Throughout the night, after having been dosed with my massive amount of drugs, I was in and out of awareness and only remember bits and pieces (unfortunately part of that was trying to strip off my clothes in front of the male doctor. John tried very hard to control that sudden urge-does that say something about me?) Anyway to make a long story short, I was finally diagnosed 20 hours later with blood clots. There was a huge one in my femoral artery which cut off all the blood to my leg for those hours and there were 3 others in my right leg that were a little smaller. Unfortunately we were in a small town in Wyoming and I needed to be life flighted to Casper, which unfortunately the helicopter couldn't fly in or out because the weather was so bad (It was in the middle of winter). As I left in the ambulance for Casper the doc told me that I would most likely not come back with my leg. I was so high I just smiled and said "sure, whatever you need to do!"
Anyway...the surgery went well, and because of many prayers and priesthood blessings, I only had one muscle removed in my right leg. It was a major muscle but I still had my leg. I had drop foot for months and had a nice huge brace that I had to buy a size and a half bigger shoe for, but man was I a happy girl! I had my leg! After 4 surgeries which included the removal of the muscle, a skin graft, and a tendon transfer (to lift my drop foot), I was a new woman.
Throughout the surgeries several of my doctors told me I would never run marathons and if you know me well, that is something you so not tell me- never tell me I won't do anything. I will try and prove you wrong. So, after years of training off and on (due to many side effects of the clots- hip pain, back pain, weight gain-exercising really hurts sometimes) I finally decided it was time to think about running races in smaller increments. I got my lovely sisters to join me in my quest. We decided that it would be fun to do a relay and that it would be the half marathon relay in Utah during spring break. We were all pretty excited and thought it would be great. In January the training really started. It was a loooong month. So was February, and March. I decided that before the relay I would try to run a 10k just to see how well I did so at the end of Feb. I signed up for the Tri-City Leprechaun dash.
3 of my kids and my hubby decided they would come and support me on this freezing cold windy day. With snacks in hand, Israel and I wait for the race to start. I was thinking that I would be a little slow and probably would be an hour and fifteen minutes so the kids came prepared.
The gun went off and I was so excited. The adrenalin was pumping like crazy and I knew I could do it. At about the 3rd mile I wanted to quit because we turned around and had to run against the wind. But I just started singing in my head ("Runnin' Against the Wind" of course) and kept plugging along. An hour later I headed up to the finish line. Tealani was the first at my side and started to run with me and cheer me on and then I saw Israel and Nyah running down to finish with me and I started crying-but then i couldn't breathe and started to hyper ventilate while still running (really bad combo) so I choked back the tears and crossed the finish line in 10 miutes less than I thought I would.
Without my cheering squad I would be nothing. It is because of them that I finished that race. There is nothing like crossing that finish line with kids and a husband to cheer you on and say that they are so proud of your accomplishment. They are the greatest!!! I love you guys!
Tealani, Nyah, and Israel (Wyatt was at a basketball tournament)
My Babe. How awesome he is!
2 weeks later (April 4th) Nezhone, Maile, Shara and I awaited our relay. Maile and I ran the first leg and Nez and Shara the last. Nezhone and I were on a team and Maile and Shara on another and our sister-in-law Andrea and her father were on another.
2 weeks later (April 4th) Nezhone, Maile, Shara and I awaited our relay. Maile and I ran the first leg and Nez and Shara the last. Nezhone and I were on a team and Maile and Shara on another and our sister-in-law Andrea and her father were on another.
At half a mile, my back was killing and at about the 4th mile my hips were in severe pain but I ran the entire way and never gave up. That was the longest 6.55 miles I have ever run. It was cold, snowy, and windy, but the best feeling was handing the baton off to Nezhone and finishing. I have no idea what my time was and I think it was really slow but I don't care. I was so happy.
Watching Nezhone and Shara come across that finish line was even more exciting. We had so much fun. Andrea, I am so glad you ran with us. Nezhone and Shara you guys were amazing. Maile, when i lose weight and really can train again I am going to KICK YOUR BUTT!!!
7 comments:
BRING IT ON SISTER!!!
OK Cajsa, this made me cry!! I am really glad that you put this in your blog. I didn't know the whole story. :) I think it's good to get those kind of things recorded. It is the best having your kids cheer you on. You are an awesome mom!!
Cajsa, you are so awesome!! Seriously, you rock. I couldn't run that in full health. I'm jealous of all you runners that accomplish these things. I don't have the will power, endurance, skill, or whatever else it takes. You always were a way better track runner than me.
Cajsa, I had no idea of how many challenges you had to grow through physically to get to your race last Saturday! You are awesome!! We're proud of you. By the way, thanks for the visit earlier this week. Stop by anytime!
Good job Cajsa! That was fun. I'm right there with you. I would like to get my time back to what I used to do it in. I ran 13 miles in 2 hours before my excessive weight gain. We can do it. Our goal is to get our times down.
Look at how big my belly is in this picture...you all look so skinny compared to me. That's my other goal.
great job! you are amazing! you are one tough tita!
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