Are Cronz and Jack on the juice?

Well folks,

it is off to DC. This ironman deal is going to be hard, but it is even going to be harder without the support of CC, Slim, and the Gilbs. But we will keep on truckin and see what we come up with.

I know that it is still hard for some of you to understand why am I doing this. And there have been points in the past month I have wondered the same thing. But, my reasoning is this. One, this is the only point in my life where I can still make a move and not be super hard on the family. Two, even if you grew up in Des Moines, you don't stay with the Iowa Cubs if Chicago is calling you up. And 3, it helps me figure out if what I have career wise in MN is how I want to spend the next 20 years. I know that you guys out there that change companies out there don't understand why I don't just jump to the private sector. But the government is like the death star, once your in its gravitational pull, your in for life.

Gilbs, get better guy. We have all thought alot about you over the past month. Have faith that things will get better. We all just wish we were in that bar that night and could have done or seen something. Luckily, you married up, have two great girls, and a wonderful support network to help you get through this.

Last of all, although all of you are not democrats, I encourage you to vote Obama this fall. Raises under the current regime have not been great, and I need the money to put a solid roof over Kate and Fischer's heads with the cost of housing in DC.

And if your in the DC area, or have interest in checking out the nation's capitol, please don't hesitate to call. Everybody is always welcome.

jpk

Random Training Thoughts

Don't listen to The Fray on your trainer. (especially at 5:00 a.m., in the freezing cold, dark garage.)



"Everyone knows,
I'm in over my head,
over my head..."



Thanks, Fray, thanks a lot.

Liberty Tri - 6/14/08

What up fellas. Doc says I'm non-weight bearing for 10-12 weeks. Got a follow up on Monday, but I don't expect the diagnosis to change much. Anyway, I finally looked at a calendar today and 12 weeks from my surgery is 5/5/08. Bummer dogs, bummer. That is a lot longer than I thought it was going to be for some reason. So, as it happens, my first withdrawall will be Liberty, since I don't think I'll go from 10-12 weeks of inactivity to 1/2 ironman distance racing in 4 weeks. So, if anyone is planning on doing Liberty who has not signed up yet, or knows anyone who wants to do Liberty who has not signed up yet, let me know. I can transfer my number to someone for $15.

Other updates - May be going back to work on Tuesday, the 26th. I think I'm stopping taking my oxycontin today. It is noon, and I haven't taken it yet. Should have taken it at 9:00. Took a couple of Percoset yesterday. Looks like I may be done with that as well. Guess I'm back on the wagon (sigh). Clara barfed at school yesterday, so she got banned from school today. So, since I'm worthless, Tracy's parents had to come to town to take care of the kids. They are running around taking care of my kids, and doing my household chores that I can't do, while I sit on the couch with my leg up, blogging. Very odd. On the plus side, I was able to figure out rides to work 5 days a week for the next 2.5 months, which is cool. The Oscars are also this weekend, so that is cool. Something to look forward to.

Jaq, if you read this today, sorry I can't make it to your party tonight. I'm still laid up. Wish I could be there.

Random Training Thoughts

If I chose all the songs on my iPod, why am I always hitting next song.....

BG = Back in the house

Crew,

Sorry for the lengthy absence, but I am finally back home. Here's the story - had surgery on Monday. Was a success. Got all the hardware you can think of. 1 long plate, several pins, and one long screw that goes all the way through my ankle joint to tie back on my ligaments. Surgery lasted about 2 1/2 hours. I had a spinal block (much the same as an epidural), a nerve blocker in my leg, and then general anesthetic to knock me out. When I woke up from surgery, I was in some pain, but for the most part, everything felt pretty good. So, they sent me home at about 10:00pm on Monday night. Big mistake. I woke up at about 2:15am on Tuesday morning, and realized that my nerve blocker in my leg had worn off, and I had excruciating pain in just about every part below my knee that I was aware of. I tried to tough it out, and wait until my pain pills kicked in, but they ended up doing nothing for the pain. At 1:00pm, Tracy got home from work, and brought me into the emergency room, where they shot me up with just about everything you can imagine, morphine, valium, this stuff called delotted, and about 10 other things to try to get ahead of the pain. After 9 hours in the emergency room, they admitted me for 2 days. They set me up with this Patient Controlled Apparatus (PCA) that gave me a steady stream of this drug, and then every 10 minutes, I could hit the button, and it would give me an additional shot of the stuff. I pretty much hit it every 10 minutes for about 4 hours. It was sweet. Finally, I got some releif.

Wednesday all I did was pretty much sleep all day long, because I had pretty much been up for 2 days straight. Got a meathead bodybuilder salesman roommate on Wednesday afternoon that came complete with a loud voice, a blackberry, lots of business to do over the phone and some skank girlfriend. That was lovely. What a turd that guy was.

Made it through the night fine. Pain was pretty much under control, and I was trying to not have any more injections after about 8:00pm on Wednesday. Roommate kept me up all night long, along with people coming in every hour or so to check your vitals, etc.

Checked out of the hospital at about 3:30 on Thursday, had to pick up a few perscriptions, and then was home by a little after 4 yesterday. Spent the majority of the evening on the couch while Tracy got caught up on some work stuff, and then made a pizza and watched a romantic comedy - it being valentines day and all.

So that brings me to today - it being Friday for most people in the working world, but to those of us on Short Term Disability who are laid up, it is just another day flat on my bizack. I am on the road to recovery though, having the surgery almost 5 days behind me, so that is good. Trying to enjoy a little Percoset and Oxycontin, and a movie here and there. I'll try to get my hands on some pictures of the stuff they did to my leg, which is pretty amazing I hear. Hope everyone is well.

Great Marathon Poster

Fruit Basket Chillin

Alright, so at the risk of this becoming Gilby's surgery blog, I am going to continue to post things because, well, I'm just sitting here, and have NOTHING to do.

Thanks to my friends Carrie and Carlos for sending me the awesome fruit basket and the baloon the other day (see above). I ate the hell out of it (the fruit, not the baloon). You'll also see a glimpse of what I've been doing for the last week above. See the couch. See the pillow? What you don't see is my leg up to the left, but trust me, it is there. So, if you're ever wondering during the day "wow, I wonder what Gilby is up to", picture the above, minus the fruit basket, because I ate 50% of it yesterday.

The girls finally came home yesterday. It was so good to see them. Emma was asking me all about my big bandaids, and Clara just wanted to come up and hug me. They are awesome, although I don't know how we're going to do this for the next 8 weeks. I'm thinking we may need to get some evening assistance or something. Just not sure that every day Tracy can come home, pick the girls up, cook dinner, do baths, stories, and bedtime all while nobody seriously injurs themselves. We'll see.

Oh, monumental occurrance this morning! Took my first crap since last Saturday! I've been taking all these pain medicines which pretty much stop up your system. I haven't really been eating much of anything, but even so, I finally figured that about Wednesday that something was not right, so I started popping Dulcolax. Had to wait until today for some "movement" though. Ok, gross, I know. I swear the only people that talk about this stuff are 80+. Oh, and people that are 32 and bored as hell and pop pain meds and Dulcolax like they are candy.

Anyway, I think my Percoset just kicked in. I can tell, because I'm starting to be gross. Rock the hizzle. Hope you all are well.

Close But No Cigar

OK team, here's the deal, I went in this morning, and they loaded me up with all these drugs - valium, a nerve blocker for my leg, and then they started giving me the IV after which they would administer the sedatives for my general anesthesia. Then, my doctor came in, unwrapped my leg, and decided that my foot was still too swollen to operate. He rescheduled my surgery for Monday, but he wanted to reset my bones while I was there, because I was already partially sedated. So, they asked Tracy to leave the room, and he completely twisted my leg all around, and manipulated the bones somewhat back into line. It hurt like hell, so they ended up shooting me up with even more drugs. Something called fentenol was one of them. He then recasted my leg, and had them come in and do x-rays again. The funny thing was that he wasn't pleased with how the bones lined up, so he pulled apart my cast, and re-reamed my leg again - twice more. I got more juice the 2nd time around, but not the 3rd.

So, long story short - no cutting today. No pins or plates put in today. Just a manual adjustment of my broken bones and a nice narcotic ride to start the morning off with. OH! and I guess I got a new cast (see above).

Crazy here today. What size T do you guys want?

Sucker Punch

Yes yes y'all. It is true. No BS.

So, I'll attempt to fill you all in here, but I've been taking Vicodin and Percoset nonstop for the last 24 hours, so as they say: I was dreamin when I wrote this, forgive me if I go astray.....

Was hanging out in Garrison, MN this weekend, and as I was walking up to the bar to get another drink, and some dude walked up to me and sucker punched me in the face. My feet stayed where they were, and as I fell backwards, my right leg snapped. After looking at the x-rays today, the DR's think I have breaks in at least 4 different places, and looks like I've torn ligaments in my ankle as well. The damage is mostly between my shin and upper ankle. No knee damage that I know of yet.

Did 2 ER visits one in Onamia, and the other at Southdale. Met with staff at Tria Orthopedic Center and met Dr. Fetzer, who will be the one doing my surgery to repair all the damage. Seems like a great guy. Looks at this point like they'll be adding at least one plate, some pins, and a few screws to fix it all up. Dr. says after the surgery I'll most likely be discharged, but may stay the night at Methodist.

After surgery, I will be on crutches - absolutely no weight bearing on my leg for a minimum of 8 weeks, and then I'll need to have another small surgery to take out the screws. After that, another cast for a while, and then a boot. So probably all said and done, probably 3-4 months of being laid up.

Not really sure whate else to say, other than the fact that I'm just incredibly bummed out about the whole thing. Dumb, dumb dumb.

Tracy is the bomb. She is totally taking care of me. My mom has been here as well since this morning. I really miss my kids though. They have been in Redwood Falls since last Thursday, and I probably won't see them until after surgery.

I asked Dr. Fetzer about IMWI, and he said that it is not out of the question, but most likely will not work out for this year, since I'll be starting with a completely atrophied leg in probably may or June.

Anyway....

Strung Out

Here is one of my workout playlists. It's mostly cheery, guitar-driven stuff (no hip hop, that list is coming, stay tuned) that should make you smile. Warning, these songs are listed in random order, it's up to you to decide the perfect arrangement.

Darlin' Do Not Fear, Brett Dennen - A John Mayer discovery, but don't hold that against him, he's a cool kid.

Hands Down, Dashboard Confessional featuring Michael Stipe - Go with the MTV Unplugged version.

Whippin' Piccadilly, Gomez - Probably my favorite band right now.

Drunken Lullabies, Flogging Molly - Pretty crazy, best when climbing a hill you want to end.

Sunshine, Matt Costa - He's playing 2/18th at the Varsity if anyone is interested.

The Gambler, Mike Doughty - I love his voice, with or without Soul Coughing.

Colorful, Rocco DeLuca and The Burden - It's worth the 99 cent download, or it's on me.

To be young (is to be sad, is to be high), Ryan Adams - More upbeat (despite the title) than most of his stuff.

Heavy Metal Drummer, Wilco - No explanation necessary.

Lyric, Zwan - Only listen to this if you're ready to be crushed by a massive five-guitar attack.

Make You Smile, +44 - A good tune from what's left of Blink-182.

Enjoy.

Happy Super Bowl (Turn volume down)

Had a very similar tirade at work on Thursday.