Week 11: Taper time for the Rockin K trail marathon

Second week of taper and getting super butterflies about the race.  This is always the time my body decides to kind of fall apart and I am dealing with a huge flare of my PF.  Sigh.  I knew it was not happy when I was home for spring break when we were skating.  Those skates had little to no support and were pretty darn flat, but I was not about to make my mom risk breaking a hip to skate with little man.  So i pushed on and we skated for 2 hours with my feet screaming.  I figured I have made it through many flares so I can make it through this one.  Of course it doesn't really bother me when I am running, just the other 23 hours of the day. I am bathing in CBD oil, getting a nice deep tissue massage, and stretching like no body's business.

Monday:  Rest day. No Cross Fit today since I am enforcing a 2 week break upon the  recommendation of my coaches.  I really missed it, not the getting up at 4 am part, but the feeling of being done with the work outs and the calories i gain from working out :)

Tuesday:  Easy 5.  I am so shocked that my times get getting faster and faster on this 4:1 run/walk interval.  Today I wasn't even pushing it, just letting my body set the pace and I saw a 9:45!!!!!  What the what?  Not sure what to attribute to this sudden burst of speed, the Cross Fit, the run/walk, or the loss of weight, but I am loving it!

He looks like such a hunter here

Wednesday:  Rest day! No Cross Fit again and I can tell because my back and hip are not 100% happy.  Funny how lifting heavy weights fixes my pains and doesn't cause it.  We did start track club and wow, what a turn out!  We are going to have a big group again this year and I LOVE it!  We had a parent's meeting and then launched into form drills and dynamic stretches before ending on build ups.  The school re-did the high school track that we run on and wow, my body loves this new track so much more than the old track, even though they look the exact same.  Maybe more cushion underneath?

Rising Phoenix Wellness window

Thursday:   Easy 5.  Another walk run day for me and this time I tried to keep my pace a little bit slower.  While it is fun to see low numbers, this is my taper period and I need to remember that.  I beat the storms on the way thank goodness, and then went and did some work before heading to Rising Phoenix Wellness for some table work.  I am so blessed to have such great massage artists in Trina and Doug that help me keep my body together.  There was lots of cupping, squirming ,and ouching by me, but I feel 1000 times better as of typing this!

at packet pick up bright and early with one of my favorite runners!

Friday:  Rest day and Wicked Pasta feed. I got to do a live FB video from the pasta feed plus announce the raffle winners.  I had so much fun AND they were selling beer at the pasta feed AND it was my favorite light local beer Life coach.  I love helping with races and I really enjoyed getting people their packets/shirts and helping answer their questions about our little town.  Early to bed to make sure to get up and be at packet pick up again before 6 am.

beautiful big snow flakes!

Saturday:  I started by working packet pick  up from 6:00 am until 7:15 am and then headed out to my volunteer spot. I was at a spot where I sent the marathoners one way to complete three loops before they headed out and sent the half marathoners the other way to do their out and back.  Not only were we directing, we were also keeping count of the marathoners as they completed each loop for BQ purposes.  It's sad that we have to do these things because there are those out there that cheat the system :(. Of course I should add it was snowing in earnest pretty much all morning and i was out in the middle of the street while one lane of traffic was going by behind me.  We were short on volunteers thanks to the weather, so I had to do both checking of the bibs and recording out in the rain snow.  Due to the wet snow, my paper work kept getting wet and tearing or the ink was bleeding, or my pen would just dig into the paper and make a huge hole.  I was pretty stressed that we were getting everyone marked correctly and headed in the right direction.  I knew most people by sight, especially after seeing them three times, but many had their bibs under layers of clothing or under their ponchos thanks to the weather.  Post getting everyone through my check point, I quickly headed into headquarters to find out my next assignment and head back out.  As luck would have it, they needed someone to run results from the start/finish line, sort them, and then announce age group winners INSIDE.  This was perfect so I could warm up and stay dry and warm the rest of the day, unlike most volunteers outside on the course (and unlike most years when I was stuck outside for 6+ hours no matter what the weather).  Post helping, i was beat.  I needed to run 4 miles, but that just wasn't going to happen.  I am going to count running the 2 blocks back and forth to the start/finish line to get results multiple times as my exercise of the day.  I decided to take a nice hot shower and put my feet up and watch a movie while hubby and kiddo went to  town to the movies to watch Captain Marvel.  I finally got to see my boyfriend Jason in his movie Aquaman.  Yum!  Plus reading in bed and not a kid's book, BONUS!

Sunday:  Long run.  I needed to do 8-10 miles.  It was a perfect morning, nice and cold, but with a gradual warm up.  I decided to just go and stop when I wasn't feeling it anymore.  I just happened to be running by the house at 9.7, so 9.7 it is:)  I am hoping next weekend's weather is much like this and not hot because we really haven't had any hot runs yet.  At least the water crossings will be refreshing either way! 

Due to the fact that I am not having the time to get to read most of the other blogs in the link up and comment, I will no longer doing the link up.  It's not fair to others for me to be a part of something when I don't have enough time in the day between helping my hubby run our small and growing business and then shuttling my kiddo from lesson to activity to really read and comment as much as i need to.  I have really enjoyed the link ups and will still read my favorite blogs as I have time, but until I have more time to spread the love, I will not be participating anymore.  Thank you for all of the reads and the comments over the past few months!!!!

March Runfessions

I really didn't have anything to runfess last month (shocking!), so I skipped, but I have a few things to get off of my chest this month so here goes!

Tony and I are coaching 7-8 year old baseball this year and I runfess I am excited/scared.  Luckily we can draft kids, so kids that are new to baseball and are Andrew's friends will be on our team!  Going to try and get many of the kiddos we had in T ball, since we already know them and their parents are cool and fun to work with.  Those dads all stepped up and helped coach as well and that is what we will need, a tribe of coaches and cool parents that just want to have fun. EDIT:  The draft was last night and we got all of the kiddos we wanted but one, YIPEEEE!!!!

I runfess that Andrew seems to have turned a corner with his focus.  OR, I runfess that the last meeting we had with his teachers where we absolutely refused to medicate him unless absolutely necessary changed their opinion of him.  We had all agreed to try consequence with him when he goes into his daydream/ not listening state and that seems to be working.  Not going to lie, he is already an expert at working whatever situation he is in in his favor, so I wouldn't doubt yet again a lot of his daydreaming/not listening is an avoidance tactic.  We already learned that he was/is going to breakfast in the morning at school to avoid extra hand writing practice that they do first thing in the classroom.  Sigh.  He is going to be a wily one when he gets older.  Either way, his report card was really good at parent teacher conferences, other than reading which he is getting extra help with anyway.  He did have a 1 in music, but since he takes outside music lessons and does really, really well in those, I am not going to worry about it.

I runfess that I am really worried about Tony's father and family.  They live in Venezuela and things have gotten really, really bad down there.  We are trying to figure out a way to support them and get them food and medicines that they desperately need, but a lot of the avenues we have looked at don't seem promising.  Most of these issues are their own government, but our government is imposing sanctions on their government and banking that seem to be harming the common people more than anything.  It's a big huge mess and we just want them to have food and not be starving or sick.  Please if you pray or send good vibes or whatever, send some down to the good people in Venezuela.

That's all from me right now!  I am sure I will have more next month post my trail marathon and start of ball season!  I love doing the runfession link up with Marcia at Marcia's Health Slice, so join me and other bloggers and runfess to your heart's desire!

Week 10: Taper time for the Rockin K trail marathon!

Welcome to the first week of taper in my little mini 12 week cycle I have created!  I am excited to be done with peak week and be on the back end.  I am glad to be back in Kansas, but sad because I miss my mommy and miss my Tennessee home.  Back to the grind!  I kind of screwed up last week and didn't get my blog posted to the link up, but will be better this week and get it posted, I promise.

Monday:  I really, really, really did not want to get up at 4 am and go to Cross fit, but my body just instinctively woke up at the correct time.  We did back squats and then a partner work out that included box jumps, ring rows, dead lifts, and kettle bell swings.  I partnered up with my BRF Mel and split up our 50 reps of each exercise.  I really feel like I am getting stronger because the WODs don't kill me quite as much as they were, and I feel like I can push much harder now.

Tuesday:  6 miles.  I woke up feeling on the edge of a cold.  Not really sick, a little snotty and just that off feeling.  EVERYONE around me lately has been sick with some thing whether it be Flu or upper respiratory gunk, so I have been trying to take my extra vitamin C and praying.  I could tell I wasn't 100% during my run too.  It just felt like a struggle the whole time and of course, a little over a mile in my watch died. I first thought it was a sign to turn around and go back home, but decided to tough it out and get it done.  I tried switching Strava on and using it to log my run, but it was horribly off compared to where I KNOW my miles are.  I just estimated my time when I logged my run based on what I have been doing and let it go.  The type A person in my cringed not knowing if I exactly ran the correct distance and time, but does it really matter?  Getting much better at letting this stuff go and super proud of that.

our article finally came out!

Wednesday:  Cross Fit.  This is my last week of Cross Fit till after my race based on recommendations of my Cross Fit coach and others.  I could try and do lighter weights and lower reps, but we are in the middle of another build cycle for back squats and dead lifts and it wouldn't really fit with what they are doing:(  I will probably just do some body weight stuff at home, which I suck at, but I am going to try my hardest to do. We did tempo dead lifts with tall box jumps. I am still doing box step ups and to do tall box step ups was nearly impossible for me due to my height and the weird angles that it made me have to create with my hips.  My coach scaled them to regular box step ups with weights.  Then we did a partner work out with 15 calorie rows,12 sand bag squats, and  ending with 9 pull ups.  One partner completed a whole round before the next one started.  Unfortunately, I mightily struggled with the sand bag squats.  I couldn't get the sand bag high enough up to actually do the squats deep enough to really count.  My coach showed me a way to try and get the sand bag higher, but I just couldn't seem to do it.  The sand bag was too long and bulky and longer than my torso really, but when I got it high enough, it wouldn't break enough to sling some of it over my shoulder.  I guess I need to be like the strong men and hold it on my shoulder, but I am just not there yet.

ignoring cows, good boy!

Thursday:  Easy 6.  Back to normal so whatever was ailing me was gone!  Took the kiddos out on our normal route and had fun.  I love the walk run intervals and have enjoyed learning how to power walk to keep my times down.  I think this skill will help me in my next trail marathon.  I could tell when I did some power hiking in TN that I was doing much better at keeping a steady pace no matter what the terrain.

at the park enjoying warmer temps

Friday:  REST DAY!  I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.  We are finally seeing signs of spring so we are trying as a family (which is huge for my couch loving hubby) to get out and enjoy it.  Ball season isn't too far around the corner and Tony is coaching this year, so he is trying different stuff on Andrew and trying to get him ready since he will probably be the youngest on the team.  Throwing seems to be 100% better, but catching is still hard for him unless it is a grounder.  He will get there, I just hope he doesn't take a ball to his face this year and get to where he doesn't want to play anymore.

trying my new dirty girl gaiters!

Saturday:  14 miles.  Tried to sleep in.  Dogs were like NOPE.  Did get some sleep though as we finally got up around 8. Fueled and was out the door by 10.  The run was eh.  Felt sore and kind of felt like I was struggling the whole run.  Ran by the house at 13.5 and called it good.  I usually don't do that, but I just wasn't feeling this run.  Fueled correctly, but just never felt great.  Not sure why but glad I got it done even if it was a tiny bit shorter than I had planned.

Post running, we as a family needed to get a lot of errands done in town, and we decided to reward ourselves for adulting by having a flight and some yummy food at Tall Grass Tap house.  Ended up with a growler of the German lager, but i seriously could have gotten a growler of each (Except the IPA, not a hoppy fan).  I had a corn dog made with andouille sausage and it was AMAZING!  I never would have guessed a corn dog would be that good, but paired with the amazing beer they brew there, it was!

Boom's first walk/run mile

Sunday:  Easy 5.  Back up.  I stayed up duper duper late hanging out with my BRF Saturday night.  Our schedules are crazy different right now, so we aren't running together and only getting a little bit of talking time pre cross fit twice a week  We send a million FB messages a day,  but that doesn't count as much as in person talking.  Her hubby was working late, so we had some good beer and watched Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.  I had some small bit of hope that I would get to sleep in, but the kiddo and the dogs said NOPE.  We had plans for the morning, so the run would have to wait.

We took Andrew to a quarter midget car track day where the kids got to do 10 laps in a real quarter midget car for 15 bucks.  Andrew was super excited, but I just didn't know how he would do.  Once they are suited up in their safety gear, they go off with the track people to be put in their cars, and then wait for their turn on the track.  Andrew is going through yet another weird separation anxiety phase, so I held my breath.  This was post waiting for over three hours for his track time.  Apparently, even though the event started registration at 11, most people where in line to get registered at 10.  We got there around 11:45.  Whoops.  Lesson learned.  The track people were quite smart though because they had so much chalk for chalk art, hula hoops, bubbles, and a fully stocked concession stand to keep kiddos and parents happy.

I was SO proud of him.  He listened to them talk about safety, got strapped in and learned how to drive the car, and then sat patiently while the car on the track died several times and had to be pushed.  When it was his turn, he did his 10 laps, and even after the checkered flag knew to go to the end guys even though they weren't paying attention that it was his last lap.  Afterwards he was all smiles and kept talking about going back.  We stopped and had ice cream on the way back to celebrate and then I got ready to run.  The above picture is of Boom and Stella running.  I have decided that he is ready to start doing at least a mile of walk/run with Stella, so he learns how to run correctly with me.  She takes running VERY seriously, so hopefully he will get the idea.  We already walk quite a bit taking to Andrew to school every day, and I will not be doing any more than a mile and no more than 3 times a week until his growth plates are closed.  

Thanks for joining me this week.  I am going to link up this week and not forget :)  Thanks to Kim at Running on the Fly and Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner for hosting the Weekly Run Down!  I so enjoy the blogs I have been reading and can't wait to discover more new favorites!

Week 9: Training for the Rockin K Trail Marathon

This is me enjoying some sweet tea sitting on my parent's back deck

Ah, peak week, how are ya?  I am currently in TN visiting my mom and mom in law letting little red soak up the fun that is all things grandma and grammy. That means some Tennessee running! A little bit of pavement, a little bit of new to me trail, and lots of humidity.

Monday:  Cross fit fun.  I decided last time I was in Tennessee that I would just do my WOD and strength at my mom's gym.  They had bumper plates and all the fun things I needed to get it done.  The only problem, not exactly all the things I use, but good enough.  The jump rope was too long, I had to go to a different section of the gym for pull ups, and no rings I could reach, but I made it work.  Strength was back squats with my new max and the WOD was totally modified to get what I needed.  I had to cut it short too, but I got some sort of WOD in and later when we were at the playground and I did some knees up on the monkey bars.

Tuesday:  7 miles. I actually did 7.8 to try and have to run less the next day, since we would be with Tony's mom again in Martin (Grandma and Pops).  I got to pound more pavement and more hills.  Hopefully these hills will help, even if it is pavement.  I am excited, I actually have a watch tan!!!!!   I had to laugh though.  We run over a bridge and there is always tons of broken glass on the sidewalk.  We hit a section that was pure broken glass, so I just picked Stella up and started running with her in my arms.  A couple pulled over because they thought Stella was hurt.  Glad that Cross fit has helped me be able to run carrying Stella, and glad that people in this world still care :)

Wednesday: Back to martin to see Grandma and 6.2 miles.  Since I have a new loop that I like in Martin, I was pretty excited.  I figured the loose dogs would all be up since everyone would be at work.  WRONG.  I had two different sets come after Stella, and i and one that I thought was NOT going to back down.  I got some good hills in and the humidity was lower.  Post running we headed to the Discovery Park in Union City.  If you have never heard of this place, it is amazing!  Luck was in our favor because they had a Lego exhibit which consisted of some awesome Lego creations, but more importantly, you could build your own, and that is what we did the majority of the day!

Thursday:  Rest day.  Boy, did I need it. Peak week is no joke!  Also, I had promised little red some trampoline jumping time at Sky Zone, and some skating time at Magic Wheels.  We had so much fun and I thankfully didn't get hurt falling:) Andrew still prefers the trainer for skating, but that is okay.  We don't go enough so if he needs to use them for now, we will do whatever to make him have fun.

We also did some yard work as the weather turned out to be beautiful.  This was what I did as a kid, pick up sticks and drive the lawnmower.  Glad that Andrew is getting a little taste of what I was expected to do as one of my many chores growing up.  

Friday:  20 miler.  As luck would have it, one of my running buddies was in Memphis for the week/weekend and we met up with another lady that we had met on the running with Dogs FB page.  I had hoped to get the majority of my long run on the trails, but ended up with 15.5.  It was TOUGH.  The trail was leaf covered and  stick covered, and one jumped up and bit me pretty hard. Pretty much did a superman sprawl face first on the trail.  I don't think I have ever fell face first so that was a first!

The trails were marked a little wonky, so we had to back track a few times, but we got a big loop of around 9 miles, a smaller loop of 3.14 miles, and then I did another loop for about 3ish.  I decided since both of the other ladies had headed out that the best thing for me was to head home and do the rest of the run near family.  Running on new to me trails with no cell phone service by myself was a little creepy.  

There was a lot of power hiking.  I needed this so badly,, because I haven't done many of my long runs lately on technical trail.  I was able to maintain about a 3 mph speed, which is really, really good for me on technical trail with some good elevation gain.  

I am so blessed to have trail sisters.  These women are amazing!

Saturday:  Short run on tired tired legs.  I wanted pancake flat and I got it. We went to a park that has about a mile around paved track and I didn't mind doing loops as long as it was flat.  Andrew and grammy played on the playground while I ran.  Then mom and I went to a mom/daughter lunch while Grand daddy and Andrew went to subway to share a sandwich.  We convened and all headed to Jackson's new brewery, Hub City Brewery. 

They didn't do flights, but they did tasters.  I loved the Stout they did for St. Patrick's day and got a growler to take back to KS.  They also had bowling and a huge area with several corn hole stations.

Even with her torn rotator's cuff on her throwing arm, she threw a mean game of corn hole!

This place is amazing!  It was family friendly and had GREAT beer.  My tab was quite a bit high, but it was worth it!

Sunday:  Driving day!  I am going to be optimistic and say that the drive was great and we had no issues.  I hope I am not jinxing myself by posting this early, but who knows when we will get home. Our drive down was amazing so here is to hoping the drive back is the same.  Thank you Tennessee and Grammy, Pops, Grand daddy, and Grandma for hosting us and giving Andrew lots of love!  Till next year!

Thank you to Kim at Running on the Fly and Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner for hosting the Weekly Run Down link up!  Check out the amazing blogs that are part of it and find a new one to love!  I know I have!

  

Week 8: Training for the Rocking K Marathon

this was from a couple of years ago. Let's hope stella and I don't have to swim this year!

One more cut back week and then my last big running week before taper.  As I said last time, I am really digging this plan even though it isn't technically coach approved or scientific. I have tried to research things like cut back week volumes and taper week lengths to try and fit this plan to those tenants.  5 more weeks till race day and I am super excited!  This is also another travel week.  Andrew's spring break officially starts the 11-15th, but the school system schedules parent teacher conferences the week before and have the kids totally out Thursday and Friday meaning we can hit the road bright and early Thursday morning.

Monday:  This is usually my Cross Fit day, but since we ended our back squat/dead lift series, this week was kind of random and not really what I needed for running.  I talked to my coach and we decided that Tuesday's work out of tempo back squats would probably be the best.  I was fine with moving things, Monday was going to be one of those crazy days anyway.  School was on a 2 hour delay with the record cold, I had a dentist appointment, and then we had music later.  I had volunteered to start taking a friend's kiddo (who goes to a different school than andrew) to the same music class as Andrew, and I was a little nervous for the logistics of the first time.  Every school has such different pick up and drop off rules around here and they are all so technical! Anyway, we made it through, got everyone picked up and delivered, no problems.  Plus, I got a nice/painful 1.5 hour massage from Miss Trina at Rising Phoenix.  Since my knee is still not 100%, not hurting really just not being right, she worked on my leg to try and help with that.

Tuesday:  Cross Fit/Run. Started out the morning bright and early heading to the gym.  We are between programming, so this week is kind of willy nilly and this work out seemed like the best for me and my running.  For the strength portion, we did back squats to a tempo of 5 seconds on the way down, 3 seconds in the bottom, and then 1 second up, repeat for four sets.  I tried to start at a doable weight and then work my way up.  The WOD was 5 muscle ups, 10 thrusters and 20 box jumps.  I am still not doing these exact, still working scaled and modified versions, so I did 5 ring rows, 10 thrusters with just the bar, and 20 box step ups. It wasn't the hardest WOD we have done, but I was sweating and breathing hard at the end for sure.

some nights a beer and bed are just what you need

I didn't have time to run post getting the kiddo to school because as part of the PTO, we do popcorn days where we pop popcorn for the entire school (around 440 people total) and post that I had to get to work.  I figured no problem, I would run post work.  Well, I honestly was worn out post work, so after eating an early dinner, we watched some TV, and went to bed early.  I knew I could add a run somewhere else and it would be fine.  

Wednesday:  Easy 6.  This run started out with very sore and tired legs and just didn't get much better than that.

At least she was happy.  It was nice to be outside and on the roads, even with a little bit of snow still on some of my route.  I do have to tell a funny story.  If you aren't into TMI skip the rest of this paragraph.  Okay, you have been warned :)   I have runs where I just have to pee multiple times. I have secret ditches or spots that I can get to and be sort of hidden.  It's worse at this time of year because of course the crop coverage is gone, so it's mostly open prairie and I try and use hills or deeper ditches.  I had already stopped one time in one of my hidden spots, so I thought I was good.  My bladder started screaming again right around the time I was heading past the feed lot on my running route.  I knew the workers were out feeding the cattle and thought I had seen the workers heading to the back where the silage is.  I had to go really badly, so I ducked by a concrete bunker further down the road of course.  Just as I was standing up to get my pants up, the workers started driving towards me.  I am hoping the glare of the sun was enough to block any view of my bare bum, but I am pretty sure they knew what I was doing on the side of the road.  Dang it.  I try to be fast and look out for cars.  Not this time.  OF course they drove by me super slow and I couldn't make eye contact. I kind of fiddled with Stella's harness and gave them a half hearted wave.  Oh well.  When you have to go, you have to go.  

Thursday:  Travel day!  Back to TN!  We made it in 10 hours with one stop for lunch and one extra stop for gas.  It was the best trip we have ever had with mostly good weather and only one long line at the gas station.  Mom had us a good dinner cooked and Andrew had fun showing granddaddy all of his Lego creations and building him more.  

Friday:  Easy 6.  I had planned on meeting up with a new trail buddy and running in Memphis till I saw the weather.  It's pretty much suppose to be either storming or raining the whole time we are home:(  I decided it wasn't worth driving an hour to get rained out or be in the mud.  Sunday was suppose to be a better day, so I decided to put off my long run till then.  Stella and I got 6 miles in doing some pounding of the pavement.  She was not happy with the drizzling rain and constant stopping for cross walk lights. She also told me traffic was stupid and sidewalks with glass are not fun.  I agree girlie!

that was me sweating buckets

Saturday:  Easy 5 or long run.  Choose your own adventure.  I decided to get my 5 in because we were suppose to get storms later.  It is always nice to get a run in where I use to ride my horse when I was in college. Also, wow, humidity.  At  99%, it just about killed me because I am NOT use to it yet this year!  

Stella was just happy we were off of major traffic filled roads.  We passed some loose dogs and had one car pass us the whole hour.  It was green and humid, and so different than Kansas.  

Sunday:  Long run.  I had found a route during my 5 mile run that was ~ 6 miles and perfect for a two looper to get my 13 in.  When we drove around the loop to check it out, we didn't see any dogs but when I ran it, every single house had one or more.  Sigh.  Country life.  It was also horribly humid at 7 am, to the point I had to shed my jacket and just run in a tech T and shorts. Unfortunately,  I was not very comfortable at feels like 40, but I was also tired of sweating buckets.  

After my run and a quick shower, we headed to ReelFoot Lake to look for eagles.  We found one nest with an eagle on it, and several blue herons, and one beaver.  We even went to the town of Hickman KY to look at the flooding and Mississippi river.   We went down many back roads trying to find more eagles and had so much fun seeing so much wildlife.  We also got to see some of the birds they had at the welcome center.

On to peak week !  Last big week before a nice long taper and race day!  I am digging the new weekly wrap, so check it out and find a new blog you might love! Kim at Running on the Fly and Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner host, so head over and read up!

IMPA in dogs-Information for those seeking it

Taken in 2019-Healthy and back to running

I have honestly pondered several times starting a FB group for those of us who have had dogs battle IMPA.  I searched out others who had battled this disease when Stella was diagnosed and now that we are through and on the other side, I have become a resource for others who are now battling this horrible disease with their beloved pets.  I wanted to put together a blog post that covers the basics of how to navigate this disease.  I will try and reference papers so if you are like me, you can search, but most of this is coming from those of us who have battled this horrible illness.

1.  This disease never goes away.  Your pet can be in remission but the disease is still lurking inside of them waiting for the next time to hit them hard.  We are currently in remission but believe me, every time she limps, every time she takes a while to get up from laying down, any time she acts funny, I am bracing myself for it's return.

She lost quite a bit of weight and had shaved legs for a while

2.  Proper diagnosis.  Joint taps are almost necessary for clear diagnosis.  Rule out all other diagnosable diseases that have proper tests first, but if IMPA is in question, do the joint tap under sedation for a clear answer.  It is worth the money and time to know, and it does not cause your dog anymore pain than any other diagnostic test.  The dog is under light sedation, so they feel nothing.

We sat in many waiting rooms and became pros at waiting

3.  This disease is a marathon, not a sprint (quote credit give to my good friend Shanda). While I am sure there are those dogs out there that quickly get better, most take months if not years to get over this disease.  As we found out with Stella, backing the prednisone off too quickly = relapse.  Manage your expectations by understanding that this disease takes MANY medications and many step downs and can take lots and lots of time.  For Stella that took almost a year of weekly and then monthly vet visits including routine blood draws, adjustments of medications, checking of urine and blood pressure, and time off from work for me.  My final bill was over 6 thousand dollars, but I would do it again in a heartbeat to save my baby.

Pre IMPA

4.  The drugs that it takes to beat this disease can have very horrible side effects, but it takes strong medication to completely put your dog's immune system under submission.  Due to the prednisone (Pred), Stella basically peed so badly all over our house that what little carpet we had left had to be ripped up and trashed.  We also will have to rip up and replace a section of hardwood that she frequented.  She was also very very hungry and testy, and we had to manage her very carefully, especially with a kiddo in the house.  She would snatch food out of your hand and not care if she was suppose to be getting said food or if she got fingers or hands in the process.  Her hunger ruled her world. 

Swelling in her hind legs

5.  Combo of drugs may have to be explored.  Usually your vet will try the cheaper more generic drugs first (or at least we did) and then move to the more expensive combos.  Pred will more than likely be the main drug of choice but there are lots of combos that vet's can try.  What worked for Stella was a combo of Pred and Azathioprine.  There are lots and lots of combos out there that can work so do your research.  Ask lots of questions.  This isn't a common disease in dogs, so most vets don't have a ton of experience with this disease.  We were VERY lucky in that we had KSU 20 minutes away to get the diagnostic tests we needed and the pharmacy to provide the meds.  My local pharmacy also helped me source the cyclosporine as it was very expensive (and eventually deemed ineffective, thank goodness).

First official marathon 2018

6.  Every journey is different, but ask lots of questions of those who have been through it.  A lot of my questions and concerns were answered via FB because I had put out a plea to have anyone and everyone who had heard of this disease or experience with it to contact me.  I had several people that I did not even know contact me through PM and help me through. I even had a few phone calls when we thought it was Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever that I basically had crying break downs during, but they were necessary to get information.  The treatment plan that eventually worked for Stella was one that a new FB friend had used for her dog.  She even sent me the complete medical history of her dog so that my vets could take a look and see if anything they used could be of use for Stella.  You just never know what gem from other people will help you with your expectations.  Take lots of notes when you take your dog to the vet and or take someone with you.  I did this several times by taking my undergrad students with me.  Having another set of ears helps you because you are trying to digest everything and make sense of everything and you may miss something.

Here are some links to articles I found helpful:

https://www.vetspecialty.com/new-treatment-option-immune-mediated-polyarthritis/

http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/recognizing-and-treating-immune-mediated-polyarthritis-dogs
https://vetspecialists.com/immune-mediated-polyarthritis-impa/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2583415/


As always listen to your vet and do your research!  My vets at KSU and my primary care vet were both very receptive to me bringing in any research I could find and asking lots and lots and lots of questions.  I always tried to be respectful with my questioning and I even got a few immunologists involved to help me decipher the science behind this all.  Feel free to contact me to talk as well!  My email is redaussie3@gmail.com.  I also am on FB at Running with Reds as well as instagram Redaussie3.  I wish you much luck if you are going through this with your pet.