How being in the best shape of my life helped me tackle my biggest health obstacle.
I am coincidentally writing this post on National Kidney Day!
September 21, 2022, began like any other typical Wednesday. My back was a little sore, but the evening before, I had done a 30-minute EMOM of snatches. I thought I must have had pretty bad form for my back to hurt like that, but went on to work at the high school where I teach. I have about a 25-minute commute to work, and by the time I had gotten there, I also began to feel a little nauseous. “Great,” I thought, “I’ve picked up some kind of stomach bug from a student.” Within 30 minutes of being at work, the back pain and nausea progressed pretty rapidly. I couldn’t figure out how my back could hurt so much and I could feel so sick at the same time. It never dawned on me that the two were related.
After only 45 minutes of being at work, I realized there was no way I could finish out the day. I texted my assistant principal and asked if she could find a substitute teacher for my class last minute and explained my condition. She approved me to leave, and by the time I got to the last red light before my apartment, I was sobbing in pain. “Please turn green!” I yelled at the traffic light. When I arrived home, I lay in bed, trying to position myself in a way that would relieve the “muscle ache.” (Spoiler alert: It wasn’t a muscle ache)
I felt like I needed to pee, so I went to the bathroom and tried, but nothing happened, so I went back to bed. I would continue going back and forth from my bed and bathroom several times before exhausting myself and just then laid down on the bathroom floor.
My mom lives four hours away, but I felt like this was a medical emergency. Something about me, I rarely ask for help unless I feel like I’ve absolutely tried everything else on my own. I called her, and barely being able to speak, I asked if she could come to my rescue. Like every good mom would, she said that she would pack up and head that way. My aunt did so as well and traveled with my mom.
Lying on the floor, I knew I couldn’t wait four hours for help, so I texted my friend, Amy, “I think I’m having an emergency.” She was out of town for work, so she called our other friend, Rachel, who called me and said she was on the way. She helped me to her car and drove me to the emergency room.
In the ER, I was given pain medication, an IV of antibiotics (for a UTI and kidney infection), and a CT scan (to check for stones). After the scan, they said they would have my results in an hour, so I waited in the waiting room. An hour went by, then another, and Rachel said she suspected it was bad news due to the wait. She wasn’t wrong. The nurse finally came out and asked if I had ever had an “issue with my anatomy.” This was such a bizarre question to me. I’ve never been hospitalized, had surgery, or had any kind of problem, so what could possibly be wrong with my anatomy? I told her no, and then she explained that something was constricting my ureter (the tube connecting the kidney to the bladder), and that I could potentially become septic, meaning the urine could back up and cause major problems. She told me I would need to stay at least a night in the hospital to monitor the potential sepsis. I freaked out. The day had started out normally, and now I might be sleeping in the hospital? Who’s going to watch my dog? What about work? How much will it cost?
The nurse realized I was basically having a panic attack at the thought of staying there, so she gave me the option of going home with medication but was instructed to return if things became unbearable again, and that I was to see the recommended urologist first thing in the morning. I complied.
The next day, I went to the urologist and he ordered me to get two more scans done and to return in a month. This was frustrating because compared to how the nurse acted the day before, I could be in danger, but now we’re scheduling our next visit in a month? Again, I complied.
Over the course of that month, I had finished my first round of antibiotics, but then developed another infection a week later. I had to go back to the ER, where I was given antibiotics again.
This continued to happen through late November. I would complete a round of antibiotics, and right when I thought I was normal again, another infection would show up. After the second visit with the urologist, I found out that this would continue to happen until I had surgery.
What they found from the scans is that I had a blood vessel lying across my ureter, which was causing the kidney to drain too slowly, which would cause the infections. So I found out in late October that I would be having surgery.
They told me upfront that this would mean 4-6 weeks out of the gym, and if you know me, this was probably my biggest concern. I mean, I was currently in the best shape of my life, and this was going to set me back for sure. Also, having surgery in December meant that I would only have one month to prepare for the CrossFit Open, something I care a lot about. I decided then that I would push myself in the gym every single day so that I could be as prepared for the Open as possible upon return.
On December 13th, I had surgery to move the ureter around the blood vessel. They did this by cutting into my abdomen through my belly button and inserting little robot arms to do the cutting and sewing. So science fiction, am I right? They had to put a stent in my ureter so that as it healed, the scar tissue wouldn’t create a new blockage. I only had to have the stent for a month, but during that time, I wasn’t allowed to lift more than five pounds, nor did I want to. The stent was so, so very uncomfortable.
Finally, January 11th rolled around, and my stent was removed. It was an instant relief.
My first day back in the gym was a relaxed, heavy lifting day where, unsurprisingly, I realized I had lost some strength. The second day back had running and lifting, which led to me gagging in the grass behind the gym, trying to throw up. But little by little, I progressed and began getting some of my skills, strength, and speed back.
Even more importantly, I had not gotten any infections since before surgery.
Rocking a new belly button scar, I finished the CrossFit Open in the 88th percentile of women worldwide, and the 89th percentile of women ages 35-39 worldwide (1% away from qualifying for quarterfinals!). This was a massive improvement from last year, where I finished in the 80th percentile. I was honestly shocked by my performance this year, considering all of the months of health issues, surgery, and being out of the gym for a month right before the Open. This has lit a new fire in me to do even better in 2024.
The moral of the story is that it is so very important to take care of yourself when you are healthy so that when (not if) these sorts of things are thrown at us, we can make a quick and easy recovery.
