12:37 pm

    So good to hear!

    TJ pumpkn bisque and grilled cheese and an easy, yum fall dinner at our house this week.

  • Reply Elizabeth October 21, 2023 at 3:53 pm

    I have a simple pumpkin, tomato & cream cheese based sauce dish I’m dying to try—planning to add linguine and sausage and basil with parm sprinkled on top. It’s from our grocery store—I’ll email you a picture of the recipe because it looks both simple and delicious!

    So glad you are feeling better physically AND mentally!!! The relief of now really knowing this will one day be a memory vs a before & after marker must be unreal.

    Hugs.

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger October 21, 2023 at 4:27 pm

      Got the email! Looks lovely and thank you!

  • Reply Jessica October 21, 2023 at 4:06 pm

    I’m so glad you are doing better! I think those near misses can be quite traumatic. My son passed out at a baseball game once and I really thought he was dying (a teammates mom is an ER physician and she took great care of him, but I also think she thought his life was in danger). Anyway, he was fine and I just felt so relieved and grateful and lucky. But, also, my brain really thought for 3 minutes he wasn’t going to make it, and it took me awhile to process it afterward.

  • Reply Anna October 21, 2023 at 5:26 pm

    What a relief! Wishing you a quick recovery!

  • Reply San October 26, 2023 at 7:59 pm

    That’s such great news!

  • Reply Cindy G. October 27, 2023 at 4:52 pm

    How absolutely frightening. So sorry this happened. I hope you recover soon. My story…. As a longtime runner. At age 55 I had found on MRI a Thymoma. ( not MG symptoms), a recent GU study 1 year prior and a post study included a MRI. So Thymoma found…then Sternotomy…. I was running 6 months later… and did my half marathon 1 year post surgery. At 55 I could and did…. And you will return as well. ( My husband is A Cardiology Interventionist …. and was super helpful.) Just thought I would add to the mix above with lots of good thoughts your way to healing. Thank you for your blog … I enjoy reading. Take care!

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