WILDFLOWER EVENT WEEKEND!

Well today the Ironteam swam 1.1 miles, biked 56 miles, and ran 13.1 miles. By now at 5:30pm the last people should be across the finish line and enjoying their amazing success, a few happy tears, and their mind-boggling achievement. I haven't heard from anyone because their phones are out of range and I won't get pix and calls til they come down the mountain.

...Wait, does this mean I'm not on the mountain with them?

A little thing called life interrupted my 70.3 plans and put me on the sidelines. I fought it hard all week hoping it was just side effects from stress. Nonetheless, a cute little, and not entirely necessary, organ decided to become an issue this past Sunday less than 6 days before event day.

Can you guess what the cute little purple guy shown below is? Please be warned that the following conversation has me talking a lot of crap so if that's not your thing, you may want to stop reading here.

Sunday evening, about 3:30am with a pain in my right side right under my ribs that I couldn't get comfortable around. I tried to massage, stretch, drink water, everything, and nothing would stop the ache. Finally I took Tylenol and went back to bed.

Monday, I went to urgent care convinced that I was either constipated or had a twisted intestinal blockage. Either way, I needed it fixed, we were getting close to event weekend. They took blood tests and urine tests to rule out liver issues just because of the location. Eat as much roughage as possible and drink a lot of water and hopefully it'll pass. I was hoping it was as simple as that and then I'd be able to catch my breath again.

I ate as much veggies, All Bran, drank coffee (not just for the caffeine), and drank a ton of water. So much that I was painfully full - my whole abdomen felt like it'd been kicked - and it wasn't getting better.

Tuesday, I woke up and things must have fixed themselves or redistributed themselves and there was a dull ache but it felt like a miraculous recovery. I kept eating fiber, drinking water and that, mixed with gravity, increased my discomfort again til my 1:45pm follow up where they said, scratch that plan, clear diet only meaning water, chicken broth and jello. Blood and urine came back fine, but let's take X-rays.

Determination is basically you're full of crap and air and I'm going to send you to a specialist because if anyone will have the tools to have you cleared out by Saturday, it'll be them.

Tuesday night, I'm talking to my dad on the phone from TX who immediately diagnoses me with gall bladder issues. No, Dad, I know they already tested me for that, I'm sure it's not that. But FINE Dad, I'll ask the specialist tomorrow when I see him - promise.

Wednesday 9:00am, I went to the specialist in West LA at 9am, who had posters of colon cameras all over his walls, believe me I was keeping my fingers crossed that we wouldn't have to do that. Phew! Escaped with one dignity intact. I told him the silly story of my dad diagnosing me over the phone and we chuckled.

He gave me a prescription for 4 bottles of stuff to drink that once I drink it, within 1-2 hours I should be cleaned out and ready to go. Mentally I'm thinking - do I do this while still during business hours at work just in case it's not effective, or do it after hours and risk losing another day if it's not working?! How much work am I really going to get done if I'm running to the ladies room? Or just if I'm in the extreme discomfort I'm in?

BUT, he says, before you get those filled, let me send you for a CAT scan to rule out larger things like Polyps, or tumors, or Gall Bladder issues.

10:00am, Driving to 2nd doctor for CAT scan. They're telling me to drink two 12 oz bottles of something that will glow when they shoot something else into me to make it all visible for the scan. Lady, I have so much roughage in my body I don't know that I can fit 2 12 oz bottles of nasty drink - way nastier than our protein/carbo drinks - in my stomach.

11:00am, waiting for results. The CAT scan doctor comes out and says the specialist will call me with details.

11:30am, I'm told I should get my gall bladder removed. FATHER KNOWS BEST! I have stones, the gall bladder is infected. I should drive over to Cedar Sinai right now and admit self into ER, the doctor will arrange to get a surgeon either that night or the following morning. I scramble to get someone to pick up and keep my kids overnight, fortunately there is already a plan in place for Thurs - Sun.

OK STOP! So this is where I finally realize the Triathlon is probably out for the weekend. SERIOUSLY!?! These things probably took years pearlizing and they come out NOW?! The back of my head was still hoping that if it's just laproscopic surgery, perhaps I can still go for the camping fun of the weekend and cheer on my teammates!

12:30pm I drive over to Cedar Sinai (where all the celebs go, no I didn't see any), they check me into the ER, why am I coming in through the ER? The nurse figures out that because they don't have enough beds for the number of patients, the Doctor must have known that and sent me in through ER to make sure I'd get a bed to be IV'd with antibiotics and ready to go. I may be in the hallway with my backless gown, but good thing I'm a triathlete and my butt looks better now. OK, not that I'd want that in a million years and fortunately that didn't happen.

4:30pm I finally land in a room, they'll give me as much notice for surgery, it'll probably be the next day.

7:30am the next day, they say they'll be up in about a half hour to get me for surgery. I immediately text my family with one hand while the other hand is having my regular vital statistics gathered. As soon as I hit send, the guy is there early to take me! WOWZA!

I'm taken down to pre-op, the anesthesiologist looks like Michael Vartan without my glasses, which is a great thing.

I'm just hoping I didn't embarrass myself waking up out of anesthesia. Next thing you know I'm back in my room by 1:20pm and my sister is there to keep me company!

So obviously life had plans of its own, and I'm glad my body was in great shape to handle surgery and recovery. Not the Wildflower weekend I was hoping for, but still worth the journey.

The money I raised thanks to your support will still go to excellent use for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and hey, it's not too late to give. In honor of May being Cancer Research Month, please help me get to $4,000!

Thank you all for your support! Special thank you to my friends for all their well-wishes, especially those who had other things to focus on, like their race strategy for the weekend. Special thank you to my family for all their support during training but especially during this recovery time!

This is not the last 70.3 entry, just haven't figured out the next chapter...