The Dreaded 5K

In school, I always excelled. I was by no means the best, but I always managed to pull good grades and easily understand things. However, there was always one class I always lagged behind everyone. The dreaded gym. Most of the time, I managed to pull decent grades in gym, probably not deserved. When I took Strength and Weight Conditioning Jr. year, I got an A despite riding the exercise bike and reading a book. Probably because the teacher was the Wrestling coach and I was a stat girl for them. I actually earned my athletic letters from being a stat girl.

Of all the things I hated most about gym, the dreaded mile run was the worst! Whether it ended in me in last place (most of the time), me having a mild asthma attack or in one case in second grade, upchucking all over the lawn, the ending was never very pretty. To this day, the thought of running terrifies me as much as it did that day at 7 years old when I tossed my cookies.

Tim and I recently rejoined the gym. With working a desk job, I really needed to get my exercise. I've been mostly walking, motivating myself with the thought of some alone time (yay for gym sitters!), reading a book or watching TV. When our church's yearly 5 K walk/run came up, I signed Tim and I up.

Today was the big day. After about six weeks of training, I thought I was ready. Tim did too. Boy, is it different walking outdoors than inside!

 

 

We started at the back and stayed there. My asthma started up trying to keep pace with Tim. I told him to walk ahead of me and did it at my own place, slow! At about the 1/3 way point, I lost sight of everyone. I even had a police escort for some time patrolling the end of the race!

Everyone could not be more encouraging! I could not believe how kind everyone and how encouraging they were! I've come a long way since the mile run. Those days, I felt like a loser. Today, though I totally sucked, I got the same encouragement as the guy runing the 5 minute mile!

 

It took me one hour and eight minutes (on the dot), but I did it! I FINISHED it! I felt a little stunned and tired out. We stayed for the awards and although I didn't win anything and in fact was the last person across the finish line, I realized I made a big step and faced fear dead on. While waking a 5K may seem like nothing to most, doing it for me was one of the hardest things I have ever done and I'm so glad I did it. Oh, did I mention I was pushing this guy the whole way?

 

Hopefully, next year, I can come in second to last place, even if I have to push the stroller behind me to do it!

 

Also, my awesome husband came in nine minutes ahead of us. Go Tim! I'm so proud of him!

It's a two-for

There are so many firsts you look forward to when you have a kid. Their first smile, steps, words and the like. There are also firsts that you dread. One of those firsts happened to us last night.

Due to Tim's work schedule, John usually goes to bed around 10:00 PM. At 8:30 PM last night, Johnny was playing and Tim was sitting on the floor with him. John tripped over Tim's leg and landed head first onto one of his plastic toys and screamed.

At first, I just thought he was mad at Tim over something. I told him to give John to me and then I noticed it. It was a goose egg shaped bump on his left temple. I wasn't too worried. He stopped crying as soon as I picked him up. He's gotten some bumps and bruises before, but never so close to his brain and this one got me a bit nervous.

Awhile back, one of my brother's friends' kid fell running around the kitchen and bumped his head. I don't know much of the specifics other than he ended up having a brain injury. This was in the back of my mind and I called my sister Kelly who is a nursing student.

Kelly was sick and didn't want to get John sick and put my mom on the phone. Mom, citing the incident with my brother's friends, insisted we'd take John to the ER since all the Immediate Care centers were closed. John was his old self, but we didn't want to take any chances. We picked up his bag, put ice in a baggy and a kitchen towel, left the house, strapped him into his car seat and we were speeding down I-80 in no time.

I felt silly and panicky at the same time. Silly because deep down, I knew he was okay and panicky that he really wasn't. I talked to him in the back seat to make sure he didn't fall asleep while he swatted away my hand with the ice bag over his wound.

We were back to Silver Cross for the second time in the week. Maybe I should have asked if there was a two-for-one special this week! We got in, they took John's vitals. He was okay and the admitting nurse didn't seem too worried.

We got into a room and was registered by a nurse. Ends up her cousin works at my school! Small world, huh? Anyway, who walks in except for the very same ER doctor I saw two days before! She looked at Johnny and made sure he was okay before examining his wound closely. She told us it was a small injury from a short fall and that he'd be okay. She wasn't concerned about him sleeping that night and just suggested we'd look in on him in the middle of the night for our own piece of mind. She gave us information on head injuries and what to look for before declaring him a healthy, if somewhat bruised, little boy. She also asked how I was feeling. I'm sure she doesn't get many follow ups!

I looked in on John later that night. He was sleeping peacefully. This morning, he was himself and was quick to leave me for his morning date with Joni, the babysitter at the gym Tim and I go to.

This was one first I wasn't looking forward to, but I'm glad it was minor (probably not warranting an ER visit). However, better safe than sorry!

Vacation Starts with a Bang

Tuesday was my first real day of vacation and it didn't start off too well. I woke up with a terrible headache and a bit of a belly ache. Ugh! So, I took a naproxin sodium and went back to bed hoping it would dull the pain.

A few hours later, I work up to no relief. I tried to get John's bath ready and I couldn't even make it pass cleaning out the tub. Tim had to take over from there. I then had my claridin, flonase and an ibuprofen and went back to sleep again.

I woke up for lunch with no relief. Sounds started to bother me. While my tummy improved, it started feeling terrible once I ate. I napped again for about an hour. I was debating whether or not to see the doctor and called my mom for advice. She suggested going to the doctor.

I called my doctor. However, she and all her associates were booked up at both office locations. By this time, I was pretty sure it was a sinus infection. While I've had a good run since having John, I get them quite frequently and sometimes the only noticeable symptom is a bad headache. This one had started a few days ago and worsen on Tuesday to unbearable levels.

I went to CVS thinking I would get a dose of antibiotics and perhaps a suggestion for a stronger pain medication. The lights and the noises of the store bothered me to no end. I couldn't read much of a magazine I found in the waiting area. Finally, it was my turn.

While I leaned towards a sinus infection, the nurse wasn't seeing much of anything in my ears or throat. What she did see was that my blood pressure, breathing rate and pulse rate was quite elevated. She suggested we'd go to the ER to make sure it wasn't anything more serious. Of course, all this did was scare the crap out of me. I called Tim to pick me up.

We dropped John off at my parents'. I felt bad about it because it looked like Dad was busy, but he was understanding once Tim explained things to him. It was off to the new Silver Cross ER we went.

At the ER, the admitting nurse was pretty sure it was allergies/sinus problems that were getting to me. I felt quite dumb. We got in and ended up waiting in the room quite a bit. My headache was pretty unbearable. One point, I heard a baby cry and freaked out a bit because I was so SURE it was my baby's cry. I really never experienced something so painful, even recovering from a c-section was less painful.

Finally, I got an IV with fluids and migraine medication. Right away, I started feeling better. I also felt dumb. I knew I should have taken better care of myself. I knew I didn't get enough water. I should have looked into my headache sooner!

I did end up having a CT scan to rule out something more serious, the verdict was a sinus infection. The ER doctor noticed right away my throat was sore, though since I'm used to it, I didn't note it as a symptom. I was dehydrated which along with the heat most likely lead to the intense pain of the headache.

I went home feeling dumb. It's so easy to take care of other people and so hard to take care of yourself. It's been a stressful last couple weeks at work and I was looking forward to some time away. Unfortunately, between taking care of things at work and John after work, my body decided it had enough once those two responsibilities were removed for a short time. I hate that I'm spending my vacation time taking naps and sitting around the house. I think I need a vacation form my vacation!

Tim's Family Reunion

On the second day of Christmas.. Wait, it's vacation! We were able to attend the annual family reunion of my father-in-law's family.

It's been a pleasure getting to know Tim's family over the past nearly eleven years! I've seen kids grow, significant others become family and gotten to know these really great people. Like my parents, my father-in-law is from a big family. However, while I've always been on the front end of the cousin train with no one near me in age, Tim is towards the caboose and has several cousins within a few years of him.

That means there are LOTS of kids for John to play with. He's currently reigning as the youngest Fisher. This year, he had a ball. John is a bit standoffish with kids. It's because like me, he's the engine:) Having Billy's girlfriend's son around and story time has helped him, but it's usually him and adults. This was a treat for John.

Ever the ladies' man, John took a special liking of all the teen and preteen girls second cousins. They were very kind and kept an eye on John in the bouncy castle. He really blossomed after his trip in the castle.

I feel blessed that even if John hasn't yet been blessed with cousins of his own, that he'll be able to enjoy spending time with his second cousins. I have a feeling Tim is already lining up camping dates.

Tim's parents were, as always, excellent hosts. The food was wonderful and everyone brought something. I really enjoy these get togethers. Here's to seeing everyone at Christmas!

Apple Picking

This week, Tim and I are off work! We haven't had a week off since last June, so this is a real treat for us. We have big plans but not a big pocket book, but it's not going to stop us from having a fun time.

Our time off started with a trip to County Line Orchard about an hour away in Hobart, IN. It was a bit of a bust this year. Unfortunately, the crazy weather we had last spring ended with the blossoms coming out too early and dying in the frost. They only had a few on the trees, but had purchased many apples from other orchards and put them in rain gutters that hung from their trees. It was a genius idea. However, I think if John was older, he'd might be a bit disappointed.

It was a little drizzly, which worked in our favor as no one was really out. We took the "hay ride" into the orchard. John didn't seem to care for it one way or another. When we got in the orchard, we let little man out of his stroller and he had a ball.

We didn't stay out too long before we went into their barn of goodies. We walked away with a peck of apples, a few apples we "picked" ourselves, apple cider, donuts, tomatoes, peppers, green beans and two books for John.

Hoping next year we can find a few more apples on the trees, let John enjoy some of the kiddy stuff and that rain doesn't come our way! Despite all that, we had a GREAT time together as a family and got some awesome produce. Johnny's new books are already well-loved.

We capped the day trying to go to a u-pick farm in Michigan. The weather was against us though. We went to a gas station and they had to manually process payment due to the bad weather! Luckily, we were able to get gas or we would not have made it home. We then stopped at a McDonald's where we dined on a delicious big Mac, 1/4 pounder and a hamburger Happy Meal.