Hey, how about a hike.....and then a trip to the E.R?

That's how my day started. With a hike. And that's how it ended. In the E.R. Today was an interesting day. To say the least.

Last night we were at a friend's house watching movies when one of them mentioned that they were going to go for a hike the next day in Laguna Canyon, and would we like to go along? Yes, I did want to go along, as I am trying to prepare myself for the hiking we will be doing in Big Sur next week. We decided to go early, before it got too hot.

But then Joe got called into work early and we decided to wait for him to get off work to go. Long story short, we picked them up at around 2:00 and headed into Laguna Beach. It was pretty hot, but there was a nice breeze blowing and we headed up to the Top of the World(that's the name of the street. Isn't that a cool name for a street?) and started on our way.

The trail started with mostly downhill slopes. I was a little worried about the trip back being too strenuous, but decided I could handle it and we continued. We hiked for about forty-five minutes before I started getting pretty winded and we decided to head back. At this point I had worked up a pretty good sweat and my heart rate was pretty high.

The way back was mostly uphill. I became winded very quickly. We kept having to stop so I could rest. Soon I started to feel sick. My stomach started cramping and I was starting to feel nauseous. We continued walking, stopping every few minutes so I could rest. At this rate it was going to take us all day to get back to our car!

Finally we made it to a trailhead, where there was some shade and a bench. It was at this point that I completely collapsed. My stomach cramps were so severe I couldn't stand upright. Our friends decided to leave Joe and me at the bench and walk the rest of the way and see if they could find a Ranger to give me a ride back. I began to vomit and the stomach cramps were becoming excruciating. Joe knew something was terribly wrong because I was overheated and yet not one drop of sweat was coming off of my body.

We waited for awhile at the bench but then I decided I could possibly try to walk back up to the car. Still no sign of a Ranger truck. We walked for about ten minutes when all of a sudden we see a Fire Truck coming down the trail! For me. Keep in mind this is a walking trail. Not a road. I didn't even know Fire Trucks could go off road!


Our friends couldn't get a hold of a Ranger so they called 911. I was mortified.
The fire truck stops and puts me on the back of the truck and they hook me up to some oxygen and take my vital signs. My heart rate is irregular and I am showing signs of heat stroke. So they tell me I can go in the ambulance to the hospital to be checked out or I can walk back up by myself! Those were my choices. Go to the hospital or walk. Joe made that decision for me. The ambulance it was.

I was so embarrassed by this time. Other hikers were stopping to gawk at me. Finally the ambulance came down the trail and they put me in it and started back up to the top. I must have hit the lottery today, because that ambulance was full of trainees. One in particular looked to be about 12. I'm not kidding. He was 13 at most. The other was a young girl who decided to practice putting an I.V. in for the first time ever(it seemed) on me and hit some kind of vein in my hand and blood started spurting all over. I have never seen blood spurt like that before(except in the movies). And it was coming from me! Of course she blew that vein so they had to start all over in my other hand.

So in addition to the one "real" paramedic, I had Doogie Howser and a "newbie" working on me. Great.

Finally we get to the hospital where they hook me up to an EKG, take a chest x-ray, and run every test imaginable. Oh, and also gave me two bags of I.V. fluids. They kept me for over two hours while my husband and friends waited for me in the waiting room. And I was starving but they wouldn't let me eat.

The diagnosis? A combination of heat stroke, overexertion, and severe dehydration. Nice.

This will make it my fourth visit to the E.R. in the last ten months. That's got to be some kind of record or something.

So that was my day. How was yours? :)

Now I am home, feeling pretty much back to normal and laying on the couch wondering if things like this happen to other people, or is it just me?




This is the second trip to the ER I have had to take due to "overexertion". Apparently because of my kidney disease, my body doesn't process electrolytes effectively and it is very easy for me to become dehydrated and overheated. I hate that my body doesn't work like it should. I hate that I can't do things that everybody else can do. Hate. It. It's something I'm going to have to learn to adjust to. I need to learn to listen to my body more and try not to over do it. I also need to listen to Joe more. He told me before we started the uphill trek back that he thought my breathing was irregular and that I should stop and rest. I didn't listen to him. I didn't want our friends to have to wait for me. I didn't want to hold them back. I didn't want to admit that maybe the hike was a little too strenuous for me. I guess it was Pride. Or stupidity. Whatever it was, this could have been avoided it I had just spoken up earlier about the stomach cramps and stopped to rest more frequently. Live and learn.

Do Over

O.K., this post is really old, but again, it was in my drafts box so I'm putting it out there.  Plus, we are getting ready to hike this trail again, so it's timely in that sense.

Does anyone who still reads here remember this post?  If not, the gist of it was that we went on a hike and I had to be taken down the trail in an ambulance.  Embarrassing!

That was almost four years ago.  We haven't hiked that trail since then.  I have been too afraid, and obviously that particular trail was beyond my physical capabilities.  I'm not saying we haven't hiked since then(because obviously we have), but we have not gone in the same geographical location.

Until a month ago.  Like I mentioned in my last post, we have been trying very hard(and succeeding at) becoming more physically fit.  We have been walking or riding our bikes 3 times a week, and I have been walking on my lunch break a couple of times a week. I have also been doing the 9 week program on my Wii Active 2 game(it's like having your own personal trainer-it's hard!).  I can really feel my body changing.  Now instead of just fat I can feel a little muscle developing underneath it!

I decided I wanted to try hiking that area again.  It's such a beautiful area to hike.

So we decided to try a trail across from the one I failed at, but a bit more difficult than the last. The whole trail was 4.5 miles and reached an elevation of 1,100 feet.

I kept telling myself that it was o.k. if I couldn't do the whole thing, and that I should stop if I felt like it was too much.

The weather was perfect(not too hot, which was part of the problem last time).

Armed with hats and plenty of sunscreen and water, we started up the trail.

This trail was MUCH harder than the one we tried 4 years ago.  So much steeper. We climbed pretty much straight up for an hour or so.  We stopped to rest a lot.

The reward when you get to the top is supposed to be a view of the ocean but it was too hazy/foggy to really see it.

There were quite a few flowers in bloom.  I think they are confused by the mild winter we have had.

Finally when we reached the bottom, two and a half hours later, there is this lovely meadow

And a beautiful oak tree

I am so proud of myself for making it up(and down) the whole trail!

Next Saturday we're going to do it again!

Thankful Things

I’m thankful to be attending Good Friday services tonight, and I’m thankful that Joe has agreed to go with me. I’ll be attending the old church I used to go to, because my new church doesn’t have Good Friday services. Tomorrow night I will attend the Easter service at the church I went to last week. I know it’s not the same as going to church on Easter but I can’t handle the crowds.




I am thankful that we have found so many cool places to go hiking. Yesterday we hiked a four mile trail and half of it was uphill. It was hard! But I did it. I can’t believe how much better shape I am in since I started walking just three weeks ago. There is no way I would been able to hike that trail then.



I am thankful that Joe has embraced my newfound fitness goals so completely. After he drops me off at work he has been scoping out new trails for us to hike on his way home. It might not be what he necessarily wants to be doing every day in the evenings but because it is important to me, it is important to him.



Happy Easter, or Happy Weekend for my friends who don’t celebrate Easter.

Adrenaline Junkie

I'm on day two of my stay-cation and it is already going by too quickly (sob!).  Today we had Dragon Boat practice (not yesterday, as I wrote in the blog post I posted Friday). Practices will start alternating weekend days from here on out and I got confused.

Last Thursday I had off work as well,  and Joe and I met up my sister and clan for a trip to Magic Mountain.

Joe and I haven't been to Magic Mountain in probably 12 or 13 years.  It's kind of a hike from our house (an hour and 20 minutes), so it isn't some place we think to just hop in the car and visit.

Joe loves roller coasters.  The higher, the faster, the better. Forwards, backwards, upside down, he loves it all. I am not as big a fan as he is.  I used to be a huge chicken and wouldn't go on any at all. Over the years he has converted me and now I will go on many roller coasters and enjoy most of them.  One tip he told me is to keep my eyes open.  Whenever I was scared I would close my eyes thinking it would help, but actually keeping them open so I know what us coming up and not be surprised helped me to not be so afraid.  That and screaming at the top of my lungs.  :)  Now I enjoy most roller coasters and will try almost any of them at least once.

The weather on Thursday was forecasted to be hot and it was correct.  I think it hit a little over 90 degrees.  If you plan on visiting the park, keep in mind that they don't allow any outside food and drinks.  Not even water bottles.  This is such a crock.  I get that they need to make money.  However, not allowing you to bring your own water in and then charging you $4.00 a bottle for it inside is just highway robbery.  They do, however, have drinking fountains with very cold water so you could buy one water and then fill up your bottle at the drinking fountains for the rest of the day, which is what we ended up doing after I ran out of my stash.

Not knowing their food policy, I had brought 3 water bottles with Crystal Light in them and one bottle of Gatorade with me, along with some snacks.  They made me throw the snacks away but when they tried to take my water and Gatorade away I played the sick card. I told him I had Kidney Disease and the water bottles had vitamin supplements in them (hey, desperate times call for desperate measures) and they let me keep them.

I don't usually do well in hot weather (something about the way my body processes electrolytes because of the kidney disease) so I was kind of worried this trip was going to be too much for me. As it was, I drank one bottle of water per hour and took lots of rests and I was fine. But boy was it hot!

I'm so glad I brought those bottles with me because I ended up drinking around 7 or 8 bottles of water and I used the bottles I brought to fill up at the drinking fountains.  If I had to buy all that water it would have cost me like $32!  For WATER.  Insane.

The first thing we did when we got in the park was hike up the hill to the coasters at the top.  We started with Viper.  It was fun but boy was it hard on the body.  It really hurt my back, especially coming out of some of the loops.  It has a lot of loops and curly Q type of movements (if that makes sense).

It's fun.  A little painful, but fun.


After Viper we rode one of their older coasters, Revolution. It is the very first looping roller coaster in the world.   It was pretty mellow.  I  liked it.

After that we took a break and went on the Log Ride where I got so wet even my underwear was sopping and it took me 2 hours to dry completely.  At least it was hot out, and it did feel good, except for the itchiness of having wet jeans on.

It was lunch time by then so stopped and had lunch before we headed over to Goliath.

Their description:  Got a need for speed? Goliath has your answer. Towering 255 feet above earth, this massive steel superstructure hits speeds of 85 mph, making it one of the fastest and tallest roller coasters around.  Enjoy a 3-minute, high-speed adventure over 4,500 feet of steel track. 

The first drop is a killer

I'm not sure what our thinking was to head on such a major coaster right after lunch. This ride is hard core.   The first drop is near vertical and 61 degrees.  It hits 85 miles per hour at one point.  It is intense.  I enjoyed most of this ride. There were a couple of parts where the G force made me feel a little sick but overall I liked it.  Somehow we talked Grace into riding this with us (and she was tall enough).  She was NOT a happy camper afterwards.  She is very brave though, for going at all.  I'm not sure she knew what she was getting into. LOL.

Next we headed over to Scream.   Here is a description of Scream from their website:

Scream sends you racing at intense speeds while strapped in a "flying chair."   Its unique floorless train design gives you the feeling of soaring in air with no track above your head, nothing below your feet. Scream through seven 360-degree inversions and twists-and-turns for a three-minute rush.

This one was FUN.  You would think having your feet dangle and the track above my head would scare me, but I loved it. I wanted to go again.  Loved it.

The we headed over to a classic,Colossus:  

I love a good wooden roller coaster.  They have another wooden coaster "Apocalypse" that we wanted to try but we ran out of time.

After Colossus,  Lisa and the kids went on Tidal Wave, which is just basically a means to get soaking wet.  Since I had only just dried out from the Log Ride, Joe and I sat in the shade and took a little nap.

Next we hiked back up the hill to go on one of my favorite rides, Ninja.  

From the website:

Jump in a jet-black car and ride into a steel free-for-all.  Ninja is the black belt of all steel roller coasters, delivering high-speed thrills and 180-degree, side-to-side swings through hairpin turns and spirals at speeds up to 55 mph.

This ride is SO  fun.  You have to wait a little extra so you can sit in the front on this one.  It is a pretty ride through the trees and I don't think you can see that from the back.  We always sit in the front.  I would have liked to have gone on it  again, but it was getting late and Joe and I wanted to try one of their brand new coasters before we left.

And this brings us to our next ride, which was Tatsu.  Also known as the ride that made me cry.

The reason I don't like (or didn't used to like) roller coasters has nothing to do with the height, or the drops, or even going upside down.  No, my biggest fear about roller coasters is that something on the ride is going to malfunction and I will fall off the ride and plummet to my death.

Don't laugh.  This is an actual fear that I have.  You should have heard me.  On every single ride we went on I turned to Joe and said "Check your harness".  "Make sure it is latched securely".  "Push it down one more click, just in case.  I don't care if you can't breathe.  Just do it".  I said this on every.  single.  ride.  I drove Joe crazy.  At one point he told me if I would just trust that the safety measures were going to do their job, then I might actually enjoy every ride.  He is totally right.  The rides that I enjoyed the most were the ones that  had a harness that comes down from the top and clicks into place.  Even better if there is also a lap belt that goes across your waist as well.  I think it is one of the reasons I like Ninja so much.  I feel totally safe in that little car.

I did NOT feel safe on Tatsu.  Here is a little description of it from their website:

Get ready to fly at the speed of fear. Soar on the tallest, fastest and longest flying coaster on Earth.

3,602 feet of blazing track. 62 miles per hour. 263 feet in plunges. Ready to take on Tatsu?  Aboard the wings of Tatsu, you'll fly at speeds in excess of 62 mph through deep plunges, huge spirals and sharp dives that send you flying through the Park's mountainous terrain.  

The unique thing about Tatsu is the way that you ride.  They tilt you forward so it is essentially like you are laying down on your stomach.  Because the track is above you, there is nothing but air below you.  It truly is like you are flying.  At least that's what I was told afterward by Lisa and Joe.  I wouldn't know because I had my eyes closed the entire time, while simultaneously screaming "IwantotogetoffIwantotgetoffIwanttogetoff!!!"  over and over and over.

Here is a picture of what you look like on the ride after they tilt you forward:

I was very nervous while waiting in line for this ride.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to ride, but we were already in line and if I decided not go now I would have to step across the ride to the exit and everyone would know I was scared and I didn't want to look like a chicken. Plus my 9 year old nephew was going on it, so how scary could it be?

Let me answer that question right now.  It was SCARY.  I was terrified.  As soon as they tilted us forward and all of my weight was on that harness I just knew it wasn't going to hold me and we were all going to die. (Over dramatic much?)  Seriously, I did NOT feel safe on that ride.  Perhaps that was what they were going for, as it adds to the excitement for some people.  Not for me.  There were actual tears in my eyes when it finally ended and I could not WAIT to get off of it.  

Here's another picture of it:

Another:

Oh yeah, and here's one more:  I think I caught a glimpse of this when I opened my eyes for one split second before closing them again and screaming some more. I did not take the "keep your eyes open" advice on this one.  I did NOT want to see what was going on.  I just wanted it to end!

I won't be riding that ride again.  No thank you, you go right ahead.  

Once in a lifetime is enough for me.

After that I was pretty much DONE.    Joe had been looking forward to riding Superman all day, but I was done.  Cameron did somehow talk Joe and me into going on Viper one more time, which we did, and it hurt my back twice as much the second time, but after that we called it a day and headed to dinner.

There were a few rides we didn't get to go on, and Joe still has a hankering to ride Superman, so we hopefully we won't wait another 13 years before we go back this time.

Overall it was a really fun day.

Any other adrenaline junkies out there?  What is your favorite roller coaster?

A Perfect Sunday

We're finally feeling better around here. The Plague seems to be gone. Thank goodness! We had our last visit with the social worker yesterday. It went fine. We barely cleaned at all. So different from the first time she came! It looks like we're kind of in a holding pattern until I go back to the urologist for the tests he ordered. Our homestudy is almost finished, but she will need my medical form to complete it. There's nothing we can do right now but wait until the end of April, when my tests are scheduled. I guess I'd better get used to this waiting thing. Apparently we're going to be doing a lot of it! We just kind of hung around the house yesterday after the visit. We were both still feeling tired from being sick. Today I had breakfast with my Dad, since I had to go over and pick up my suitcase for next week's trip to S.F. Only six more days to go. Yippee! After I got home from Dad's, Joe and I headed over to the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park for some hiking. Now that the time has changed, we have vowed to get off of the couch more and actually get some exercise! It is so beautiful there, and it is just a short jaunt down the road for us. It is amazing what you can find practically in your own backyard(if you just get off of the couch and look!) We took a brisk 45 minute hike through the Laguna Canyons. Beautiful! And the weather was perfect. Just enough of a breeze to keep us cool, which was good because I was sweating up a storm! Man I'm out of shape! After the hike we stopped in at Laguna Koi Ponds, where we saw lots of these. Joe loves it there. We never drive through Laguna Canyon without stopping by. I could tell he's bummed we don't have our pond set up right now. We took it down for our first social worker visit. We thought it was too much of a safety hazard for a toddler. With the wait times looking longer and longer, we might just decide to set it back up for the Summer. It brought Joe so much enjoyment last summer(and me too), especially when we had fish in it. We can always take it back down again when we get closer to a referral. I'm off to make dinner, then Joe and I are going to watch a movie on pay-per-view. A perfect Sunday!

O.K., I'm back from my little adventure and now that I know how it went I can tell you what it is.

First off, I was inspired my this gal. A couple of weeks ago she did something very cool and I thought "That looks so fun! I wish I could do something like that".

It was just a fleeting thought and then I kind of forgot about it. I also had a list of excuses a mile long as to why I would never be able to do something like that.

Then a couple of days ago there was an e-mail in my in-box from my local FCC (Families With Children from China) chapter, asking people if they would be interested in joining their team.

I know, you don't know what I am talking about yet. Hang on. I'm getting there. So I opened the e-mail and read it again. Then put it back into the trash.

A couple of days later I opened it once again and read it. Only this time I replied to the e-mail, telling them that Yes, I would be interested in joining their team, and where and what time should I show up?

Then I told my husband about it. And he said

ARE YOU CRAZY? Do you not remember this little incident? I don't think you should do it. You are not in the best physical shape right now and after what happened on our hike I don't think you are ready and you shouldn't do it.

And I said "That was an isolated incident and I know I can do this and I'm doing it". So there. Okay, I didn't say that last part. But I thought it. And that little incident two weeks ago is exactly the reason I needed to do this. I wanted to prove to myself that I can do physical activities without being sent to the emergency room!

So today I drove thirty minutes into a city I don't know that well and is known for their parking issues. And I braved a crowd of people on Fourth of July weekend where I did a mighty fine job of parallel parking(if I do say so myself), in a very tight space, and then I met up with a group of complete strangers and practiced in one of these:

That's a Dragon Boat, in case you aren't familiar with them. So for the next three weeks I will be practicing with the team, and then on July 26th, I will compete with them in the Dragon Boat Festival, being held here. How cool is that?

I have to admit, I was very nervous and I almost chickened out. But I went and yes, it was hard, but I did it and I'm so glad I went! And guess what? There was no trip to the emergency room! Yay me!

So that's where you'll find me on Sundays(and a couple of Saturdays) for the month of July.

And thanks to Lea. Because if I hadn't followed along on her experience I never would have tried it. Not in a million years. Thanks Lea!


P.S. It is a "mixed"(men and women's) team and they are "non-competetive", meaning there are people of all abilities and even children(aged 12 and up) on the team, and they don't expect to win, or even place in the races. The emphasis is on teamwork and fun.

December

I came here to do a year-in-review post but then realized I hadn't posted about some of the things we did in December, or Christmas so I thought I would do that first.  It's mostly just pictures.

We went to Roger's Gardens a couple of weeks before Christmas to soak up the Christmasy goodness.  They never fail to disappoint in that department.  The lights are magical.

Christmas tree hat!

They have some pretty cool gardening ideas. Joe was in love with this living wall thingy  to grow things in small spaces.

They have the cutest train set up.  I love the mini trees

How cute is this bear?

The biggest draw for me has to be the decorated Christmas trees.  I love to see the different themes and drool over the (overpriced)ornaments. So pretty!

This would be so cute for someone planning to propose on Christmas 

There were quite a few variations on the Santa theme

I loved this silver tree

Loved loved loved this church as well.  I miss my little collection of churches.  I might have to start re-collecting.  Lisa started me off with one for Christmas.

This is right before they kicked us out because they closed at 9:00.  9:00.  On a Saturday night.  Lame.  We didn't get to see everything we wanted and we told ourselves we would go back but of course we never did. Oh well, there is always next year!

The next weekend after that was the Christmas party for my job.  A fabulous time was had again this year.  I love where I work and the girls(and doctors) I work with.

My boss bought these headbands for myself and my co-workers. They.  Are.  Awesome.  I wore mine for a whole week.  Joe humored me and let me stick them on him and take a picture.

Last weekend we headed up North to spend Christmas with my sister and the kids. The kids were with their dad until Christmas eve so Joe and I drove up the coast to the Santa Cruz mountains to spend the day with Lisa.

Unfortunately Mother Nature did not want to cooperate with our plans and we battled monsoon-like conditions all the way there. We were not deterred.

The coast is still beautiful, even in the rain.

It was raining pretty hard when we set out for our hike but we were determined. One of my favorite things is walking in the rain so I was actually looking forward to it.

Ummmm....yeah, that was until about 15 minutes in and I was soaked to the bone and my jeans started feeling like they weighed ten pounds.  I had on a light rain slicker on top but from the waist down it felt like I had gone swimming.  In a very cold pool.  Brrrrrr.  But we soldiered on.

Slogging through the mud and the muck

I have to admit, the view from the top was worth it.

A well deserved rest at the top

Okay so when we crossed this bridge on the way up the water was running UNDER it and not OVER it. It wasn't until later that we found out there were flash flood warnings for that area.  Oops.  We very well could have been those stupid tourists that you see on the news who get swept away in flash floods and drown.  We were lucky.  We won't be doing anything dumb like that again any time soon!

Warm and safe back at the cabin

Drying off. Thankfully I had the foresight to bring an extra pair of clothes or I would have been miserable.

Despite the possible danger we had a great time on our little adventure.  We had a lovely dinner at the lodge before heading back to Lisa's house to let her dogs out(we let the dogs out-LOL).  They had obviously been bored because Sawyer opened a couple of the Christmas presents I had brought the kids. Just the paper and not the actual gift thankfully! 

The next day was Christmas Eve.  We picked up my Dad from the airport and settled in for two days of Christmas  fun.

We should have bought stock in Apple.  Seriously.  

A Christmas Eve tradition.  "You'll shoot your eye out kid"

Christmas morning the kids were up bright and early to check out the loot underneath the tree.

Grace painted this picture for her Papa.  She really is quite talented

I think one of Grace's favorite presents was this stuffed blueberry pie.  Kids are funny.  

Cameron got this goofy sweatshirt that he asked for.  When you zip the hood up over your face it looks like a skeleton face and you can actually see through the eyes. Like I said, kids are funny! He also got the IPod touch he was coveting, so it was a pretty good Christmas as far as he was concerned.

I got a couple of Christmas ornaments, since we lost all of ours in the move(don't even ask me how sad I am about that).  I also got some pajamas and a card reader for my Ipad so I can transfer pictures onto it. Oh, and I got an Ipod. That's right, my sister saw me eye-ing the Ipods(still cracks me up) and she bought me one for Christmas. It was a complete surprise.  

The rest of the day we lazed around in our pajamas and ate way too much.  It was perfect.  

My favorite part of the holidays:  The cheese plate.  yum.

I kept a close eye on this guy to make sure we didn't have a repeat of Thanksgiving. 

We had to come home on the 28th so I could work on Friday.  An hour and a half into our trip we came upon this:

Not something you want to see at the beginning of your six hour drive home!  Thankfully it only waylaid us by a half hour or so and we made it home safely in time for me to go into work on Friday.  We had no doctors in that day but my co-worker had family in town and I wanted to give her the extra day with them before the long weekend.

All in all it was a wonderful holiday season.  How was yours?