Friday, September 24, 2010

Steroid Shot

It happened to me once before, on my left leg. It was perhaps four or five years back. The acute excruciating pain just above the heel is also known as Achilles tendinitis. This time I had it on my right leg. And one of the famous reason for getting this very painful ‘gift’ revolves around the word “overuse”.

Yes folks. I did a mistake. Well, not really a mistake if I want to put it in another perspective.

Yes I did overuse my leg muscles when I put them on the mileage shock test run on both Saturday and Sunday (see yesterday's entry).

But, I also managed to kill some stubborn M-bugs which have been happily invading my brain since a couple of months ago. The success of that little back-to-back experiment gave me a sense of confidence that, “Yes EnAikAY, you can do it!”

Anyway, I started to feel the pain on Monday. The slight pain in the morning slowly grew into much distinctive pain, to which I surrendered into a resting day (i.e. no training). On Tuesday morning however, I cannot take the pain any longer and finally paid a visit to the doctor to get some treatment.

The Achilles tendon.

You may not be able to distinguish, but my Achilles tendon is swollen.
(I know you’ll find it hard to resist, but please ignore my bulu kaki ok.)

The pain was so bad that I can’t even touch the skin there. I was limping when walking to the clinic, though fortunately I am still able to drive my manual transmission car. When the doctor squeezed my leg and the tendon (to check whether the tendon is torn or not), I was shouting loudly (I don’t care, it was very painful!) and kept on holding his hand back.

Perhaps, upon realizing that my pain was not a fake one, the doctor decided to give me a shot. And it was not just a normal pain killer shot in the butt. This time, it was a steroid shot on the tendon itself. So, what started with a mileage shock, ended with a steroid shot. Hambek kau, rasakan!

Cleaning process.
(Yes, I brought my camera along to the clinic. I knew there will be some drama)

The steroid shot was given on my Achilles tendon.
No, I didn’t scream.

The assisting nurse even asked whether I felt pain or not when the needle pierced my skin to which I told her, “Kak, the pain I’m having is twenty times more painful than what that little needle can do to me.”

Luckily I don’t have needle phobia.

And then, when I asked the doctor whether I should rest and not move my leg a single inch, he said it was not necessary. The steroid will start giving the effect after a couple of hours and the pain and swell would slowly dwindle down. But, he (and another good doctor friend of mine) recommended me to do ice treatment. So, I went back home to pick up my ice pack and headed back to the office to continue my work.

An ingenious method I invented to hold the ice pack.
Hands-free, EnAikAY style! Hihihi.
(And if you wonder, yes we can wear jeans to work everyday if we wish).

Although I rested on Monday without any workout, I managed to go to the gym for another hour of upper body workout on Tuesday. While my motivation was still up high (no, I did not get high from the steroid), I did a mini duathlon training on Wednesday night (4km run, 30km bike, 2km run), and another 50min turbo training on the trainer last night while watching Transformers 2 on DVD.

I’m back in action guys!

And guess who’s going to be the first commenter this time?

31 comments:

EnAikAY said...

Siapa lagi.. saya lah!!
ngeh ngeh ngeh..

P/s: Haza.. what rule?

Kevin Siah said...

Do I qualify? Being the first non-author comment? Hahhah.

I feel your pain, Nik. Not 100% at the moment either. I guess just need to take it easy, don't be stubborn and try to train through the pain.

EnAikAY said...

Kevin,
Yup, better not.
When in pain, rest.
That's always my philosophy too.
P/s: Try again next time for the podium finish ya. I'm still #1. Hihi.

Yimster said...

Ouch! I can actually see your swollen foot from the picture Nik. Yeah, dont be stubborn and let it heal fully. You'll come back strong. Been there, done that. Not what i wanted just to rest but it was for the better. Tomorrow will always be there bro

Diket said...

Get well soon. Nurse those tendons will ya. Simpang untuk Genting!

Che said...

ntah hape2 ntah #1 commenter kat blog sendiri :P

EnAikAY said...

Yim,
Saya bukan degil, cuma gian sikit2 je.
P/s: Dah siap iron baju melayu biru tu for Newton?

Shakhir,
Thanks bro. Lepas kena shot tu dah Ok dah pun, alhamdulillah.

Note:
Guys, many of u may not realize that i had another entry yesterday (Thursday), do u?

EnAikAY said...

Daud,
Itu perli ke puji tu?
Kih kih kih.
P/s: Kau mcm backup geng2 MacamBagus je ni. dapat komisen ke?

ziff71 said...

injection steroid tu ada buat selera nak bantai tart nenas lagik tinggi tak?

EnAikAY said...

Ziff,
Bukan setakat tart nenas je bro.. dengan akar2 pokor nenas pun wa rasa nak bedal ni..

shuklazim said...

Dah inject steroid musti power panjat ammah hill...

EnAikAY said...

Shuk,
Kau lambung aku eh?
Siap kau!!! :)

Julin Julai said...

make sure you don't get podium in newton's. Nanti ada org komplen you amik steroid. Siap ada bukti lagi..kuikui

tsar said...

ouch!

jgn harap Transformers je, time cycling tu sure boleh blog2 lagi :)

btw, toyol mana hang upah amik gambar tu? hahaha

EnAikAY said...

Julin,
Alaa.. jgn la perli I sampai mcm tu.
At least i jujur buat pengakuan tau...

EnAikAY said...

Zarin,
Toyol kaki tiga namanya. :)

Che said...

jk la bro :P its yours, takde sape nak marah, tp org lain blh komplen .. haha..

oh, jangan menang podium sudah. confirm ada org report kan doc? hehe..

all the best for newton. jgn lupa pakai stoken. Nape warna puteh ek? bukan itam ke?

EnAikAY said...

Daud,
Hatta di dalam mimpi pun aku takkan dapat menang podium bro, jgn risau.
Kecuali kalau aku race sorang2 la.

IJAM said...

la, dah tau bawak camera kat klinik, tangkap la gambar nurse tu sekali...(mesti tak lawa tu..)...
atau pun takut kita pegi klinik tu la tu...
org cakap tengok muka nurse atau doktor yg cun, banyak penyakit boleh sembuh tau...

EnAikAY said...

Ijam,
Sapa cakap aku tak tangkap gambar nurse tu?
Tak semua gambar aku upload kat blog tau.. ngeh ngeh ngeh.

Ye la, tapi kesianla kat doktor dgn nurse tu, sakit (hati) diorang tak sembuh2 sbb selalu tengok muka kita yg huduh ni.. tul tak? hihihhi.

ShahM said...

bro,

berbelas-belas minit aku pikir camne ko gntung ice pack tu..abis mase ngular gue :P

EnAikAY said...

Shah Majid,
Lu tak nak pikir ke sapa yg ambik gambar ice pack tergantung tu?
Tangan wa dua2 atas meja...

Jaja Shah said...

masa i kena plantar dulu pun cucuk steroid gak. kunun nak start lari macam biasa la, sempat buat half KLIM & few months after that i pregnant, hihihi

selamat bertraining!

EnAikAY said...

Jaja,
and soon you are going to do your maiden half IM distance desaru triathlon. good luck!
Very de vogue gitu!

iamsyah said...

pehhhh dah kena steroid. kalau naik podium kena disqualified ok..

sah wa kenot kejar lah sunday nih :(

shuklazim said...

syah! tukar jadi biru la, nnt tengok sapa kejar sapa

kookykash said...

alamak, jangan bagi heart attack, boleh tak?

Deo said...

sure lagi power panjat bukit nuten nih.... all d best bro, with or without steroid hehehe

Din said...

Salam, acu holor sikik nyakit 'gian' demo tu ko kawe? Kawe lo ni nyakit M tu koho kuat...

Jamie said...

Yikes! Hope you have a fast recovery!

EnAikAY said...

Thanks guys.
Yeah, recovery is something we have to master too.