Saturday, August 15

Sara did OK through the night. Laura stayed in the room with her to help out if needed & to be there when the doctor came through this morning. Laura we love you! I woke up early for my team run (5:30 AM) but it was lightning & thundering. I called Coach Rachel & because of the lightning we called off the run today. Instead, I went to the YMCA to use a treadmill. I called the downtown Y & they have a track, but when I asked what the distance is of the track, she said 22 laps = 1 mile. And I needed to do 16 miles today. Holy crap! That would be 352 laps!!! Ich don't think so! I asked if they had counters & they don't. I figured I would have gotten dizzy doing that many circles so I decided to go on the treadmill - which I had never done much of before. I had to get this guy to show me how to turn the thing on, etc. and I was all set & then looked up & the TV set in front of me - that the guy said you can't change the channel - was on Fox news (noise) - nooooooooooo! So I had to move down the row to another treadmill and set that one up all over again...one with something other than Fox.
So I started the treadmill, cranked the elevation to 1.5 & began. It was a fiasco. When my watch went off (time for my 45 second run) I'd have to push a button about 20 times to get it up to speed & then push it back to get to the walking speed. And I had to stare at a whole row of TVs - and I hate even just ONE TV! And..I couldn't hear my alarm go off because of the whir of the machines, AND I got dizzy when I dropped a sweat towel & bent over to pick it up, AND I was hot & sweating up a storm - I missed the outdoors and the fresh air, AND everybody stunk in there - because it was hot & stuffy with stale air. So I lasted all of 3 miles and couldn't stand it any more...I was out of there. It had cleared up a bit so I decided to do the other 13 miles outside so I took off. Now kids, some things don't go together - like drinking & driving & like walking/running - trying to get a decent time & texting on a cell phone...just doesn't work. Sara was texting me & I was trying to read the miniature text without my reading glasses on & then responding. My pace was off, I was tired, I felt like hell - so after 5 miles outdoors, I wimped out & called it a day. My gut/gallbladder was acting up a bit & well, I didn't really want to poke the bear. So my cumulative & horrible time for 8 miles was 136 minutes (17 min/mile) - nasty! But that's the way it goes. I had other things on my mind that day anyway.
Went home (no need for my Saturday ice bath) & waited for info from Sara & Laura. Sara's pancreas count (lipase) went down significantly & they got her into an OR around 1:00 & did the surgery. They were able to remove her gallbladder laproscopically & all went well, thankfully. The doctor estimated it would take 1 1/2 hrs & was done in under an hour. Laura did a superb job of keeping us updated on things. It turns out Sara had 2 golf ball sized stones, 4 ping pong ball sized ones, and then another 13 or 14 smaller ones - so it's good she got that taken care of.