G’day,
I’m back…again! Before I go any further I’d like to wish everyone reading this a Happy New Year!! (Yes…I haven’t made a blog post since Day 497, December 19, 2022!).
So, where have I been?,Well, a couple of days after Christmas I knocked my wrist very hard against a swinging car door. Unfortunately it hit right in the spot where my nagging six-month de quervain’s tenosynovitis injury was located! It was so bad I got an ultrasound the next day (thinking I had actually snapped both wrist-to-thumb tendons!).
Thankfully, they were still in tact, but my doctor told me that any training that involves wrist movement was off the menu for at least one month. This of course rules out almost all weight training activities for Mission 6! I did manage the occasional run but even that sent shockwaves through my wrist.
Suffice to say I was quite dejected. This injury had persisted for the prior six months with no immediate end in sight. However, I got a glimmer of hope on a follow up visit to my doctor. He said he knew of a treatment that could help, but he had never administered it before and he also hadn’t seen it work with my type of injury!
I was so desperate for a solution that I was willing to give it a shot! The treatment is called “Platlet Rich Plasma” (PRP), a procedure where they take your own blood, spin it up and re-inject into the injured area. The basic idea behind it is that your body gets an extra boost to heal itself. The problem with my injury is that is an area that does not receive much blood-flow, so PRP could potentially help.
The procedure itself was intense! The needle in my other arm was fine, but when he re-injected it into my wrist he also needed to do an ultrasound simultaneously! The pressure was almost unbearable, he then asked if I could handle a second shot! For what seemed like the slowest five minutes of my life we finally got it done, though the aftermath around my wrist was not a pretty picture!
After getting PRP done I then went to a therapist the next day for a custom made splint (you can see it on my arm in the picture above!). This combination of PRP and splint was like a final throw of the dice, and believe it or not, it is actually working! I’ll be coming up on four weeks this weekend and my wrist right now feels about 80% (up from about 20%).
So, while all this was happening I decided to “take leave” from this blog in terms of weekly updates. With no training permissible during recovery I thought I’d just focus on getting my wrist right first. I conceivably could have posted updates on my wrist but it is a topic I have talked about endlessly for the last six months already! I’m kind over it, if you know what I mean?!
So, why post an update today? Well, today is the end date of (my almost non-existent) Mission 6! I’m happy to report that I did not let myself completely go during the time I was away! Even though I couldn’t do any real training I was pretty dialled in on my nutrition plan. As a consequence I finished M6 at right on 90.0kg (198.4 lbs), still below my M6 starting weight of 92.7kg (204.3 lbs).
I’ll leave it here for today, though I’ll update this post with more stats before I begin Mission 7. I’m not sure when that will be but things are looking positive for next week (pending my doctor and physio).
Until next time,
AJ
Hey Adam, just want to wish you luck on mission 7, the problematic wrist and whatever new challenges that may come your way to keep testing your PRW. Like Ender, I have a lot of respect for you and followed your original progress, the abyss and now your comeback success. I am sure many people like myself are following your journey from the beginning, quietly cheering you on although sadly never posted while relying on you as a source of daily or weekly inspiration for themselves. I dropped over 20 kg back in 2006 with you, was in the zone and sadly dropped into the abyss. A few months ago, I spotted your return and the next morning was at the gym at 6am without an alarm. Ever since then I have started building my own PRW and gradually climbing out of the abyss. Thanks mate, hope Mission 7 is a great success.
G’day Phil, mate that is great to hear about your 6am start with no alarm! Thank you for your support mate (and also giving me the heads up a couple of months ago!). I look forward to hearing more about your success getting out of the abyss, its a tough grind but well worth it.