By the Numbers

Well, I am finally back in Phoenix! But I had another little 2,100 mile trip tacked on to my travel plans.  More on that later...
Jacob finished up Outdoor Nationals strong.  He placed 5th in the 10,000m point race on the road, which placed him 10th in the nation and put him on National Team.  Nas finished as an alternate to the World Team and Lani skated strong on the road.  Because there weren't any rain delays, we had a day to just hang out.  We went to the Cheyene Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, CO which I highly recommend.  It is one of the most interesting zoos I have ever been to.  However, it does require walking many steep walkways and stairs. 

On Saturday, August 11th, I made the trek to Denver to take Jacob, his coach and teammate back to the airport.  Jared and I spent the rest of the day visiting Garden of the Gods.  Sunday, August 12th, we packed up and took off driving to Phoenix.  The drive was one of the easiest yet.  Normally a 14 hour drive, including stop times, we made it with very few stops and made it in 12 hours!  Side note: 8/12/12 was my 29th wedding anniversary.

While we were on the road, my 22 year old son, Jordan, was accepted into the dance program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, classes start August 20th.  In talking with him, we were going to leave on Wednesday, so I had 2 days to turn around and leave again.  As we got packing and figuring out the drive times, we realized we needed to get on the road sooner.  We mapped out the trip, and saw that El Paso would be the perfect stopping point.  As chance would have it one of my dearest friends lives in El Paso.  I gave her a call and she was more than happy to let us crash there Tuesday night. 

Jordan's friend Michael went with us to help with the moving.  We took off around noon on Tuesday, stopping in El Paso and arriving in Dallas on Wednesday.  Thursday we were able to move Jordan into his apartment and walk around the campus.  SMU is a beautiful 100 year old campus and the Meadows School looks wonderful.  Michael and I headed back to El Paso on Friday.  Michael got word that night, he didn't need to go into work on Saturday.  This meant we were able to sleep in and just laze around Saturday morning and visit.  I was so wonderful to see my friend, Lena after many years.  I finally got to meet her husband and 6 year old son!  She has such a beautiful home and her family were such gracious hosts.  We headed home around noon on Saturday.

Amazingly, I will be home for seven weeks!!!  I have basically been on the road for 4 months!  Wow! That's hard to believe!
 
Here are some of the numbers:
Left on April 25th back home August 18th - 16 1/2 weeks or 116 days.
25 traveling days (23 driving, 2 flying)
17,383 miles on my truck
36 days at home
55 days at other places
31 days of school while on the road (finishing one school year and started the next)

Places?
10 hotels
3 friends/relatives homes
2 hospitals
11 states (CA, AZ, NM, CO, NE, KS, IA, MN, MO, OK, TX)

Food?
3 visits to Josh & John's (best ice cream EVER)
Can't even begin to count restaurants... some notables:
2 hospital cafeterias actually really good food
Fargo's Pizza in Colorado Springs
G&R's authentic mexican food in El Paso
A micro brewery in Minneapolis, GREAT burgers in an amazing old building
Smokin' Bob's Bar B Que (a little partial since it is my brother) His brisket and beans are literally award winning!
I am SOOOOO done with Applebee's and Taco Bell for a loooooong time!!!
6 lbs lost... REALLY!?!?!

Activities?
3 skating competitions (Trophy Meet, Indoor Nationals, and Outdoor Nationals)
21 individual races plus relays
3 moves (Jared moved bedrooms, Jordan moved home and then to Dallas)
2 weddings attended
1 Family Reunion
1 Business Convention
1 Funeral
2 zoos (Lincoln and Cheyene Mountain)
lots and lots of visiting

People?
65 relatives at Daniels family reunion
3 cousins I never knew, Jim, Irvine and Jay
9 friends I haven't seen in YEARS Barb, Tom, Kris Ann, Derek & Sharon, Randy, Karen & Tessa, and Lena
10 relatives I haven't seen in YEARS Vivian, Sarah, Elle, Jenny, JT, Bob, Cheryl, Janie, Mom and Dad.
2 in-laws I hadn't met yet, Keith and Matt
Many, many friends and relatives, old and new, from all over!
I can't even begin to count the number of hugs, laughs and tears.

I'm living on the eighth day, right now!

Half Way!

Today is an "off day"!  That's a good thing!  It means we are "off" from skating today.  Outdoor Nationals (ODN) World Team Trials has a track and a road portion.  Track is a 200 meter concrete banked track and Road is a 500 meter laid out track, usually in a parking lot.  There are multiple races at each venue.  Each skater is given points for their placement in an event.  15pts for first, 12pts for second, 10pts for third etc. down to 8th place. The points then determine the USA World Team.  They build in a "rain day" or "off day" between the two parts.  Luckily, we haven't had any rainouts, however it would be nice to have some cooler weather.  It was brutally hot out there yesterday.  I think we only had a high of 93 however, we are in a concrete dish with no shade!!

The exciting news!! Jacob got his first ODN medal.  He finished with a bronze in the 10,000m point/elimination race.  There are 40 guys in his age division?  They put all 40 on the line and they have to duke it out for 50 laps, going approximately 25 mph on inline skates wearing nothing but a helmet and spandex.  It's a little like NASCAR with human bodies.  A point/elim race is starting at lap 5 they ring a bell, it's a point lap, they have one lap to race for the finish line, the person who crosses first gets 2 points, second gets 1 point.  The bell rings again and it's an elimination lap, they have one lap and the person who crosses last is eliminated.  This continues every other lap.  The final placements are based on how many points you can rack up during the race without being eliminated.  Oh, I did mention it's brutally hot out there, right!?!?  This race is considered to be the most difficult race because there is no resting.

I think one of the best parts of this win was the number of people who came over to congratulate Jacob, and his coach Deb.  They all went on about what a great kid he is and how deserving he was of this win.  As a mom, that was music to my ears, that other people think highly of my child.  One of the Master Women skaters has been reporting on the event.  She did a really nice write up on her blog of Jacob's race.  Here is the link: As I Was Saying... ODN Day 2

After this great finish, we had high hopes for Jacob's 15,000m elim race yesterday.  Sadly, he didn't do as well.  He skated a smart race but when it got down to 10 skaters the guy who was in 10th wedged him out on the corner.  The other skater got DQed but by then Jacob was eliminated.  So he finished 9th for that race which is one place out of points. 

So at the half way point, Jacob is 9th in points for World Team.  Jacob's teamates are doing well.  Lani made it to the final of the 1000m sprint giving her 2 points and placing her around 12th overall.  Nas placed 2nd in the 10,000m pt/elim and 5th in the 15,000m elim. I believe this places her in 6th overall for World Team.  The top six skaters make team with skaters number 7th & 8th as alternates. 

Tomorrow we start on road, chasing more points.

I'm living on the eighth day, right now!

It's Monday so this must be Kansas

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we have crazy summer travel plans. It started shortly after I returned to Arizona.

June 15th, 2012

I have been home a week and the pool is looking good! Jeff flies into Phoenix.

June 16th, 2012

Jeff, John, Jared and I drive north to Camp Verde to attend the wedding of a dear family friend, Derek Hinkle! Tom & Kris Ann Hinkle (Derek's parents) were our next door neighbors for years. We raised our kids together. When I first met Derek, he and John (my oldest) were both in diapers. It was a beautiful wedding, despite the heat and it was so wonderful to spend the day with Tom & Kris Ann and other longtime friends, Doug & Jeri Lynn Thompson and Sharron (Tom's sister).

June 17th, 2012

Jeff, Jared and I drive to Long Beach, CA to spend a week at the beach.

June 19th, 2012

John takes off driving for Kansas. When my Dad was in rehab, John had asked if he would be any help around the farm. Dad thought that would be wonderful. Mom and Dad live on a farm however, they don't farm. They rent out the farm land. The immediate property around their house is constantly in need of something, i.e. mowing, repairs to out buildings, fence repainted, trees trimmed etc. When we were back for the funeral, there was discussion about, "what now?" John had already arranged for the time off. He decided to go ahead and come back; even if he didn't do much around the farm he could help my brother with his Barbeque business. That is exactly what he has been doing.

June 22nd, 2012

Jared and I drive to San Jose, CA for Jacob's Speed Skating Trophy Meet. Jeff flies in that night. The meet goes really well. Jacob wins 1st overall for Novice Sr Men for the meet and the season. He also finishes 2nd in the Sr Open for the season!

June 24th, 2012

Jeff, Jacob, Jared and I drive to southern California. We drop Jacob off in Valencia, CA where he meets up with longtime friends, Andrew, KJ and Josh. They went on a, "Graduation Road Trip" starting at Six Flags and going up the California coast. They dropped Jacob back in San Jose. We then drop Jeff back in Long Beach, CA. Jared & I continue on to Phoenix, AZ.

June 25th, 2012

Jared and I arrive home in the early morning. The pool is green AGAIN!!! I drive directly to Mesa in order to help Jordan (#2 son) pack up his apartment to move back home. His apartment contract was up mid-June and he will be going away to school in mid-August. So he is home for 2 months, which worked out well because he can take care of everything while we're gone the rest of the summer. Yes, our summer travels haven't even begun yet!!! At the time, I actually get to stay home for 3 weeks. I de-greened the pool, planted grass on July 4th, Jordan had his wisdom teeth out on the 13th and we had a "Breaking Bad" marathon... all of seasons 2, 3, and 1/2 of 4!

July16th, 2012

Jared and I take off driving for a 4 week trip! First, Lincoln, NE, Jacob is already there watching the World Class and Standard divisions at Indoor Nationals.

July 17th -20th, 2012

Lincoln, NE - We get to watch Jacob skate Indoor Nationals. Thursday afternoon while Jacob had practice, I drove 2 1/2 hours down to Holton, KS to pick up my niece, Elle. I brought her back to Lincoln. On Friday my niece, Sarah, came to watch her cousin skate too! Jacob really enjoyed having his cousins there to cheer him on. They really enjoyed seeing him skate for the first time.

July 19th, 2012

Jeff flies to KC, John picks him up from the airport.

July 20th, 2012

Jeff and John drive to Junction City, KS for the Daniels Family Reunion. Jacob skates his individual events all day. Jacob, Kylee (Jake's girlfriend), Jared and I leave Lincoln at 12:30am for Junction City, KS and the reunion.

July 21st -22nd, 2012

DANIELS FAMILY REUNION! It was a great reunion and it was so fun to have almost all my family together, Jordan had to stay in Phoenix, AZ due to work. :( At the end of the reunion we all drive back to KC.

July 23rd, 2012.... One week down... three to go... It's Monday so this must be Kansas!!!

I'm living on the eighth day, right now!

A Mother’s Worry

As I mentioned in a couple of posts my 16 year old, Jacob has been having cardiac tests. Their concern was that he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or HCM. This is a congenital condition of an extra thick heart muscle. The most common symptom of this undiagnosed condition is SCD or Sudden Cardiac Death! Great! Just what a mother wants to hear. The cardiologist helped some, he seemed to think that Jacob was just EXTRA healthy. Did I mention that he is a nationally competitive speed skater? He trains very extensively. That’s actually how we got him checked; his coach noticed that he got light headed frequently.

The cardiologist was pretty sure that he just had a super healthy heart and a strong vagal nerve. The vagal nerve is what controls our heart rate. We can learn to stimulate our vagal nerve through bio-feedback and breathing exercises. This would actually explain a lot. Through Jacob’s training we have had a hard time getting him to maintain a high heart rate. It seems as soon as he stops he heart rate returns to normal very quickly. He has actually had coaches not believe that he had skated his hardest when he could talk calmly within 1 minute.

Still the cardiologist wanted to do a stress test and an echocardiogram, just to check. The stress test seemed to show that he was good. They managed to increase his heart rate normally. Everything looked good. The echo would just confirm that everything was ok. Then we didn’t hear for almost two weeks!!!

Finally the call came, “we need to schedule an appointment to discuss abnormalities in his echo”. What? Jacob was leaving in two days to train for Indoor Nationals; he would be back for the Fourth of July, then gone again for more training and Outdoor Nationals until August. What “abnormalities”? Does this affect his training? His life? They had no answers and left a message for the doctor. He didn’t call back until the next day. THAT was a stressful 24 hours! Jacob has two congenital heart defects, a bicuspid aortic artery and a mitral valve prolapsed. Basically, one valve has only two flaps, when there should be three and the other valve has a floppy flap. The only time that these can be dangerous is in an un-healthy person. He may be more likely to have heart disease later in life if he doesn’t practice a healthy heart lifestyle.

All of the sudden God’s blessings became clear. Because he is an athlete we were able to discover this now AND he already lives that healthy lifestyle. He will probably always have a cardiologist to check on him on a regular basis. He may or may not need heart surgery as an old man but that is many, MANY years from now. So he is cleared for training as hard as he wants or I should say as hard as his coaches want and we will meet with the cardiologist in August to find out more details but for now, a mother’s worry is calmed!

I'm living on the eighth day, right now!