Numbers

Following my retirement at the end of May, I ran 100 miles in June and 135 miles in July.  My mileage suffered a setback last month though, as I underwent surgery on August 12th and had to take two weeks off as I recovered.  (My last run, at 4:30 am, on the morning I underwent surgery at 6:30 am.)

Since the surgery, I have run 19 miles, slowly, to finish out the month of August, giving me 90.2 miles for the month.  Happily, my weight was under 180 on the last day of the month, the same as it was on the day of the procedure.  (Coming home from Kaiser after my procedure, thanks to friends who took care of me that day.)

The conditions the surgery repaired, a return of an umbilical hernia (I had the same condition repaired in 2011) and an abdominal hernia, took six months to be scheduled after diagnosis (I was complaining of pain in my abdomen during long runs) by Kaiser Permanente, my insurance carrier.  That lengthy delay is unacceptable, in my opinion.  (A cut here, a cut there… .)

The cost was acceptable though.  I spent out of pocket about $235 all told, including testing and medications, although I'm pretty sure that's at least double what I spent out of pocket to have a hernia repair five years ago.  (I'm back to running, albeit slowly and for short distances for now.)