WHEN TIME STOOD STILL

Last week sucked, plain and simple. I caught the flu in the middle of the week, which wrecked the training program that this blog was ultimately created for. Then, on Wednesday, my two lower molars signaled that I could go to hell. On Thursday, I called my dentist, tearing at the walls from pain, wanting an appointment. She reassured me that everything was fine because she had an opening on February 28th, and asked if morning or afternoon would work for me. This was on February 17th, after I had informed her that I hadn't just run out of dental floss, but had a serious problem. Eventually, I managed to get a Monday appointment, thinking I could manage with a few anti-inflammatories until then. Well, that didn't happen. On Saturday morning, I was in such pain that I even considered banging my head against the wall as an alternative, just so my tooth wouldn't throb so terribly. I'm not exaggerating, nor am I adding to the story; anyone who's been through it knows what it's like when an inflamed nerve stretches your whole face apart.

Of course, besides all that, I still haven't fully recovered from the flu, as I'm coughing up things I don't even dare to look at. This week has been incredibly tough, and I don't know if I've weakened my body so much with dieting and reckless exertion that it reacted this way, or if this would have happened anyway, but there are huge low points here. By midnight on Saturday, things had gotten to the point where my tooth wasn't even responding to medication, and the pain was getting stronger. At 4 AM, I snapped; I couldn't take it anymore. I called a taxi and went to S.O.S. Dent on Király Street. After an X-ray, the diagnosis came: my two lower right molars needed root canal treatment. One root canal costs 28,500. "Okay, let's do it, great, I have 30,000 on me, my own dentist can do the other one on Monday." I still thought at that point that my head was falling off because of the tooth they were working on. I can reassure everyone, it was because of the other one. I finished by 5 AM, and finally, I could sleep, as I hadn't slept for about 26-27 hours due to the pain.

The anesthetic wears off, and I wake up crying from the pain. I'm not kidding, kids, I was in such pain that my legs were shaking. Back to the dentist on Sunday morning, well, I don't know what's going on, pull it out, or do something with it, because I can't live like this. X-ray again, this shot was successful, as there was a huge inflammation under the tooth that Saturday's little kitty didn't fix. The inflammation had spread to the bone, and according to the doctor, in 7 years of practice, this was the second worst inflammation she had seen, meaning it definitely had to be pulled. "Okay, fine, let's do it." After a leisurely 40-minute wait, I received such an anesthetic that AFTER the doctor administered it, she asked if everything was alright and to let her know if I had any problems or felt like I was going to faint. I wasn't really scared, but at that point, I would have been happy to be the Tin Man in the Gypsy Quarter if it meant my tooth wouldn't hurt so much.

Thankfully, the surgery only lasted half an hour, then the doctor warned me that for 5 days, no physical work, no training, not even lifting, because the wound would tear open. I thanked them with 44,500 forints for spending the weekend together and for fixing my tooth after 32 hours of no sleep. I'm signed off sick until Wednesday, but no matter how I calculate it, there will be no training until Friday. My training day counter stopped at day 38, and now it looks like I MIGHT be able to restart training over the weekend. What can I say to that?

We face a thousand difficulties in whatever we undertake in life, which we accomplish alone, fighting against the elements, and all we ask of the powers above is not to place health or other obstacles in our path that we cannot overcome on our own.

Does the text sound familiar? I don't think I asked for much, but I'd rather not continue this line of thought. I last trained on February 15th, today is the 21st, and it looks very much like I won't be able to start training before the 25th. Despite all the difficulties, I'm still sticking to my diet; in fact, I haven't eaten anything but soup for 2 days, and I haven't even been hungry for 3 days due to my pain.

I have no idea what to do, what to do with my workouts. If I start, I'll continue from day 38 to day 66, but obviously the weekly summary pictures will lose their significance. The other alternative is to start exercising on the 26th, and after a week of preparation, continue from day 38. These are the two options, because giving up or quitting never even crossed my mind, not even when I was pacing around the house at 2 AM from the pain and noticed I was getting tired from walking.

I will never give up, because these 66 days, one way or another, will be completed. With diet, 32 weight training sessions, and 16 runs. I don't know what else could come, but soon I can't say anything other than what Agent Mulder said from the X-Files…