Tales of a One-Kidney Fencer

So, this week is all about pain identification and isolated training in view of that pain. While the pain has not gotten worse, it has become more identifiable. So, this week, I am able to push those areas to a certain threshold, and then train everywhere else.

I think I am making process with the pain. Rather than generalized pain throughout the surgical area, the pain is now just limited to the actual incisions. The major pain center remains the lower left, which was, what I’m terming the “operating area,” where they did most of the work. I won’t say that the pain in those specific areas is getting better, and the more I train, the worse it gets, but the footprint of the pain is getting better. If I point to where the pain is emanating, it is where the scars are. So, I am taking that as an improvement.

As for training, I have a plan to moderately increase training every week, and this week is no exception. My intent is to get more gym workouts in, though focusing mainly on limbs, cardio, and HIIT rather than anything torso related for now. I also have probably too many fencing sessions planned. My club is having a Vet weekend of fencing with opportunities to fence Friday through Monday with some of the best Vet fencers in the country. Normally, my fencing schedule would be Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday for now. However, there is a storm coming Tuesday that will likely shut that down.

I have one more issue to deal with unfortunately. When all this happened, I was already on a year long hiatus because of some persistent tennis elbow. I’ve been doing the PT and taking the meds, and it went away right about the time I had the surgery. I’m feeling it come back at the end of practices, only to disappear before the next practice. So, my days of back to back practices are gone, for now. I’m going to have to go through some serious anatomical adaptation, and work those areas at home and the gym before upping my fencing training significantly. Without anti-inflammatory medications, I cannot risk that kicking in again even a little bit.