The last weekend of September two colleagues and I (a.k.a. the Diplo (diplomatic) Divas) dawned tiaras and hot pink stretch pants to complete the Charles City, VA Warrior Dash 2012! We drove a couple hours out of DC, waited a couple hours in warrior car traffic, did not have to get our small Hyundai towed from the muddy parking field, and enjoyed a 3.58 mile run complete with 11 grueling obstacles We ran, we swam, we crawled under barbed wire, jumped over fire, scaled ropes, and made it through alive! Pancho and Thumper roamed the grounds taking pictures and playing in the mud--all of Pancho's photos are on our photo share site so don't forget to take a look! I hadn't been training for the Warrior Dash more than my regular gym schedule allowed and really just wanted to make sure I could run that far :-) I got up to a seven mile run...on a treadmill. Treadmills are different than running on the ground and running on dry flat ground is different than running in wet clothes through lots and lots of mud! It was hard but it was SO fun! I finished 584/1348 in the 20-29 year female division and 3405/6661 overall...not too bad for my first race ever!
....and then the steroids (if you're still reading).
Okay so it's not as dramatic as it sounds. Last week I had a wisdom tooth taken out. My second wisdom tooth removal because I'm stubborn, I do one-by-one, and because my parents didn't force me to get them all out when I was under the age of 18. This one was impacted (i.e. coming in sideways and only going to cause trouble) so I figured I should deal with it before we move to India. The extraction took two hours and was not fun. The Dentist had just received an award for his extractions and joked that he should give it back after seeing that tooth. Anyway, I spent Columbus day recovering and taking all the pills they gave me, which included a steroid to prevent massive swelling. I had to take Tuesday off from work and managed to survive the rest of the week okay until Friday evening. I had finished the steroid prescription on Thursday and was starting to look less puffy at long last. And then my body freaked out. By Sunday I was in the ER with all sorts of crazy symptoms and the doctors agreed that it was likely a reaction to the steroid...or a virus. Wikipedia and the medical professionals thought I was having symptoms as though I had long-term steroid use...I completely swelled up everywhere, was retaining all fluids I took in, all of my muscles hurt, I was hungry and couldn't feel when I was full, I was irritable, I was completely out of it, I felt so weak I couldn't move, I couldn't put sentences together very well...it was crazy. They thought it was strange I was on such a high does of the steroids for so long (I guess some dentists just do a one-time shot right after the wisdom tooth comes out...I had pills 4x per day for 4 days) but the dentist doesn't feel it was too strong but agrees I should stay away from it in the future so who knows. Either way, no more dexamethasone for me! I had to take Monday off from work and have been slowly but surely gaining cognizance and re-gaining Telugu skills. Here's to hoping all of us stay well for the next month because I test in Telugu on November 14th and I sure don't want to be in language training any longer than I have to!
Last but not least, we have more family coming on Saturday and cannot wait!!!!!!!!! Pancho and I might even go out on a date night :-) Argo just came out and Ben Affleck thanked Diplomats for their service on the Daily Show last night, how can we go see anything else?!
Nice piece. I didn't get from you that it had gotten worse with your extraction. Yikes...I bet that was painful. There are recent huge problems with steroids and meningitis. I am sure you already know that. Glad you all had a good time with Harvest. I am wondering how much snow you get there. Looking forward to the visit. Much love...tutu
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