Lots is going on. Ted is walking again, and even went for his first outdoor ride today, so he is making lots of progress. He can't always see the improvements himself, but he truly is getting better daily.

Everything must be out of the Pullman house by the end of June, which gives us one week to get everything out and clean. Simultaneously, I am also in the throws of finishing my research, with two more days of panels to go. These are wine tasting panels, and my final panel will coincide with my final day in Pullman. Very apropos.

Ted's family is coming to visit this week, and mine is coming the following week for the 4th of July. Yes, the 4th will include a toy dog that wears diapers, a miniature Schnauzer with some degree of "little dog syndrome," and a hound doped up on Xanax.

I have made the decision to have back surgery, so I will be going under the knife in a few weeks. After years of dealing with back pain, and months of leg pain, it is time to try a surgical approach. It will mark the end of my 2010 cycling season (aside from some possible cyclocross), but then I can begin to work towards 2011.

June

It's weird to think that my time in Pullman is coming to a close. I will surely miss the view of campus from the yard. Ted and I have to be out of our rental house by the end of June, so there is a lot to get done by then.


While I will miss the campus view, I will not be sorry to see these vials go! This is the set-up for one of my wine aroma panels. Each week I have labeled, organized, filled, capped, and washed (not by hand, thank God!) 900 of these suckers, along with conducting the panels. Occasionally I did 1800 of them per week, which was just too much, and really caused my back to ache! Tomorrow I will fill 900 of them for the last time, and Thursday will be my final aroma panel. Yay! Then, I just have to do three days of wine panels with my research wine, which means I will finish all of my research by the end of June.

I raced this past weekend in Hood River. I really wasn't competing, only participating. After getting dropped 8 miles into the first stage, and riding 45 miles solo, I confirmed that I truly had no personal expectations for the race because I truly was okay with it! And, I had a blast in the TT, even though I didn't do very well. I will admit that I considered dropping out of the Saturday road race because my back was not liking the climbing, but I had to finish. I did opt out of Sunday's crit once it was announced that it would not count towards GC. With my herniated disc, Ted's injuries, needing to move by the end of the month, and trying to finish my research ASAP, there was no real reason FOR me to do the rainy crit. Plus, I'm kind of a wuss!

I had an MRI done of my back today. It confirmed that a protruding disc is causing my problems. At the L5-S1 level, the disc is protruding and compressing the nerve root, which fits with my symptoms of pain on the left side, and down the left leg. The L4-L5 disc is also protruding, though it is not compressing the nerve; this means that it is probably not causing me any symptoms.

My last terrible flare-up was a year ago when I could not walk to the bathroom (in a tiny house!) without assistance. Though I have not been completely incapacitated since then, my back continuously causes me trouble, often preventing me from doing the things I want to do. So, it has reached the point where it is time to see what options exist.

I am heading to Hood River tomorrow to do a four-day stage race. My only goal is to have fun, as I realistically cannot have any expectations for myself without becoming disappointed. Hopefully the weather cooperates!