Kindness of Strangers

So this has nothing to do with triathlon training, but since it's the reason I probably won't get training done today I'm gonna write about it!!
This morning my 10 year old had to have her 5th set of ear tubes put in. You would think by now it's old hat and we could do it in our sleep. Not so. One bad experience at the Roanoke hospital and she is terrified of the procedure. The actual surgery went fine but we had a rotten anesthesiologist and nurse and that experience has stuck with her ever since.
She was pretty nervous because I had to prep her by explaining that at RMH I couldn't go back into the OR with her while they put her to sleep. (At the Outpatient Surgery center in Roanoke they allowed me to be there with her). SO, she was very nervous - it must be a frightening thing when you are 10, old enough to understand what they are saying, but still a kid. Looking around the pre-op area there were all old people, alot of which were having eye surgery so they had one eye taped shut. Just not normal looking for a 10 year old!
Our wonderful nurse as just as sweet as can be. Turns out she knows my mom - it's a small world! The anesthesiologist came in and we told her about A's anxiety. She was so sweet and arranged to let me come back with her. The nurses explained this is not common practice there and the Dr. was definitely going above and beyond. It made the world of difference. The whole procedure was a positive one for A (and her mom too!), and she is home now eating chocolate ice cream.
So, for today no training on tap - instead I'll be doing my #1 job of being a mom :)

Parenting is tough business

This is me lately. A few months ago we put my 7 year old on a gluten free diet because he was generally out of sorts and having gas that would clear a room. I mean it was BAD. We had to make no farting at the dinner table rules. I would have written it off as a 7 year old boy thing, but he came home excited that he had only had to fart once during school one day. So, we went gluten free with him.
He was not happy. This was also an expensive endeavor because I was buying all the fancy gluten free food to try and make it easier on him. In the end he didn't like many of those things anyway.
After 2 weeks his gas was much better, so we did the check and gave him gluten again to see if that changed things. It didn't - right away. It was so much easier to let him eat school lunches and all the yummy things he liked. We were able to deny the antsy, agitated behavior as holidays. When the gas came back I was starting to see. Then last night the following conversation went on at bedtime:
Eli: Excuse me
Me: Oh my gosh - what in the world did you eat child?
Eli: Nothing, I didn't even have Doritos. (Doritos really send his intestines into a spiral)
Me: Does your stomach hurt?
Eli: My stomach huts a lot mom.
Me: (all in my head) bad mom, bad mom, bad mom for being lazy about putting him on a gluten free diet again. Crap.
So, head out of the sand, Eli is going gluten free again. This time I am going to try cooking things myself instead of relying on pre-made things. Good thing Eli wants to be a chef when he grows up!