Life Happens

There are so many rules to follow when getting ready for an endurance event like a half marathon. I’m being cautious not eat new foods, and I’m trying to load up on carbs without going over my Weight Watchers daily points target.  My Coach says I’m supposed to gain a couple pounds in preparation for the event, but I’m really not comfortable with that, even if I will burn them off on race day. I’m hoping that I have enough reserved fat to carry me through.  Then you have to do all kinds of stuff like cut your toenails, and wear your race day clothes when working out to make sure no tags or anything else are irritating you. Thank God for that advice. I bought a fitted long sleeve Nike training shirt only to find that I had to rip out that awful tag out mid-walk and later to discover that it’s supposed to be about 80 degrees on race day and I probably won’t wear it. I’m so paranoid that I’m going to twist my ankle or catch a cold.  Last night I had a nightmare that I overslept and missed the whole race, after months and months of training.  I guess I really just want to do well. I made a commitment not to miss any training sessions this week. Unlike Monday when I trained outside in the freezing cold, today was gorgeous. My sisters invited me to have ice cream, but I decided to pass and take Nyah to the park for 3 miles. 
My sister told me my niece was having an asthma attack and that she had to take her to the hospital after their icecream outing. Unfortunately this is not uncommon so I wasn’t too worried. However, when I was about ¼ mile into my walk, my sister called me in a panic and asked me to come to the hospital, she sounded pretty upset, so I turned right back around, took Nyah home and quickly made my way to children’s hospital. As I parked in the garage and walked through entrance I had flash backs of her days (really months) in the NICU (intensive care). Not a fun time for my family.  However, I knew I had to keep it together for my sister.  Thankfully when I walked in the Emergency room, my niece joyfully screamed “There’s Auntie!”   Whew, it was nice to see her so active.   My sister told me that they checked her into a room as soon as she arrived and 5 doctors hooked her up to oxygen and various monitors.  Then they did several albuterol treatments through the cute little baby mask. 

Her breathing slowed to the point that she could talk without wheezing so much. It’s so hard to see the baby struggling to breathe.  She intentionally started “Lamaze-like” breathes as if she said to herself, maybe I’m not doing it right.  Poor little 2 yr old doesn’t understand asthma or why she can’t breathe. Lastly, they did a chest x-ray. She doesn’t have pneumonia, just a virus and asthma.  Mostly due to this awful constantly changing weather.  They gave us a prescription and treatment plan. The nurse said my neice was a “frequent flyer” and told my sister, see ya next month.   Luckily we got go home.  She’s better, they even said she can go to school in the morning.  We tried to tell her to relax as she danced and sang her way out of the hospital doors and if all was well. I guess I’ll have to hit the pavement tomorrow.