Training for Life

For the past two and a half years I have been training as a triathlete. Swimming, biking and running with the occasional strength training session thrown in to shake things up and make my muscles scream at me a bit. The latest book I was reading about training explains that being a triathlete is not swimming, followed by running, followed by biking. It is swim-bike-run. Not three separate sports.

This is just like the human body, systems do not function independently, heart pumping blood, bones keeping you upright and nerves sending signals. They all work together. Swim-bike-run. So when multiple systems are compromised this is what is called a medical trauma.  I never really gave much thought to what "trauma" meant before all this happened. I asked, once I had had some recovery time, why I was classified as a trauma, and I was told it was because of the damage done to multiple systems. So here is the list:

• fractured skull (occipital lobe)
• shattered T4 and burst L1 vertebrae
• bone fragment from T4 through dura and in spinal cord
• 6 broken ribs (on both sides)
• torn trachea
• road rash on legs, nuckles and neck 
• forehead and chin required plastic surgery and 45 stitches
• broken nose (set twice)
• pneumothorax on both sides requiring chest tubes to drain fluid and air

So my training for swim-bike-run became a race for bone-skin-lungs. 

Turns out I have been training for life. 

Health Update: I don't really have to do health updates anymore, today is day 16 and I have no more medical needs (my staples came out today). I think future updates will be all about progress. For example, today I wore pants and used them to lift my legs off the bed. Sounds easy right? Think again.