16 cm

That's how long the tube was inside my chest. They pulled it out yesterday. OMG!! It's crazy but all of the soreness and pain went away once it was out. My CT scan came back normal so all things are good so far except I'm unable to fly or train for 2-3 weeks. I'll probably wait three whole weeks to make sure the hole is healed completely since I just don't train...I train.

All the hard work this late fall and winter for keeping my base good has been lost. It totally sucks especially all the work in the pool. I was getting there and now this setback. Ugh...just really disappointing. I also have to start my running from scratch and need to push thru the miles and hope for no injuries along the way. I had really gotten comfortable that 90 minute 7:30 pace level. It was gonna make those tempo runs coming up good.

So here's the story, it seems as told my doctor and confirmed by a couple of my friends via wikipedia that your lungs have these little air pockets on the outside of them called "blems". Sometimes one of those air pockets burst and can cause a pin hole in your lung. This over time will heal but can cause your lung to collapse. Mine was at 30% and getting worse as the day went on before the emergency room. I'm lucky I went to the doctor when I did because I heard from a forum post that some people have waited and waited until it was completely collapsed then had to have surgery to repair it. I just need a simple incision and 16 cm long tube inserted to fix mine.

Of course, I'm a little worried because the percentage for it to happen again is 25% and if it happens a 2nd time the percentages go up to 75%. Crazy... I'm hoping I never have it happen again but I need to make sure the pin hole is fully healed and the lung is healthy before starting to train again.

The clock is ticking with less than 8 months til the Ironman...ugh!