Tomorrow's the Day!

I start my fast at midnight tonight, and report in to the hospital at 6a.m. tomorrow. Dr Doug said I should expect it to take about 6 hours. Hopefully I won't have to be on the blood thinners afterward because that would totally hinder my lifestyle. (And you have to give it to yourself in a SHOT - eeeww).
Thank you everybody for all your kind thoughts and prayers. I love you! I will check in with you tomorrow afternoon or maybe Wednesday morning if I'm groggy...

xoxoxo,
Iron Jenny





Can't wait til I'm back to my old self... This is my official IM Zurich finisher photo - Joe-Bobby and I finished with the exact same time - how about that?

Things are moving along!

Dr. Doug called today and said he'd like to do my ablation earlier rather than later, so he has scheduled me for October 1st. I am so looking forward to getting this behind me. It is truly driving me crazy. The only setback, and I realize this is minor, is that I may not be able to do the Twin Cities Marathon. UNLESS he gets in there and can do the cauterizing he needs to do without too much circling of the pulmonary vein(s). If he has to do some of that, then I will have to be on a blood thinner for 1 to 3 months. And even getting a blood blister on my foot would turn into a nasty bleeder. BUT - he said not to cancel TCM until he gets in there and looks around. But he did say I should focus more on IM FLorida, and be ready to just let TCM go. I told him that I'm not a pro, so giving up a race isn't like saying my kids won't eat dinner for a few weeks. It's just my hometown marathon and the course is one of the most beautiful urban marathons around and EVERYONE goes or watches so it's like a huge family reunion.

I swam a couple thousand yards today, and I took it nice and easy. Tomorrow I was hoping to bike after school drop off, but got invited to play golf instead, so I will do that.

I take my Sotalol tomorrow, and then stop until the ablation.

"Hello Reality", or "Who Did I think I Was Kidding?"

OK, so I get this great positive outlook pep talk from the new doc, and he says I can run TCMarathon, and that it's okay to jump back into training. So yesterday I set out on a conservative 5.2 mile run. Which takes me 1 hour 6 minutes to complete! I had to walk the last 20 minutes. I felt like I really really really really really really really needed to just lie down. I got home and ate a tbsp of peanut butter on pretzels and drank some more water and that helped pretty fast. But you'd have thought I just ran the marathon. I mean I was SPENT.

I figure I must still have the old beta blocker coursing through my veins. Although upon reading the side effects of the new drug, Sotalol 80 mg, it says it will also make me "tired, weak, short of breath, slowed heartbeat, and dizzy." Arghhh. Is this going to be my new life until I get the ablation?

So if I plan to do this marathon knowing hy HEART is okay, just my ELECTRICAL SYSTEM is whacked, I should probably schedule 6 hours on my Franklin Planner on Sunday the 7th. I certainly also should bring a lunch box because I simply can't go that long without eating. And at that pace, I risk getting to the finishline party after all the pizza is gone.

But as long as the doc says I will live through it, I'd like to go ahead do it beause I've never missed a year at this race since 2001 when it was my very first marathon. And next weekend it will mark my 25th marathon. So as long as I can stay awake for it, I'd like to try it.

On a fun sidenote, remember that my friends were taking pictures of my head on a stick during the Colorado Relay? Well, Holly emailed me yesterday telling me that when they returned the rental minivan, they left my head in the glove box with a note asking to go with them wherever they were traveling, and at some point to mail me home. I wonder if the next car renter will do it? I know I would!

Finally - some peace of mind...

Oy. What a ride this has been with my heart wigging-out on me since September 4th...

Today I met with Dr. Hodgkin, the other electrophysiologist. This is the guy who is married to my girlfriend, whose kids went to Early Childhood classes with mine when they were one year old, and now his daughter is in Bobby's class at school and his son is in Ally's. So although I don't know HIM, I do go pretty far back with the rest of the Hodgkins!

The first thing he said when he walked into the room was that we should just call him Doug. He had reviewed my reports and listened to my heart, listened to my symptoms, ran a fresh EKG, heard about my lifestyle and history, etc. and almost immediately started putting my mind at ease. He used words that I actually know (some even fewer than 6 syllables!), and when he used words I didn't know, he exlained them like a friendly professor would. Everything made better sense to me. He explained why the symptoms were so much worse at night than during the day (because there is some stretch in the heart and vessels when reclined and that can exaggerate the arrythmic beats).

He took me off the new medication and ordered something different and gave me some options for how to make this all go away (which he feels confident it will). I will be going with the "ablation" option, hopefully on October 8th. He's done this procedure thousands of times (I asked;-)), so I feel confident having him do it. About 70 -90% of "otherwise healthy" people (like me) come through this, recover for about 3 or 4 days, and then feel "cured". Ablation is where he'll go in through a vessel via an IV (so no stitches even), thread it up to my heart, and look for what is causing the erratic beating. Then he can cauterize the villains, reestablish the real beat leader, and retreat.

Sounds like a plan.

He also explained why he thought I should go ahead and do Twin Cities Marathon on Oct 6th, and also Ironman Florida on November 4th: that while these rumblings, grindings, fast-slow-fast beats, poundings, pressure, etc... this all sounds and IS very unnerving... but since my echo and MRI show that my structures are indeed healthy... these unnerving symptoms are nevertheless still benign. Meaning I will not drop dead like Will did (my classmate who got a virus in his heart and promptly died about 5 months ago).

So. Here's the skinny: I'm an Ironman. I tough things out. I can tough out freakish heartbeats.

I told him that I haven't been training, and he assured me I can get back to that right away. I just have to know that I may feel the sensations of my heart making these weird thumps and noises and that it shouldn't freak me out. Also, as an endurance athlete, I will have to use other methods of assessing my "current condition", since my heartrate monitor won't offer much as a tool. When I said, "but I'm so exhausted! now", he said that was most likely caused my the medications I was taking. That's their job - to slow everything down to try to get the rhythm to come back.

Ah, ha!

This would explain why at IM Wisconsin, I was running up and down the streets taking pictures, full of my usual energy, piss and vinegar, yet after I got home I started getting so tired... well, that's when I started the medications (and stopped drinking caffeine and alcohol), so that part of what he explained to me today, also made sense.

So that is the scoop. I start the new medication today, and will get back on my bike and not worry that I'm going to pass out and fall off of it. I still think that I will do a dreadmill run today, rather than an outdoor run, just so that I can familiarize myself with my erratic heartbeats while running, and not freak myself out.

Thank you all so much for all your prayers, and good thoughts. Although my BODY feels the same, my MIND feels better.

xoxoxo

9/22 Yesterday's EP meeting

Hi Everybody - I really, really, really appreciate having so many of you wishing me well, posting, PRAYING. It does help and I want to thank you.
Yesterday I met with the first electrophysiologist (Dr. Melby) who said it does indeed point to a heart-attacking virus, although he was perplexed that I didn't first catch a whole-body virus that left me vomiting and feverish, but I didn't. He took me off of the two meds that the regular cardiologist had me on because even though they had been doubled twice, they were not putting a dent in my symptoms. (Grinding, rumbling heart, tightness, backache, lightheadedness if I stand up too long, the sensation of whole-body oxygen-debt if I walk up the stairs, etc.)

So now I am taking Indomethacin and Cartia XT. Hopefully the latter will ease the tightness. Dr. Melby said that I have paracarditis, which is affecting the lining of the heart, not the muscle, which is GOOD, and that's why I feel the tightness in my chest and upper back. I will likely be in this for another two months, but when it's over, he expects I won't have any lingering symtoms.
But that still makes Twin Cities marathon a definite "no", and Ironman Florida a "probably no". Even if I have whipped the virus, byNovember, I will not have trained a single day for 9 weeks. So an Ironman would be my first day back? I would have to guess not... even for someone like me who thinks training is overrated!

Anyway, I apparently am having a blast in Colorado.

I got to meet some ponies:


... and Kevin Bacon....


... and I even got to direct traffic! "Slow down 'fore Mama gits yew!!!"


The relay team (Puke-and-Rally) is having some hardships out there. Mark S. tripped and fell tumbling on his 2nd leg, which left him with a nasty gash on his knee and cuts and scrapes on his back. Being dark, I guess there was nothing to do until daylight, but he may need stictches. Brooke got sick and has been just sleeping in the back of her van while her 4 van-mates are running her legs for her. Jeff S completed his 2nd leg only to get to the exchange point, wet and freezing and find that his van went to the wrong exchange point. After 20 minutes he just took off running agian towards the next exchange hoping to meet them, but they were doubling back to meet HIM, so there was some confusion and they lost a lot of time. Last year they were the only team of 5, so obviously they won their category. But this year there are 5 teams of only 5 (called an Ultra team), and they want to hold onto their title.

My van? No hardships, other than aches from incessant bellylaughs. My van has Joe and Jeff and really, I have never known funnier people and to have them BOTH in the same van must really be something. I can't wait to hear wahat Stronger thinkks! So they are having fun, and will have perfectly toned abs by the finish later today.

... now I see I've befriended a bear...

... was taken for a lovely afternoon stroll...

... and have become art in somebody's yard... Joe-Bobby git yer haind offa mah breast!!!

Update 9/21

I don't have a change to report for my heart condition, although I did have my meds doubled AGAIN. Apparently I should be responding to the beta blocker by now. I have an apointment with the first electrophysiologist at 3 p.m., so will let you know how that goes. My girlfriend is picking my kids up from school so Bob can come with me.


As many of you know, I was supposed to be doing the Colorado Relay this weekend and am really sad that I am missing it. I do this race with some of the funniest people I have ever met. Here's what's going on out there:






This is part of Team Puke-and-Rally: Erin, Brad, Robert, Deb, Merilee, Marty, and Chae.


This is Robbie showing off our new bumper stickers...


... and Joe-Bobby putting them on the minivan. To an outsider looking in, these relays are a disturbingly overwhelming convoy of about 300 rented minivans, transporting runners on the course.


This is me with Holly in the van.



... and me where we stopped to buy meat (I guess!)




And here we are on the course! This is "my" van - and that's our very own Stronger on the right! I can't wait to hear what she thinks of my friends! Especially Joe-Bobby and Jeff-Bobby who I hear had a Brokeback Mountain Moment last night.... oy vey!

No change; a little light entertainment

I don't have any changes to report on my heart condition, although I deeply appreciate how many people are thinking of me and especially grateful for those who are praying for me.
I have appointments on Friday and Monday with two different electrophysiologists, and had my medications (that already make me feel weird) doubled. :-(

The a-fibs I'm not all that worried about ---- apparently those are really common; it's the p.a.c.'s and the v-tachs that I am eager to get fixed like, last week.

The way it was described to me yesterday is that usually you have one "beat leader". Then all the other chambers fire their responses and the blood pumps all around and out to the rest of my body. What I have going on right now is like a revolt against the authority of the "real" beat leader. Now all the other areas of my heart want to be the beat leader and so they are all firing. (I sort of think of the movie Shrek when the donkey yells, "pick me! pick me!") Anyway, the machine - meaning all my parts - all look good (of course!, and thank God), they're just all confused because there is no leader. Meanwhile in all the confusion, my valves are fluttering and leaving behind a bunch of lost-and-wayward blood to pool up in my heart and if it hangs out there long enough I could have a stroke. About the virus, they can only assume it was caused by a virus because it came on so suddenly, but they can't tell me what virus is (or was) without doing an autopsy, and I'd have to be dead for that, so I won't be ordering that test. And if it was a virus, then it may already be gone, but I am just left with the electonic mis-firing afterward. No one will probably ever know.

So if the medications don't "reset" my electonics, then the cardiologist can feed a cable with a weapon on the end of it, up through my groin, and "zap" the places where the revolting beats are trying to initiate. Sounds scary, but I guess it's fairly common. At least I hope he's done it before ;-).

My friends all leave tomorrow for The Colorado Relay, so I am pretty blue that I have to miss that for the first time in about 5 or 6 years. Go Puke-and-Rally! Dread Pirate is on the Runnin' Rebels team, so you should all check back on Sunday to see if they were able to beat us. I predict they will beat us by 5 hours. BUT NOT MORE!! Have fun you guys. I will miss you.

On a lighter note, TriDummy, make that IronTriDummy, is in town, so I accompanied him while he got his M-dot tattoo last night. Poor thing cried like a BABY! I felt so bad for him. He's GOT to be pretty embarrassed. He composed himself once IronTaconite Boy got there, though... You'll have to check his blog for the close-up of the tattoo - I don't want to steal his thunder... it is a really nice one.


Signing in and getting the final drawing done.


Ouch!!! Waaaah!!


IronTac, IronDummy and me showing off our tattoos and ironmuscles.

... for those of you who read all the way to the end of the post, I was only kiddin' about Dummy crying like a baby. tee-hee.;-)

Today's EKG

I just failed the EKG.
I am having a-fibs, v-tachs, and p.a.c.'s - whatever those are.
I will update after my doctor calls me to discuss. All the technician told me was that the v-tachs are the ones that aren't compatible with life. How could she say that, and why is this happening?

9/17 update

Well, I slept poorly because I kept waking up needing a big deep inhale. But after I was up and moving around, I think I started to feel better... I counted 20 and then ... get this... 90 regular heartbeats! When I was counting the 90 set I was giddy in disbelief. Maybe I am turning the corner and my body is starting to create an antidote.
I am still lightheaded and exhausted. But that could be the medication. I hate this medication. The feeling that I am dreaming and everybody is just in my dream is very strange.

I gave more blood this morning to try to figure out (and explain hopefully) the hypothyroidism factor which is so bizarre. Hopefully they will let me know soon what came up today. At 1:30 I go back to the cardiologist for another EKG.

Thank you all so much for all the good vibes and prayers you are sending my way. This has truly been the most unsettling few days of my life. I'll add to this post in the afternoon after my 1:30 appt..

Update

Gosh, you guys are nice. Thank you so much for all the good thoughts (and prayers from those of you who do that).
So today I woke up (thank God) and still feel the same in my chest. It feels like my ryhthm goes like this: BANG....... beat...... beat.......... beat..... [pause]..... ....... [come on! come on!] ........ ..... ....... BANG...... beat...... beat......
and so on. Sometimes the series is 2 beats long, sometime it's 12 beats long. It is so unnerving. Especially waiting for the big banging first beat after the long pause.
Yesterday was my first full day on my medications. (I still can't believe when I hear myself say "my heart medications" or "my cardiologist" ... that is just weird.)
I am sluggish all day and have a headache (I never ever get headaches, so that unnerves me too), but the cardiologist said that is what the medication might make me feel like. I also feel like I'm in a dream and I'm trying hard to be sure that everybody is real and not just part of my dream. But I hear that is normal, too.
I put on my Polar heartrate monitor and I think it's probably not helping for me to sit here watching my read-out go from 38 bpm to 104 to 53 to 47 to.... those are my numbers in the last minute. It's crazy

Across the meadow and on the hill is St. Anne's Catholic Church where the bells are ringing right now. I love that sound.

My service doesn't start until 10:00 so I have a while before I have to get the kids up and showered. Even Bob is sleeping in today.

More later... Greyhound in IMing me...

This will come as a total shock

September 4th I noticed my heart feeling like it had a rubber band around it. The first hard beat would pound up into my throat, like it was trying to gag me. Then 2 - 12 gradually lighter beats until it just felt like a vibration in my stomach, making me feel nauseas - not puking, but just like you feel when your pregnant. Have you ever veered too far off the road and run over those rumble strips? Like that. Only in my stomach. Then no beats at all. Then WHAM there goes another first beat again.
So Friday (before WI) I went to Urgent Care where the PA heard what I was describing, and ordered an EKG. Then he sent me to my primary care guy to also took an EKG and ordered bloodwork. He heard what I was describing, too, and sent me to a cardiologist. He hooked me up to a monitor for 24hours, sent me for an echocardiogram and an MRI. (If you are not claustrophobic, the MRI machine will convert you.)

So, the cardiologist called me yesterday afternoon.

You've got a problem with your rhythm and it appears to be viral in nature.

The echo looks okay.

The MRI shows that all your parts are the right size.

The holter monitor indicates that you are indeed experiencing this all day and all night.

Start taking these two medications (Metoprolol and Flecainide) and come back Monday for another EKG.

Your test from your primary care guy indicated hypothyroidism, so we need to do some more blood work on that.

No, you can't go to Colorado on the 19th for the relay, and no, you should not do Twin Cities Marathon.

Hypothyroidism? I read the symptoms and I'm nothing like that. (Although I wouldn't mind having an excuse for not losing those last 10 pounds or so). I have not fainted, but get dizzy when I stand up fast; and I am experiencing shortness of breath, but nothing that a good long inhale doesn't fix.

But I am freaked out about the virus. And I'm a little freaked out that the cardiologist gave me a number where he can be reached all Saturday and Sunday. And he said if I feel really lightheaded to go straight to the ER.

Do you guys know anything about this? Am I about to be one of those freakish stories? I gotta tell you I was so happy and relieved when I woke up this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/v/5nTjCf-_Ia4

go here for fun... Ally (7) singing to Hannah Montana with the hedphones on.

First Day of School

I can still remember their first smiles and first words. And now they are in 2nd and 4th grade. It's going too fast. I want them to be this age forever.

Everybody can buckle themselves up, wipe their own butts, engage in serious or humorous conversations... I really enjoy my kids now.

And yes, I have been given the "heads-up" from my other girlfriends whose kids are older than mine, and I am fully aware that this parent-child utopia is nearing its end! But for now, I just love them so much I can't even express it.


Ally and Bobby in front of school looking so sharp in their freshly washed hair and new backpacks.


Ally at her new locker.

Today I babysat our friends Micki and [my ski coach] John's two little girls. Their normal daycare lady threw out her back yesterday so I filled in and spent the day with Quincy and Clancy. Bob and I were wondering if our kids were ever this small, and they WERE. They are just so darn cute... the sweetest little girls ever.

After Bobby and Ally got home from school we took a walk in the woods behind the house and found this. It's a giant mushroom. Quincy squeeled that it was bigger than her sister. (It was).


When Quincy got tired, Bobby piggy-backed her. The kids all get along so great.

I hope their babysitter throws her back out again soon.

John is racing at Madison, so please keep him in your prayers. TriBoomer is once again carrying John's name on his Hero List for all 140.6 miles. Thank you Boomer. You give so much strength to so many. I will be driving out Saturday morning with Jumper, staying with Laurie, 21st Century Mom, and IronGirlNyhus, and will be cheering for so many of you -- too many to link!

Good luck!

Meeting Pharmie; Nick's OK; Party at Greg's

We got to meet and ride with Pharmie! She and Steve only live about 20 miles away, and we read each other's blogs, so we finally arranged to bike together. Steve had to prepare for school which is starting in a couple days, but Pharmie trekked out to Medina to ride. We love Pharmie!



... who is on the right, followed by Robert, Eric, me, Nick, and Rachel (the friend who took the picture that is now my profile pic).


It was a great ride until......


While we were pedaling along at probably 22 mph, a woman in a white car raced ahead of the cyclists in an attempt to get ahead of them before making her right turn. Though Nick braked and skidded for 38 feet, he still hit the back corner of her car. It was one of the scariest things to see one of your truly nearest and dearest laying on the pavement and being whisked away in an ambulance. Luckily, he is recovering and did not break any bones.

Eric rode over Nick's bike and has a bent frame, but he is okay, too.

My husband came to pick up those who couldn't continue. We started as seven, and then there were three. Very scary.


Laura's birthday is in August, so we had one final party for the August birthdays at IronGreg's house. Here we are on the pontoon with our host, Greg. Thank you Greg! It was a beautiful night!

Greg, Laura and Tim.


Tim, Sue, Andy, Karen, Robert and Dave enjoying birthday snacks while cruising around Lake Minnetonka and the channels in between.


Sue and Andy. Mother and son. I love these people. Andy and his father Dave did Ironman Zurich together this summer and last week Andy got a tattoo matching his dad's. How cool.


Nick, Rachel, Andy, Helen, me, Sue, Laura



... and the evening ended with a full moon overlooking the deck at Greg's.

OK, fine - here's a pic.

Six days have passed and I am feeling better - thank you all for your all your well-wishes! Here you can see a couple of bruises: knee, inside my knee and my ankle. Actually the ankle one hurt a lot, but never did look like much.
I think these are from the final rollover when I "sat" on my bike after the initial hip-landing-somersault.



This one on my hip took my entire weight after I bounced off my head. I feel so lucky I didn't break this hip. I think the one behind my hamstring happened when I got the ones in the first pic.


Today I can still feel the hip bruise, and the entire region on my right hip is still swollen. No, really.
More "swollen" than its counterpart.
More than "usual" ;-) and rounded.
I know they're both kind of rounded, but the right one is much more. I'm not explaining it further!


But the weather was really nice today (drizzly and 58 degrees) so on our long run (my first workout since the crash) we added onto our milage and ran 20. It sounded like a much better idea than trying to eek it out next weekend when it's back in the 90's and humid. I think the week off was good for me because I felt good for the whole run. No joint pain, just aware there was a bruise on my hip.

CRASH!

Well, I finally had my first real bike crash. Coming into the parking lot after our 52 miler on Sunday, I flipped over a speed bump. Hard to imagine but I was TALKING to Laura instead of watching where I was going. What looked to me like painted white and yellow stripes in the road, were really a row of speed bumps.
I went over the handlebars, tried to brace myself with my palms, but landed on my head, cracking my helmet in two. Then I somersaulted, feet flying over my head, and landed on my right hip.
I got up feeling mostly just shaken, but as time has gone by, I've gotten pretty stiff. What at first looked like just a little road rash, is actually a little road rash plus a million bruises - like, everywhere!
I did take a few pictures, but I can't post them without revealing my DEEPEST DARKEST SECRET that I have a bit of celullite. ;-)
So the bruise stat is this: ankle, calf, inside of knee, back of hamstring, glute and hipbone, pubic bone, chest bone, front of quad, right elblow, left wrist, both palms.
Road rash stat is: left elbow, back, right hip, right palm.
Broken bones: zero.
Bike condition: fine.
Helmet: dead. This chunk out of my helmet coulda been a chunk out of my skull!

I am a little old for all this (45!) so I am taking all the time I want to get back in the saddle. I tried to walk/run on the dreadmill yesterday, but ended up only walk/hiking for an hour because every time my right foot hit the mill, my right hip screamed.

Tonight is our weekly club ride, but I don't want to lean on my elbow on my aerobar, nor do I want to hold myself upright with my bruised palms. Arghhhh!

So for the rest of the week, Ironmomjenny will be your go-to blog for dieting and closet-organization tips. ;-)

Happy Birthday, Laura!

Last weekend we went up to Laura's dad's cabin for some R&R.

We celebrated the birthdays of Greg (10th), Jeff (4th), Laura, (today! the 11th) and Ally (26th).

Ally made a cake - very cute.

We tooled around onthe pontoon, dug up clams and let the sunnies eat them out of our hands.

Jeff's dog Pischka let Nick know he was her favorite.

Laura's dad is just the best.

Ally never did get in the water (?).

We went for a short but hilly run, and swam partway across the lake.

Nick gave Ally some fishing tips...

... and they worked!


Bob and Bobby were up in Canada for some fishing for the week. I really missed them! But they are home now. Summer is really winding down. Time to get online and get those new school uniforms ordered.

Tagged by TriDummy!

Jobs I've Held:
Tobacco farm hand, nurses aid, summer nanny, English tutor, Buyer for retail chain (Dominick's Finer Foods), Regional Sales manager (Better Homes and Gardens), Mom (current and favorite)
Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:
Princess Bride, anything with Will Ferrell
My Guilty Pleasures:
dark chocolate, vodka lemonades
Places I Have Lived:
Texas, Connecticut, Chicago, Minnesota
Shows I Enjoy:
Project Runway, Survivor
Vacation Spots:
All over the world. Still on my list: Machu Picchu, Kilimanjaro, Egypt, Israel, Thailand
Favorite Foods:
turkey sandwiches; anything with cheese melted on it
Websites I Visit Daily:
MSN.com, your blogs ;-)
Body Parts I Have Injured:
none very seriously
Awards I've Won:
lots, but none that earned me a fish-net-stockinged leg-lamp like in A Christmas Story
Nicknames I've Been Called:
Jenny, Mama [spoken in a southern accent]

Now I'm tagging IronGirl Nyhus...

Happy Birthday, Commodore!!!

... from just a few of the many people who are delighted and proud to call you "friend".
(ocean swim with Trimama, Kahuna, Comm, RoboStu, IronJenny)


(sharing a Mai Tai with Roman in Florida)

Have a great day!

Busy weekend!

Friday we had the prelims for the kids' Western League Championships meet. Bobby and Ally both qualified for the next days' consolation finals, so we had another full day ahead of us on Saturday. The meet was held at Bear Path Country Club - who put on an awesome meet. They really made the kids feel special - they even had a 30-minute airplane flyover with a towed banner during the warm-up that said "good luck swimmers!" Our team, GoldenValley/Medina Country Club, raced hard and came in 4th place overall. I got to participate in the Very Hotly Contested Parent Relay. We won it that last 3 years, but this year we were JUST out-touched at the very end by 4 parents from the Bear Path team. Oh well, there's time to gear up for next year ;-). It's really cute to hear all the kids yelling, "go Mom! Go Dad!"




Here's Bobby (right) with his friend Peter displaying their hardware from the medley relay.


And here's Ally after finishing in 8th place in the 25m 6-and-under butterfly.



So cute! They had a really fun season of summer-league swim team. The fact that swim team is over is a reminder that the summer is winding down and school will be starting in only 5 more weeks. :-(


Before the meet, I swam in a relay across Lake Minnetonka with IronGirlNyhus and TriNick. The total distance was 5 miles, so we each swam one leg and paddled the canoe for two legs.
Here we are at the start...


... and at the finish! It took us 2 hours and 32 minutes. (Laura, were you goggles tight enough? ;-) just wondering - looks like it's gonna leave a mark!!)



Sunday I did the Chisago Lakes Half Iron-Distance.

I got to meet Trimom! She is just as sweet in person as she is on her blog. She did awesome and finished feeling good despite the near 90 degree temperature. I got under 6 hours for the first time ever and ended up getting a plaque for third place for my age group, and Trimom got one for the Athena division, too! I didn't have my camera at Chisago, but Trimom and Nick did, so maybe I will post pics in a day or two.

Miraculous Abby

Today Bobby and Ally had the pre-lims for the Western League championship swim meet. Ally swam 3 events and Bobby swam 2. I volunteered as a timer so I was kept pretty busy starting, stopping, recording, and trying to cheer on my kids' teammates.

About halfway through the meet our coach, John Foss, made an announcement that we had a special guest in the stands. There was silence and tears and finally, shocked and euphoric applause. And more tears. Uncontrollable tears.

Let's back up about 3 weeks. Ally and Bobby are at a swim meet. After their team cheer and coach's pep talk, they come back to the area where I had their towels laid out. They both had written on their arms, "I swim for Abby". I asked what that was about...

HEre's what I was told: a little 6-year-old girl named Abby, who is on our team and swims in Ally's lane, had a horrible accident involving a pool drain a day or so earlier. Evidently the drain cover at her club pool in Minneapolis was broken. As she played near the drain, she sat on it and became stuck, long enough for her intestines to be completely sucked out. She didn't die, but she could have. No one knew what happened. She stood up, told her mother she though she pooped in her pants and was heading to the bathroom. At this time she fainted, hit the edge of the pool and chipped out a tooth. She didn't die, but she could have. An ambulance was called and she was taken to the hospital where no one could figure out what was wrong with her. She wasn't bleeding anywhere, just unable to stay conscious. But she didn't die. When her mom said something about thinking she'd pooped, the doc checked her rectum, noticing a small tear. Only when he examined further did he made the shocking discovery that there was "nothing up there". She had no colon. Rushing Abby lightening-fast up to the OR, they cut her open to discover pools of black blood and no intestine or colon.

The hospital called the Minneapolis Golf Glub and they searched the drain and found her intestines, but too much time had passed and it was way too late to try to save them. But she still was alive. This child would not die.

Her life is forever changed - she can't ever eat again. She has a tube the goes from her stomach straight outside her waist. If food goes in there, it has no where to go. She will either vomit or it will come out the little tube. She gets her nutrition from another tube that goes straight into a vein in her chest. Right now they are trying to get the nutrients just right so that her liver doesn't shut down. She's not out of the woods yet. Her nutritional needs will constantly change as she is a growing 6-year-old. This child is a miracle and she is amazing and she is on a life-long journey that no one envies.

And today she came to the meet today to cheer on her friends. When Ally was up on the block and the announcer stated her name and her club, she didn't wave at me - she waved frantically to Abby. Ally was swimming for Abby.

You are an inspiration and we love you! Thank you for coming to the meet today. You elevated the spirits of people you don't even know. We will continue to pray for your recovery and adjustment. God Bless you, Abby!!!!

Two New Topics - phew!

Camp

Bobby went to overnight camp last week for 5 nights. I missed him so badly that when the day came to pick him up, I was up around 5:00 a.m. I made coffee, putzed around for a while... then just got in the car and headed out. I arrived about 2 hours before we were supposed to ... I excused my early arrival with something lame like, "hmmm - guess there wasn't much traffic today!" but I was so eager to find him that I was practically weepy. How embarrassing for him!

He LOVED camp. They had archery, swimming, rock climbing, "muscle-building", sailing, hydro-biking, a GIGANTIC rope swing, body boards, volleyball, tubing and skiing... He really didn't want to leave. He wanted to know if he could stay another week. Heck, I want to go to this camp, too! I wonder if they have my age group... Anyway, he will definitely go back next year. The counselors were amazing. I could tell they were having as much fun as the kids, and the pictures from their albums were great.

Art Wall

So my Art Wall project is going to be great! This is the before picture. The color is called "Concord Ivory" but it's too yellow for me. So I'm changing it to an Art Wall - It will be covered with colorful paintings and photos that I or my friends created. Cool! I painted the pink flower to start...

Then I decided to paint the wall a super dark color, but it's not dark enough... it looks too much like the carpet in the great room... gonna go with black and hope it ties in well with the staircase. Keep in mind the wall will be COVERED in colorful artwork. The black will only be peeking out from between all this artwork.The other yellow walls will be the gray that you can see I just started on.

I've mentioned it to a couple people so far (Thanks Stronger, Curley Su, AZ07!!) ... and they have sent me files so I can purchase their photos at Kodak Gallery and get them matted and framed.

Soo..... if you'd like to see your work on my wall (and I would LOVE to have it!) please email me a full size .jpg of your favorite photo (or acrylic or watercolor!) and I will get it up here. Thanks in advance!

My email address is jennymoore@mchsi.com

To my Anonymous Commenter

My friend wrote a 5 page article for the LA Times about his lost faith, and posted it on his blog.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lostfaith21jul21,0,532432.story?coll=la-home-center

Twenty readers commented, including me. I talked about my own faith, which is a much more positive experience than his has been. In my several-paragraph response I included this comment:

...The Pope himself came out last week and told the world that the only way to salvation is through the Catholic Church, when actually, the words in the Bible say it's through belief in God. ...

The last-week's news story I referred to in that comment came from here:

"Faithful people from Tacoma to Tulsa to Tijuana took notice this month when the Vatican reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church as the only path to salvation. Pope Benedict XVI’s stance that other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches had the potential to divide."

Here's the link for that article. http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/116226.html


So I was pretty accurately quoting the article. Nevertheless, Anon got really mad and mean and wrote me this:

Anonymous said...
Hi Jenny, just wanted to let you know that your comment on Tri Geek Dreams on "what the pope said last week," is just flat-out wrong. You left the Catholic Church for reasons you probably can't even define or defend -- except in ignorance. Stick to talking about exercising.
3:55 PM, July 23, 2007

So, Dear [not actually] Anonymous:
In all my posts and comments, I write my own opinions. I am not asking you or anyone else to adopt them. So cheer up! It's OK for you to have an opinion different from mine - lots of folks do... even the Pope! You didn't need to hide behind what you obviously hoped was anonymous.

Which I guess now you get to know that I have sitemeter. So you hadn't read the news story. Big deal - no need to go Anon and get mean. You didn't need to call me ignorant on my own blog.
So you can either apologize for being a weenie, or I can "out" you. ;-) ... or should I just publish the Google Map that came up with your IP address ? ... or should I take the high road? Decisions, decisions.

By the way, my children go to a lovely Catholic school, where 60% of the families are Catholic. So lots of our friends are Catholic. Regardless of what the Pope said, I still like them, and they still like me. My kids attend Catholic Mass once a week. I only stated my comment [about something other than exercising] when Kahuna invited me (and the rest of blogland) to know his soul, and comment as to how we felt. Believe it or not, pretty much all of us triathletes have thoughts outside of exercising. ;-)

Just wondering, though... did you also leave Kahuna a mean Anon comment?... I mean he had a LOT of things to say! Or did you just pick on me for some reason?