Hysterversary

Today is my hysterversary. One year ago, I had a total abdominal hysterectomy. I've spent a lot of time in the past year recovering from that -- GI problems, back problems, energy problems and so on. I'm very proud of myself for completing the Tour de Cure and MS150 bike rides despite all of the problems. I'm looking forward to a much better year.

I recently read a novel that mentioned and old wives tale that I had never heard before -- the grieving process takes one year and one day. You have to go through every birthday, holiday, and anniversary -- including the anniversary of the death -- one time before you are fully recovered. I choose to think that my body has been having it's own little pity party and that on Monday, it will be back to itself again.

Of backs and bikes

I know that this probably sounds odd but... I've had back problems all summer. Odd because I've been doing a ton of riding. The thing is, it's more or less a pinched nerve and the riding position opens up the part of my back that pinches so the problem has been with walking not

biking. Totally weird. The physical therapy folks surmise that I had the hysterectomy last October which not only tore up more core muscles but also caused (indirectly) some GI problems. The GI problems caused me to hold myself differently and without the core muscles 100% up to speed, that lead to an aggravation of lower back issues.

Last Thursday morning I had an injection so I may not be Tour de France legal, and I was very afraid that it wouldn't help as I was very uncomfortable on Thursday and Friday and feeling pretty tentative about the situation on Saturday. I'm happy to report that the injection did seem to calm down those nerves. There is still some pinching but I am much more comfortable.

In other news, I spent a lot of pennies on Monday and I got a new road bike. I was planning to wait until October but the words "sale" and "Madone" used in the same sentence made me check the bank balance. I ended up with a 52 cm Madone 5.0.