After Ironman Arizona, I knew my next big step was to get my tattoo. I had asked for recommendations, decided on my design, waited for my husband to return from a business trip and on Nov 21, I was laying face down in Avalon tattoo shop in Pacific Beach. I spoke at length with Hunter, the artist, and he helped me pick the size and placement. He showed me the sterile conditions and every tool was unique to each person and sealed in a sterile wrapping. Even the bed was wrapped in sterile saran wrap. He prepared the stencil and we moved the pattern around a few times, until we all decided the final location and font for my MDOT IRONMOM. Hunter had beautiful artwork in his room and had been practicing for 5 years. I had complete confidence in his ability. First, he outlined it in black. The pain was only during the downward stroke and as the needle was lifted, the pain was instantly gone. When he changed to the brushing stroke to fill in the mdot in red ink, then the pain was more intense. However, it was over in about 30 minutes. I loved it. Crisp Crimson Red just above the sock cuff. We reviewed the After Care instructions to be sure I clearly understood there would be NO swimming in chlorine or ocean water for at least 2 weeks. He discussed using Neosporin the first few days and lotion daily but not to over do it. He said to let it dry on its own and NOT to cover it. Simple enough. I couldn't have been happier.So what DIDNT we talk about? This is an OPEN WOUND which is located in the worst possible place that attracts dirt. What's in dirt? Very Mean Resistant Bacteria....the kind that doesn't care about antibiotics. They are little Ironbugs. So another thing you DON'T do is RUN IN DIRT until it is healed, UNLESS you can SEAL it from the environment. (Lesson #1)
Fast Forward 7 days.... Thanksgiving is here. My training peaks schedule says "go for a turkey trot race!" YES there is a new one in Bonita around Rohr Park that looks fun because I've never run the route before. I don't even know the elevation ! Hubby and I sign up for the 10k. That morning, I thought, hmmmm maybe I should lather up the tattoo with Neosporin so it's coated for the race? We walked a bit from the parking to the start at Rohr park. It's so pretty with leaves and soft dirt trails everywhere. Dogs, horses and kids...what a great park. Just before the race begins, I felt something on my leg and looked down to see my entire tattoo covered in dirt and small debris. The tattoo was buried alive!! The ointment became a magnet for everything possible to stick to my leg. YIKES! I found a wipey, rubbed off all the dirt, and took off for the 10k. I didn't think anymore about it until we returned to the car. It was filthy again, and I remembered running along lots of loose dirt and debris on parts of the course. I squeezed my water bottle over it, wiped it off again. That was enough, right? I will shower later and all will be good.
A few days passed, and the tattoo started to change. It was oozy and although some of my friends said they could swim in 7 days after a tattoo because the scab was complete, mine hadn't even started to scab. I called to make an appointment with my sports med doctor but he was busy so they sent me to a PA. However when I arrived, they had neglected to tell me the PA was in a different place across town and I couldn't make it on time so the appointment was cancelled. I made another one for the following day with a Family Medicine Dr. (lesson #2 THIS IS A SKIN INFECTION!!! see a dermatologist!) On my way to the gym, I sent a picture of my tattoo to my tridoc friend (internal medicine) to ask him what he thought. (He doesn't work in my network) I was alarmed when he told me to go to the urgent care IMMEDIATELY!!!! I really wanted to run for an hour but WOW he was persistent so I left the gym and went to urgent care. 
I was so happy to be seen within 15 minutes! This is absolutely unheard of! The doctor came in to see me before my vitals were done! She stared at me for a few seconds and then said WOW I just read your record and You Are A Rockstar!! What? oh my other doctor was treating me for neck pain for cycling at IMAZ so he must have put that in my chart! ANYWAY!!! let's focus! I showed her the tattoo and MORE STARING!!! hello?? she said... wow! What??? You do know the tattoo is SUPPOSED to be red, right? It's a red MDOT for my ironman finish. She says OH thank goodness you told me that! I thought that was your flesh! Oh geez it's not that bad is it???...then she gives me an injection and antibiotic and says it will be good as new very soon and leaves within 5 minutes. This sounded about right to me (as if I have any experience in this area to even have a valid opinion!!) . I told my tridoc friend the news. He said.. did she culture it? what? no, she seemed confident this med and shot would fix it... Tri doc says... Well I would have cultured it but hopefully this is the right antibiotic. (Lesson #3 anytime you have a skin infection, get a culture BEFORE the antibiotic is given or otherwise the culture won't grow and you won't know about the resistances).
Guess what happens next??? OF COURSE I am growing a concave hole in my leg now and the puss keeps running down my leg and it's really soggy like a cake that's not cooked in the middle!!! I'm taking my meds and watching my leg disintegrate daily. I remake a new appointment with Family Med Dr. (hello ! skin infection needs a Derm Dr!) She looks at it. I show her my daily pictures on my phone and her expression is alarming. She cultures it and says it probably won't give good results because of the current antibiotics but we'll see. I requested new antibiotics per my tri doc friend so I was at least armed with knowledge. The culture gave some mild bacteria growth. I'm starting to panic a little because my skin is gooey, I can't swim, and no one knows what's wrong. My tridoc friend takes all my pictures to his Derm Doc friend - Head of Dermatology. He guesses Atypical Mycobacterium which requires a special request culture. He tells me the double antibiotics to request from a Dermatologist. Yea, more knowledge. Family Med Dr refers me to Derm Dr and I go in with a script to read to the doctor and show him 25 horrendous pictures showing the slow decay of my leg! Derm Dr says very nonchalantly that the special culture requires him to cut out a piece of my DEEP TISSUE under the tattoo, and there will be a stitch but hopefully the scar won't mess up your tattoo! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!!!! No one is cutting or stitching me! We are going to ASSUME the Head Of Derm knows his shit and I'm taking these antibiotics he recommends. You can beat me to death with cotton swabs and culture the surface but THAT IS IT! He swabbed it vigorously and sent me away with ointment and 2 antibiotics. Within 48 hours, I saw improvement. 6 weeks later, my scab has healed and fallen off but the tissue is rough and still healing. 
Apparently Atypical Mycobacterium infections have 30 species with a wide range of problems from TB to Leprosy to affecting the lung and brain functions! It's difficult to control and takes 4 weeks or more of double antibiotics to kill. This is SERIOUS SHIT!! (I literally got animal "shit" in my wound apparently) While taking 1700mg a day of meds, my GI went into complete distress and I was regularly dizzy and nauseous until my coach mentioned probiotics! I think drinking Yakult 2x a day saved my life! Suddenly I immediately felt like a new person! My coach also controlled by hysteria due to not swimming by focusing on running. It was like a new shiny blingy thing that kept my attention. She made me run sprints and intervals far out of my comfort zone but it consumed me as I saw improvement in my stride and pace. She told me I was going to run a sub-2 hour half marathon on 12/28. I didn't plan on this and I couldn't see this in my future. Running PRs hurt like hell and 2:05 was my best ever. Dropping 5 minutes is a lot but it gave me new focus so I grabbed on to this new goal like a life line. Running kept me sane through the month of December. I ran over 30 miles a week at some painful paces with my inhaler nearby! My son, Ryan said he would pace me at the race too!. The course is slightly downhill so maybe if I worked hard on the positives and trained hard, and chased Ryan, then maybe I could SEE what my coach saw in me already. Over the year, my coach/athlete relationship has become SHE BELIEVES & I TRUST...SO I JUST DO IT!
This course starts with a little uphill for about a mile and then a longer downhill so it was comfortable. Ryan was ahead of me looking backwards and making sure I was close by the entire race. I pushed on the downhill because I knew the 2nd half was more difficult and I would be tired. The rollers were great. The crowd was not as packed as I expected on the narrow 56 bike path. Many runners were supportive and said GO TRICLUB to me! I just LOVE that! I tried to hold steady around 9min miles unless downhill. About mile 10, we had some slight uphill and it hurt and I dropped to 9:30 but Ryan kept urging me forward. (BTW he took THREE phone calls during the race as he pranced along at a comfortable pace in front of me! He had only run 3mi, 6mi , and 10 mi runs before the race to ensure he could hold 9 minute pace for me! Wow, youth is grand!) I picked it backup mile 11 and then mile 12 was a little up again so I slid back to 9:30. There was a little out and back leg as a teaser before the last section to the finish line. I knew I was slipping physically and mentally so it was time to push through the pain and really go for it. Ryan stayed close by my side and ran with my new surging pace of sub 9min mile as I was pleading for the finish line to arrive quickly before I blacked out! We turned the corner and I picked up my knees as best I could and we blasted across the timing mat with 20 seconds to spare! My distance run was 13.13 THANK YOU RACE DIRECTOR FOR PERFECT MILEAGE!!! and my finish time was 1:59:40. Wow, the pain instantly stopped and I was so elated! Having my son by my side was so spectacular as well! He really pulled me through this one. What a great memory for us!
The best part about running hard is the swimming that follows! It's amazing therapy and makes me relax and recover fast. Oh wait, I can't swim. :( Grouchy again... Then I saw a post on Facebook for our club swim challenge which I was unable to participate in all month. If you swim the last 3 days of the year, you will be in a raffle. I looked at my leg. It really was much better. I sent pictures to triDoc requesting swim time. He said YES!!!! I swam with my heart on Dec 29 2300y, and Dec 30 2600y, and twice on Dec 31st for 5000 yards total! My shoulders hurt and I was really slow but I WAS SO HAPPY!!! My scab had completely fallen off as well. I am still on antibiotics and it is still healing internally. I can still see some superficial healing in the works but it is improving. My tattoo is much lighter than day 1 due to the infection and antibiotics and it will need to be reinked but I won't be doing that for at least 2 months and during a 2 week period where I can live in a bubble. My tridoc friend may have saved my limb, and my life. Trifriends are the best! - a tri doctor is even better - and I am so fortunate to have more than one !!
December was HARD. I missed swimming so much. Swimming is my ZEN therapy. I actually NEED IT! I think my Ironman training helped me mentally though. Focus on the positive. Do what you CAN do , prepare, and give it your best. Change your goals when you must but GO FOR IT! Thank you TEAM IRONMOM. You were all AWESOME!! It was amazing to end the year on such a positive note!
Looking forward to 3 Ironman 70.3's, One hilly marathon and watching my husband become an IronDAD !
Awesome post.
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