Working and Running on Columbus Day

Across the world today, several of our close friends ran a marathon -- two for their first time.

Congratulations to Katy (left) for completing her very first marathon in Chicago with seasoned marathon runner Crystal. We're very proud of both of you! Nice work on a personal best time, Katy!

Halfway across the world in Oslo, Norway, our friend Ken also finished his first marathon. We're not as proud of him, though.

Why?

Hopefully this picture of Ken should explain why we do not care. Also, as a side note, if you're familiar with the Internet, you might recognize the following picture and see a close resemblance to Ken.

Days like today I usually make fun of my friends for having to work (or, apparently, run for 26.2 miles) while I sit on my couch and watch Sports Center all day long.

It sounds good on paper. I always enjoy making fun of my friends. But there are only so many times I can watch an ESPN segment about whether or not Tim Tebow should get the start against Miami or see what LeBron James had to say about it on Twitter.

Of course Tebow should start. Quit arguing about it every 45 minutes like there's a choice.

The ex-fix feels great. I'm able to walk around the apartment without crutches and it feels comfortable. Of course, after walking around like that for a few minutes, the pin sites get sore and Percocet is required to quiet down the pin site pain.

So I guess I shouldn't say it feels great. I should probably say it feels great until I use it. Then it feels terrible.

The proximal pin site on the lateral side, the one that's been giving us some grief for some time now, still won't quiet down and scab up like the rest of the pin sites. After walking around I usually start bleeding out of the site (as seen above).

This picture was unusual because the blood seeped through the Xeroform wrap we placed around the pin site. We would have expected it to hold in some of the drainage.

We decided to employ some Xeroform gauze recently because 1) we have a lot of it, and 2) it should help keep the site clean and protect it from contamination.

Here you can see that the site is still a bit red.

I decided that all of the hair was in the way of a good picture, so I spent a few minutes pulling it all out near the site.

Now, normally, if you pulled leg hair, it would make you cry. But, when your skin is in rough shape and hasn't been thoroughly washed since August, hair can be pulled right out without a problem.

I know. That's super gross. But, lesson learned. If you can't afford a razor and need to remove some leg hair, don't wash your leg for six weeks and it'll just start falling out.

I usually take videos of the squeeze test for questionable pins and hand them over to Dr. Jeng to review. This one is a bit gross, but not too bad. No infected fluid came out. Just some clear and bloody fluid.

I sent these pictures and videos off to Dr. Jeng earlier in the afternoon today -- primarily because I didn't want to get yelled at again for not keeping him updated.

We just got an email tonight from Dr. Jeng a few minutes ago:

How many more weeks before we remove it? Don't love how that pin looks.

We let him know that we're about three and a half weeks away from removing the ex-fix. I'm not sure what he's thinking, but I let him know I'm cool with removing this k-wire while I'm awake if I'm allowed to continue weight bearing.

I suspect he won't go for that idea since the only thing holding that Ilizarov ring would be one half screw in my tibia, but we'll see.

I'm telling you, when you pick a doctor, these are the kind of intangibles that you cannot unfortunately measure but are absolutely critical to ensure your recovery is as good as it can get.

Think about it.

It's Sunday night. There's a Bears at Lions game on. It's late. And here's this guy thinking, "Tony's pin site looks a little crappy. We need to do something about this."