recovery Archives - Lindsey Hein

Surgical bra’s are sexy right?

OutForARunAdmin — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 12:58:00 +0000

Whoohooo! I’m halfway through week two of recovery and feeling so much better than even two days ago. There’s still a lot to do but the worst part is over.

I cannot tell you how amazing it has been to have family to help us out. Not really sure what we’d do without them.

I was at my parents house all week last week with tons of help from my family and this past week, Marshall and I have been staying at Glenn’s sister’s house in Crown Point all week. They have a huge house with a ton of room for the crazy kid to run around and enough toys to keep him busy for 10 years. (Don’t get any ideas Marshall, you will never have that many toys)

Being in Crown Point has been a nice opportunity for Marshall to spend time with his cousins Sofia and Evan and he has also become quite attached to Grandma Peggy.

We have totally been out of our element and although he has adjusted awesomely, I’ll be ready to get back to our regular routine as soon as I have the energy and the weight restriction is lifted.

Marshall & his cousin Sofia. You might be bigger than me, but gimme that food. This kid is the biggest mooch you’ve ever seen.

Ice Cream!

But the truth is, I’m still hanging out like this:

In my oh so sexy surgical bra. And I shower with this cute little necklace thing so I can attach the tubes to it. This is real life right now and it ain’t always pretty.

I’m tired. But I’m stronger than I was yesterday. And the day before that. I’m sick of these tubes. And darn it I’m ready to have my energy back. All that being said, I’m thankful that it is this week and not last. I am feeling like a brand new person compared to last week!

At this rate- I’m going to have to get over having the tubes out and just rock them on Sunday while race spectating. And really, I need to get over it, it’s not the end of the world. But if you see me walking around with bulges in my shirts, it’s the damn bulbs the tubes drain into… K?!

SO, speaking of Sunday. I’m stoked to be a cheerleader. Cheering at marathons might be one of my favorite things to do. I love seeing people experience the marathon. Everyone is running a different kind of race from the next person and I like to see it all.

I’m going to get out there early enough to see the leaders. The plan is to be at miles 13, 17 & 25. Logistics for marathon spectating can be crazy and if you want to cheer for people who are different speeds, forget hopping around too much, you won’t make it back in time! As much as I want to cheer for everyone, my main goal is cheering for GHEIN.

Although I will be kind of sad heading to the next spot before any somewhat normal runners (running over a 3:00 hr marathon is what I’m calling normal haha) come by. When spectating marathons, I always like to size up the ladies who would be running where I’d like to be. I think I’ll have that chance at mile 25 though once Glenn goes by, I’ll hang there and wait for him and I’d say the 3:10 or so crowd should be coming by by the time he gets back to me.

Right now, Glenn is passed out on the couch. He feel asleep hard 2 minutes after he laid down. I would NEVER be able to pull that off. I swear he could fall asleep in no time, anywhere. I know he’s nervous about the race, but I know he’s ready for it and will be confident when he needs to be. He’s also nervous that he has a cold. He got a hint of a cold on Tuesday, it’s been lingering, but hasn’t evolved to anything. I think it’s just a very mild thing and will NOT mess with him on Sunday. This guy that I married, he is tough and he works harder than anyone I’ve ever seen when it comes to running. He knows this race is going to hurt like heck. He told me today he fully planned on it hurting much worse than Ironman Wisconsin. Which is a different kind of hurt all together, but still you get what I’m saying.

His heart is there, his body is ready and I know he wants it. Time to DO WORK.

The post Surgical bra’s are sexy right? appeared first on Lindsey Hein.

And then I cried some more- Recovering now!

OutForARunAdmin — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 13:44:00 +0000

I wrote about how I felt the night before surgery last Monday. I tried to be brave and as much as I was at times, I have definitely been scared too. We left Marshall in Bloomington with my mom and headed to the plastic surgeon first thing Monday morning to get marked. The thought of that alone made me cringe.

I cried a little bit on the car ride up. Glenn knew I was sad, but we rode mostly in silence. He wants to be supportive, while not over-bearing and he wants to talk about it if I do, but wants to make sure he doesn’t talk about it if I don’t want to. I’m sure it’s all confusing to him- when to say what to make the hormonal, emotional wife smile and not cry.

And then I cried again when the nurse explained the surgery aftercare. I started getting really emotional. I was trying to smile and nod and not cry, but it was impossible. This was making it real and in just a few hours I was heading to the operating room.

Once we were all registered, we headed up to my prep room and the nurses knew I was nervous and were really great about calming me down. My breast surgeon came in and gave me a big hug, went over the game plan and headed out. I asked the anesthesiologist if he could give me something to zone out before they took me back, so he gave me some versed while I was answering a few questions from the nurse and the next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room. Apparently then I cried some more though and Glenn and I said goodbye after that but I do not remember one bit of that.

My mom and Glenn came up to my room as soon as they could and then my sister Shelby and niece Giovanna came to visit, along with Sarah later that evening. Emily and Andy came up in the morning with Coffee and Bagels from Einsteins, my fav. Gosh, I had good friends.

A few hours post surgery- think I’ve had 19 sleeves of saltines by now.

My mom watching Marshall for us at home, My sister and I at the hospital

I’ve been recovering at my parents house since Wednesday. It’s been fairly uneventful and my mom, sister, Grandma and Glenn have been very helpful. Marshall got to spend two full days with my Grandma (his mimi) and they had a really good time.

Thursday night, I was nauseous with a pounding headache all night. In the morning, the headache was so bad I could hardly walk. I couldn’t take it any more so my parents Emergency Department. I’ve never had a migraine but am assuming this is what they must feel like.

They ended up giving me an IV with Toradol and Zofran and I felt better within 20 minutes. Even though I had drank plenty of water, I was apparently dehydrated. I also stopped taking almost all narcotics because I think the build of of them had something to do with my headache. I’m now just on tramadol and taking one loratab in the evening. I would deal with almost any pain to not have a headache like that again.

How it’s going now- I feel 9,000 times better than the first couple of days. But holy crap I’m tired and ready to rip these freaking drainage tubes to come out. They don’t gross me out but they are uncomfortable and make showering and sitting in certain positions uncomfortable. I’m have been hoping they would get to come out today when I go in for my follow up appointment with plastics, but I have a feeling it will take a few more days as the draining hasn’t slowed as much as they are supposed to to come up. They say it could take up to two weeks. Realistically, I’m hoping for Wednesday or Thursday.

And I only had one minor meltdown yesterday but the rest of the day was pretty good.

I’m really excited to get through these first two weeks and move on. I’ll still be big time recovering for awhile, but will get much better each week. I have a weight restriction of 3-5 lbs for the first two weeks and then 10-15 until week six. It’s my natural instinct to just grab Marshall, so this very weird to not be able to pick him up. I’ve had lot’s of help so far and have plenty of help through next week as well. Kind of playing weeks 3-6 by ear. I can’t imagine going through this and being sick on top of it. I am very thankful for this.

Out on a very short walk. Loss button ups are the easiest ways to hide the tubes!

I feel very supported and loved and am overwhelmed by the kindness of friends and family who have sent, cards, flowers, food and encouragement during this time. My mom has taken time off work to help and next week Glenn’s family is going to help us out.

And I was reminded once again while I was in the hospital, how special nurses really are. They make you feel cared for and safe.

Alright- I don’t know about you- but I’m hella excited to move on from this and watch Glenn in Chicago next weekend. Everyone cross your fingers that these damn tubes are out!

The post And then I cried some more- Recovering now! appeared first on Lindsey Hein.

Quick Stroller 10

OutForARunAdmin — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:03:00 +0000

Last week was all about slow, recovery miles. Recovery weeks make me tired. I know they are important but they can seriously mess with your confidence.

I had 10 on the schedule today. All of my runs this week are 10 except for the hellacious 20 on Saturday, and I’ll probably do some non-scheduled easy miles on my off days. I really wanted to run outside because of the weather. Hello 50 in February, and I was itching for a stroller run anyway, so when Marshall wouldn’t nap,we were off.

Ready for nap time in the stroller. He loves it.

This week is all about hard working, mostly faster miles. I’ll probably slow it down a bit tomorrow so I have a good amount of juice to work my butt off for Wednesdays tempo. Today, I wanted to be sure I didn’t creep over 8 minute miles even with the stroller. We started off with a pretty quick first mile, and progressively sped up, until mile 8, when we progressively slowed down.

I headed north on the monon for five and as I ran north, I had a good feeling the run back south would be much harder due to the wind. It was. Thankfully the 86th-75th st. stretch is blocked pretty well by lot’s of trees, so the wind didn’t get too crazy until we had 3 miles to go. Which is when we started slowing down.

The most ridiculous stretch wind-wise always heading south between 54th-52nd st. No wind barrier at all. I was using both hands (which I never do… I usually keep my left hand on the stroller) and forcefully pushing the stroller against the wind. There was a guy standing outside the Developer Town Building who probably thought I was crazy, because I was just smiling and almost laughing at what was going on. I didn’t know how else to take in the craziness of the wind I was experiencing. I could have slowed down or even walked it in at that point with a half a mile to go, but I was determined to keep my pace decent for that last bit. It was hilariously hard.

My Splits:

Mile 1– 7:41
Mile 2– 7:13
Mile 3– 7:15
Mile 4– 7:06
Mile 5– 7:00
Mile 6 – 6:51
Mile 7– 6:50
Mile 8– 7:17
Mile 9– 7:25
Mile 10– 7:35

Average Pace: 7:14

That felt good.

Something about creeping under that 7 minute mile mark with the stroller feels kind of… awesome.

With Buddy after our 10. It was pretty warm, but he was bundled in his standard go to fleece.

Reasons I Love the Stroller Run:

It makes me feel powerful & happy

I look forward to it more than the standard 10 on the treadmill

Fresh Air

There is a pressure that is taken off when it’s you and the stroller. Meaning… it’s OK if I need to slow down a bit, after all I’m pushing a stroller.

Along with the above reason… also comes the desire to run fast with the stroller at times. It’s an added incentive to work hard. You feel extra accomplished if you get a nice paced run in with the stroller.

Although I can’t do the creepy stare anymore, I like that Marshall is with me. I know that he enjoys it. I think he finds it soothing and comfortable. The kid has been hearing my noisy feet smack the ground for a long time now, he’s used to it.

Happy Running everyone- hope you were able to get the week started off in a good place.

Tried out the Vega Protein Powder today- loved it! Also, you’ll notice the baby formula back there… if you are into buying organic formula, Kroger brand has hella cheap organic!

Do you stroller run?

What would your biggest fear or excitement be about putting the miles in with baby?

If anyone wants to test it out, I’ll get a background check and you can borrow my baby and my stroller.

Do you use protein powder? If so what kind?

The post Quick Stroller 10 appeared first on Lindsey Hein.

5 Miles Twice in One Week!

OutForARunAdmin — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 00:57:00 +0000

On Sunday I crossed the 9 month barrier – 36 weeks pregnant. I’m still running 4-5 days a week, about 2-5 miles. It’s usually one of two standard 3 mile loops.

Last week the weather cooled off quite a bit- we were at 75 degree temperatures rather than 95. I was able to get in a run almost everyday, two of which were 5 miles – a distance I hadn’t ran in quite a few weeks. It felt really good and I was pretty darn proud.

People ask me almost everyday- “When are you going to stop running?” My thoughts- What? What do you mean when am I going to stop running? It won’t happen unless I have to. The plan is to run strong until I deliver. Pregnant or not, I know what keeps me happy. Exercise (and cleaning- but the way I clean… that’s exercise too). I need it for my mental health and piece of mind.


Ignore the weird stains on my shirt. I spill stuff a lot.

My very best pregnant running partner – she appreciates my slowness in the heat!

Top five reasons I’m still running at 36 weeks. (even though it is REALLY HARD sometimes):

1. It keeps me sane. Literally. Pregnant or not. I am a better wife, friend, dogmom, co-worker- just a better person in general. Endorphins anyone? They are freaking real.

2. My recovery after delivery will be much better– although my distance and speed has severely gone down, I’ve still got a base. Starting from square one would be SO hard. Plus some people say labor will be easier since I’ve kept it up… not sure if that’s true though.

3. Although I’ve gained weight in places other than just my belly- (I’m really not enjoying the looks of my thighs and butt these days…) I believe the running has been a big reason, why I’ve gained a healthy amount of weight. I’m right on track at 20-25 lbs right now.

4. I’m so grateful that I can run– and try not to take it for granted… I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t run. I hope it is never taken away from me.

5. Why not? If I tried to come up with a list of reasons why to not run- it would be the same long list of excuses that your average person has for not running. Too tired, my breathing is off, my legs feel heavy, too busy, too tired, too tired… ok see these are excuses and I can’t stand excuses.

THREE MORE WEEKS. Who wants to run with me tomorrow?

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