Category Archives: fitness

hamster wheel Wednesday

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Seriously. Today was just that…a day where from sunup until sundown I was going and going and yet nothing much got accomplished. Nothing accomplished as in taking on a mountain of laundry, a dirty kitchen floor, dusty furniture or prepping the walls in Jodie’s room…yes, I’m painting soon…soon, I hope. Yet I was busy. Busy like a little hamster in a hamster wheel just going and going, round and round and round. Late this afternoon, right before I was to take Daniel to Tae Kwon Do and pick up Jodie from work, I looked around the Big Top thinking to myself, “Oh my god! Nothing was accomplished today. Nothing!” But then again so much was.

First thing this morning I took Jodie to the hospital to get an x-ray of her wrist. Dancing injury. A simple x-ray that should have been an easy in and out of the local community hospital’s radiology department.

Yeah, but no.

Jodie is a new patient to the hospital so it took forever to get through admitting.

For-Ev-Er!

It was an admission process where I was lectured that I had to give them Jodie’s social security number for identification purposes. I don’t. I won’t. I also got to meet the brand new CEO of the hospital while he was meeting and greeting the admissions staff. Random, I know. I couldn’t help but notice how young he looks. Like is he old enough to buy beer young. I must have said that out loud because the admissions clerk helping us agreed. Meanwhile, the clerk could not verify Jodie’s eligibility for the needed x-ray because the eligibility department of our insurance provider was in a meeting…the entire department…so no one was available to verify anything, for anyone. Seriously. But there is NOTHING wrong with the current state of healthcare and healthcare coverage here in America.

RIGHT??!!

So I had to pay for the x-ray because I wasn’t willing to wait two hours or come back in a few hours.

I know.

I called our insurance provider and, well, I don’t think they like me too much.

Jodie’s fine. No broken bones, just a sprained wrist.

Then it was off to the chiropractor because the girl who can do fouette turns and la seconde turns for days has re-injured her hip doing those turns. Nothing that a few adjustments from the chiropractor can’t cure. It is seriously cool how her turning leg is noticeably longer than the other and with just a few adjustments her legs are equal length again. It isn’t cool how he cracks her back, hips, knees and neck to get her re-aligned.

SHUDDER!

Home again and the morning was gone. Like it was really gone. Still I decided to be selfish and get in a five mile run. Had to. Needed to. Another hour gone but I am so glad I did go running. The perfect mental health treatment especially these days when even good Christian friends just can’t be nice, especially on Facebook.

Seriously, people are being downright mean. Like that is going to change anyone’s views anytime soon. Of course I’m a fixer, or at least a try to fix things fixer and felt compelled to reach out to a friend who was hurt by another friend.

Laundry still wasn’t even started, dishes weren’t done and oh, no, time to pick up the kids from school…and take Jodie to work…and take Daniel to Tae Kwon Do…and pick up Jodie from work.

Shit seriously was not getting done.

But I did get this in the mail today…and wore it all day because I am just a Steel-town girl.

I’ll dust and mop and prep walls for painting and deliver cookie dough fundraisers AND do the laundry tomorrow, okay? Okay!

what a mother does

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It’s amazing, even inspiring, that which a mother will do for her child. I know I have done things that I never imagined ever doing for a child of mine…any child of mine: whether it was catching projectile vomit with my cupped hands (way too many times), giving up sleep over way too many nights to even try to count, lying in a bed on my left side for over three months, risking my own job and enduring the disapproval of extended family following my heart to pursue the adoption of my beautiful son…and on and on and on…and I am not even thinking of the labor and delivery war stories here…still I did these things because that is what a mother does…and then some…and then some more. The things we do for our children sometimes. It’s like we become super heroes even more greater, faster and stronger than the Avengers.

Just this morning, while scanning my Facebook timeline, I came across just such an amazing mom.

Emmett Sebright was recently diagnosed with (severe metopic) Craniosynostosis, a defect of the skull that inhibits brain growth. He also suffers from unexplained seizures, is developmentally delayed, and has a venous abnormality in his brain. On June 20, 2012, 15 month old Emmett will undergo an extensive and invasive surgery – a cranial vault reconstruction. During the 7 to 8 hour surgery, Drs. will break the bones in his skull, reshape them, and put them back together with plates and screws to give his brain enough room to properly grow.

I (his mother, Kathy Sebright) will run the entire time Emmett is in surgery – on the treadmill in the hospital. I will not stop and will not rest until he is out of surgery, safe and sound, even if it takes the full 8 hours.

We are holding Emmett’s (virtual) Endurance Event as a show of solidarity and support. It’s a virtual event, you don’t have to go anywhere! We are asking everybody to walk, run, bike, hike, or move in some way wherever you are, whenever you have time, on June 20th for Emmett.

Immediately I felt awe for that which this mother was planning to do for her baby boy. Inspired, I shared it with a few friends…a few friends who could not believe anyone could do this…would be crazy enough to do such a thing. And soon the conversation devolved into jokes about dying from running and thank goodness they never, ever had to run and the sanity of this young mother.

I probably never should have shared with them.

Oh well.

They might not get that which was compelling this woman to run. But I do. No, not because I run. Averaging only 10-15 miles per week, I am by no means an endurance runner as Emmett’s mother appeared to be on her Facebook page. But I still get that which motivates her: the fear, the helplessness, the need to DO something, anything while your child is undergoing such complicated surgery and fighting for his life.

Daniel has endured a total of nine surgical procedures in his lifetime. He carries many scars on his body; scars he is becoming more and more aware of asking for details of how each scar was acquired. I have kept that helpless vigil, fearing the absolute worst and hoping for the best each time Daniel went into an OR…even when in the eyes of the law and those closest to me I had no right to. I would have done anything to take away his pain or that which was causing the need for any of those surgeries. I would have walked 500 miles…even run for ever second, every minute and every hour my child was under general anesthesia and in the hands of the OR team…each and every time. I get this mother’s motivation, her inspiration.

How could I not join her and hundreds and hundreds of other people all over the world walking, running, biking, swimming today for little Emmett? I proudly wore my bib while I ran a hot, sweaty, stinky 4.13 mile run. It was 97º out when I was running so it was indeed a hot, sweaty mess. But it was easy for me. At least compared to what Emmett was going through and what his mom was doing at the same time. It was only a little over 4 miles and only 48 minutes of my life. Emmett’s mommy ran for 7 hours 26 minutes logging 36.2 miles on that hospital treadmill while Emmett was in surgery. And tonight, Emmett is resting and stable in the ICU.

God bless you, Emmett, Kathy and the rest of your family!

that’s what friends are for

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You gotta love social media. Yes, I know some days you can’t help but hate it…the drama, the “vague-booking”, the time suck. But some days you just have to love social media. The last couple of days I have loved it.

My friend, Tracey, was running her very first marathon back home in Pittsburgh. She trained well for it and, thanks to Facebook, I was able to follow her in her training all along the way. I was so excited for her…her very first marathon!!! I was also a little nervous for her too…a worrisome foot injury late in her training schedule and the typical race-eve freak out…I couldn’t help but be worried a little…it’s what I do. More than anything, I wanted to be there…to cheer for her at the start, along the route and at the finish…because I know how much fun it can be…but more importantly, because Tracey is my friend and I wanted to be there just as I have felt like I have been throughout her training that she has shared. I set my alarm to remind me while at work early, early Sunday morning, west coast time, to send out a shout out wishing her luck and I began to follow her posted split times as well as #PittsburghMarathon live tweet updates.

Okay, fine. It wasn’t like I was there but then again it was…kind of sort of.

It was then on my Instagram feed I saw my friend Kim had posted an amazing shot of one of the elite runners running past her. It was a great capture indeed…air under the guy’s feet as if he was running through the air rather than on the pavement…you know, like us mere mortals who try to run. I KNOW that it had to be exciting as I once got to see running greatness run past me…in the opposite direction…while running in the San Jose Rock and Roll Half Marathon. Excited I messaged Kim and told her how Tracey was running in the same event and just might be running by her soon…okay, later…still Tracey was headed her way! Kim messaged me back asking, “How can I spot her? I’m at mile 16. Would love to cheer her on.” Kim and I send back and forth messages with me trying to describe Tracey and then I send her a screen shot of Tracey with her running bib. An hour later I receive another message, “We just saw Tracey! I think we gave her a nice boost at mile 16!“, followed by, “Wish I could have lined up a few more folks to cheer for her.“

Oh yeah, Kim is good people. She even came to my aid during BlogHer 11 with a dose of Tylenol…yes, it was part of her calling card but it helped me out and how can one ever forget that…oh, and I enjoyed sitting with her and sharing during a session or two. Even better, thanks to social media, I get to enjoy Kim’s company a lot and get to remind myself of the wonderful things that I miss about back home in Pittsburgh and that which makes Pittsburgh Someplace Special. Some pretty good people live there…like Tracey…like Kim.

It was after the race that I saw a posting on her Facebook wall from Tracey:

I’m home, icing every part of my body, reflecting on the day. A marathon isn’t fun or easy but parts of it did rock…My teammates, friends, fellow athletes! Laura Scarborough Setting up a surprise cheering section from 3000 miles away! The band at mile 9.29 playing Take the Skin Heads Bowling! Getting hosed down by a hot fireman in E Liberty! Knowing my Dad was with me every step of the way! My coaches Phil Thompson & Drew McCabe crossing the finish line with me! Best running partner Kathie O’Donnell finishing the last mile together!

Reading that made me cry…cry happy tears because although we can’t be face to face every day and we can’t just hop in a car and drive on over to be there for one another, I have some pretty amazing friends out there and thanks to the interwebs and a whole lot of social media I know that we can and are there for each other to support and encourage each other…to cry together…to pray together…to laugh together…tell me how and where to bury a body, you know, if I had to…to just be there for each other. It’s a small circle still it is a circle that has expanded my world in a way that I could never imagine…even when I am feeling alone here in Manteca. I have some pretty awesome friends…friends like Tracey, like Ann, like Kim, like Kari, like Kale, like Jenn, like Bill…I am so lucky…even if you all aren’t physically just around the corner.

Love you Tracey! Love you Kim! I hope that someday I can hook you two up…perhaps while taking in a game at PNC Park.

And one more time, congratulations Tracey!!! I am thrilled and honored to have cheered you on this weekend. You. Are. Awesome.

community of mud

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If you aren’t a friend of mine on Facebook, you might be wondering “how did the mud run go for Laura?…did she survive?”

Well…

I was ready and especially inspired when I received my race packet.

Beer! There would be beer at the finish line. Knowing that I was even able to forgive the fact that they got my age wrong. Oh well, I will be 51 soon enough…next year.

Come Sunday I was properly hydrated and ready, really ready for this event. It had been an especially stressful week juggling life here and this run was going to be a much needed outlet of a lot of that stress and frustrations…plus there would be beer. My planned strategy was to not die of course and to blind everyone with my camouflage RunTeamSparkle running skirt (what else would a lady wear to a mud run?) and my blinding white legs. Some friends wondered if I was wearing shorts under the skirt and even dared to ask. Um, yes! My husband is the Scotsman, not I. Blinding white legs was more than enough to share.

Coated and layered up in waterproof sunscreen from head to toe, I was hoping to at least not burn out there at Dell Osso Farms. I might die from heat exhaustion but I would not burn…hopefully.

With just a little bit more stretching, warming up, hydrating and applying of sunscreen and eye black my team (Ben, his lovely mother and his sweet and super-athletic sister) was ready for our 12:30 PM start time. According to the weather app on my smart phone, it was 93° when we lined up at the start line. Ready or not for the race, we were definitely ready for the first muddy obstacle. By the time we reached the third obstacle, it was clear that this was going to be a pretty tough muddy hot run. All of us found the heat and some of the obstacles challenging but we stayed together, helped each other out, cheered each other on and promised that what happens on the mud run stays on the mud run. We were determined to finish together the four of us…even if we had to drag the body of one or two of us across the finish line. Yeah, we joked about that making comparisons to Harry Potter bringing a dead Cedric back from the maze…you know, so that he could become a sparkly vampire named Edward.

Yeah, the heat was getting to us.

Onward through the mud and obstacles we pushed through. I was really impressed with the community of people running around us. There was a lot of helping hands if you couldn’t get out of the thick mud or struggled scaling the rope ladder and there was a lot of slipping, sliding and tangling of limbs in the mud. Thank goodness we all got along and laughed…laughed a lot. It was definitely good, muddy fun.

Crossing the finish line we were covered, caked, coated with mud…everywhere…yes, everywhere…but we all were very much alive. Yes, we were survivors of the Survivor Mud Run.

Surprisingly, no one wanted to hug any of us. We were offered a banana and a bottle of near-boiling hot water along with a pretty cool medal. All of it soon became covered in mud because we all were covered in mud. It was definitely time for a shower which consisted of lots and lots of muddy people lined up on a platform standing under pipes of water flowing freely and water trucks driving by and hosing us all down. Yes, there were more helping hands and community. We are bonded…all of us…for life…I think…we were all that close!

Thank goodness my medal and racing bib washed clean. More for my collection. I really need something to hang all my race medals on…ahem…Mother’s Day is coming!!!

Nevertheless, it was a great day spent with family…covered in mud.

the new hunger games

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In this news this week…and pissing me off on so many different levels… is the K-E Diet for the blushing bride-to-be who desperately wants to lose 5, 10 or even 20 pounds in just 10 days…no exercise necessary. All you have to do is have a doctor insert a NG tube (naso-gastric tube) into your nose, down your throat, through your esophagus and into your stomach. The tube will be taped securely to your face and attached to a feeding pump that will slowly drip a unique 800 calories/day formula of protein, fats and water.

“It is a hunger-free, effective way of dieting,” Di Pietro said. “Within a few hours and your hunger and appetite go away completely, so patients are actually not hungry at all for the whole 10 days. That’s what is so amazing about this diet.”

Slipping into a wedding gown for a dream wedding is a moment of truth for most brides, but as many say that there is a real fear that it will not quite fit. That’s how Jessica Schnaider says she felt with a June wedding approaching and 10 pounds she says she couldn’t lose. She was desperate for a quick fix.

“I don’t have all of the time on the planet just to focus an hour and a half a day to exercise so I came to the doctor, I saw the diet, and I said, ‘You know what? Why not? Let me try it. So I decided to go ahead and give it a shot,” she said.

I watched this news report sitting next to my son, Daniel…you know, the kid who was fed by feeding tubes the first four years of his life. The kid who could not, would not take food by mouth for those years for so many different reasons…medical and otherwise. The kid who had to learn how to safely chew and swallow food protecting his airway because his left vocal cord is paralyzed. Yeah, THAT KID! He shook his head, while watching this report, and asked why would anyone do that to themselves on purpose…if they didn’t have to. “That is so dumb!”, he declared. And bad mommy that I am, I didn’t chide him for judging someone so harshly…because he is right. He is so very right. Yeah, Jessica Schnaider, my ten year old son thinks you are dumb.

I get the pressure some women put on themselves to achieve an impossible ideal…sort of…kind of. I get the desire for a quick fix that does not involve sensible dieting and exercising…god forbid a bride-to-be actually WORK AND SWEAT to be physically something she really isn’t…something that her fiance did not fall in love with. I do. Or at least I try to imagine what would drive a woman to do this for no other reason than to be skinnier. Okay, fine! I DON’T get it. Not. At. All.

My precious child was fed by an ng tube for most of the 132 days he spent in the NICU. It was only the last three weeks of his NICU stay that he was able, with great difficulty, to take infant formula by a bottle to satisfy his neonatologists who directed his care. But just two months after discharge he abruptly stopped and refused the bottle…completely. There was no other choice but to resume ng feedings…even if his pediatrician thought he was right: that in spite of his extreme premature birth, his chronic lung disease, his reflux and his paralyzed vocal cord there was no reason why an infant would not eat…would starve himself.

This was our reality.

Our life with our beautiful baby boy was all about feeding him by a tube that was placed in his nose that led down to his stomach and was taped securely to his soft cheek.

Strangers would stare, ask what was wrong with our baby and offer all kinds of unsolicited advice and solutions…because it couldn’t be possible that a baby simply would not eat, would starve himself.

Everything I ever believed, learned or did as a mother regarding nutrition and feeding my children I had to let go of with this experience with my child. I had to accept the scrutiny (and sometimes judgments) of professionals and lay-people alike. I had to be the one to re-insert his feeding tube if it was accidentally or purposely dislodged by my baby boy…sometimes daily…and I had to listen to him cry as I did it. Daniel was fed by ng tube until he was 9 months old when his pediatrician and GI specialist reluctantly agreed to our request for a gastrostomy feeding tube. They would only agree because I refused to give continuous 24 hour feedings by ng tube because of the potential for dislodging of the tube and aspiration of feeding into his lungs. It wasn’t until 4 years later that he was finally able to be tube feeding free. Feeding this child still remains a struggle and I imagine it will always be so for him. I hated the feeding tubes…I despised them…but I remain grateful for them because at one point in his life it was the only way to feed him. Having cared for, cried for, prayed for and supported Daniel on this journey I have to wonder like he did…Why? Why would anyone do this to themselves on purpose…just to be skinnier and prettier in a dress that they will wear for but one day?

ABC

Why?