Chris' First (& potentially last) Triathlon

So, if you haven't already heard Chris' version of the drama that was Saturday, September 4, you should really go read it!  It definitely makes for some quality reading.  However, I would like to step in and give my perspective as the person who, you know, remained conscious throughout the event.

Let me begin the account by informing you without too much detail that Chris had been kind of sick in the days leading up to the triathlon.  He hadn't been eating very much because of some severe, ahem, gastrointestinal issues.  Had this thought occurred to me along with the thought that before my triathlon, I was instructed to increase caloric intake and eat extra carbs and extra sugar and actually over-hydrate, perhaps I would have put the kibosh on the whole triathlon thing happening in the first place.  But, alas, this thought did not occur to me and therefore my 36 year old husband, who usually makes really intelligent decisions, decided he would go on ahead and participate.

The morning of the tri, we wake up to a 55 degree morning.  It was FREAKIN' FREEZING outside.  I mean 55 degrees is usually cold anyway, but couple that with the fact that we've been cruising along in the 90+ heat the entire month of August, and it made it feel like 55 below.  We all got bundled up and followed him out the door in his shorty shorts and short sleeve shirt with a pathetic little excuse for a sweatshirt.  We got to the reservoir around 6:30am and stayed in the car while he got all checked in and signed in and body marked, etc.  At 8am, it was time for the race to start, so the kids and I wrapped blankets around ourselves and walked down to the water.  The kids had "Swim Daddy Swim, Run Daddy Run, and Ride Daddy Ride" signs and they loved jumping up and down yelling their sign for him.  He got in the water and swam amazingly well.  He had a great time and he looked great running to transition.  He got on his bike and took off.  The kids and I huddled together in the Envoy and had a snack and planned to go back out in about 35 minutes to watch him come back in.  He was a little later than I had expected getting back to transition and just as I started to worry a little bit, he came riding up the hill.  He said his chain had fallen off and he had to get off the bike and fix it and it cost him several minutes.  I was bummed for him, but relieved that he was still acting like he was just fine.  He threw on his shoes and took off running looking great.  He even came over and gave us all high 5s before he ran out.

Again, I estimated his time to run at around 30 minutes, so the kids and I headed over to the finish line area to wait.  I let them play on the playground until it had been 25 minutes and then had them come stand near me.  At 35 minutes, he still wasn't there.  Then 38, then 40.  We left the finish line area and walked to the top of the last hill so we could see him coming from further away.  At what seemed like 10 minutes later, but probably was only more like 5, we finally saw him coming.  Again, I had just started to get worried about the fact that he had collapsed somewhere when I saw him coming.  When I saw him, he looked great!  (Later, I found out that he had been running horribly and said that had an EMT seen him on the course, they would have surely pulled him off but he had gotten a boost of adrenaline when he saw me and the kids, so he looked OK to me!)  He crossed the finish line and the girls ran with him.  (Carter tried too but wiped out and face planted in the grass...poor guy)  His time was 1:45:41.  Only 41 seconds over his goal time.  Without the bike chain incident and the horrible run, he would have SMOKED his goal time.

After he crossed the finish line, he got his medal and some water and had a smile on his face.  He sat down and I took a picture of he and the kids.  I had high hopes of taking more pictures afterwards of them with him holding their signs, etc. but those did not happen.  Instead, he started shivering and telling me he was freezing.  Since it was much warmer then that it had been earlier and the rest of us were actually plenty warm by this time, I thought it was weird.  I covered him with a blanket and noticed he had goosebumps all up and down his body.  I also noticed his lips instantly turned purple and he was as white as a sheet.  For whatever reason, my first thought was that his sugar must have been low because of the fact that he'd just finished a triathlon (duh!) and also the fact that he hadn't eaten much in the few days before.  I started feeding him a banana as he continued to get worse.  Then I remembered I had M&Ms in my bag and started telling him I thought his sugar was low and to eat some M&Ms.  A lady who had been listening in to all of these events, chimed in and asked if I'd like her to go get some pop.  I said "that would actually be a great idea! Do you know if there is any close by?" and she said "I'll go ask."  Turns out, she asked one of the race directors if there was any pop because there was a guy not feeling well.  He came over and could tell immediately that Chris was not doing well.  He said to me "we don't have any pop but how about some birthday cake?" and I said "that might be good!"  So, someone next to him went to get birthday cake and the director stayed and asked Chris what was going on?  Chris told him he was just so cold and couldn't stop shivering.  The guy (who we found out later was named Rich and it was HIS birthday!) said "why don't you come over to my truck and I'll turn the heat on for you."  Chris sat in his truck with the heat on full blast as I tried giving him birthday cake.  Rich asked me if Chris was diabetic and I said "No, but giving him sugar was the first thing that I thought of to make him feel better!" 

As he sat down in the truck, he was groaning in pain and kind of slumped over to the side.  One of the directors asked if this behavior was normal for him and I said "no, not at all" so she asked if I wanted her to go get a medic and without any hesitation, I said "Yes, Please!!!"  She went to get a medic and within 2 minutes, they had him in an ambulance with blankets and heating pads on him, a thermometer in his mouth and an IV in his arm.  It was amazing to me to see how quickly they worked once they realized he was not doing well.  His temperature was 96. (Hypothermia is defined as being 95.9 or below)

At this point, the kids really started to freak out but a YMCA friend, Jarod, quickly grabbed them and tried to distract them.  He picked Carter up and took him around to the other side of the ambulance to "look at the lights" and the original woman who asked for the pop, tried to get the girls to go with her to the playground.  They wanted no part of that.  They knew something was not right and were not about to allow themselves to be distracted.  They asked 10 times if Daddy was OK and I kept saying yes even though I honestly had no idea.  I guess I knew he was going to be OK, but I didn't think he was OK right at that moment.

Once the paramedics decided that Chris needed to go to the hospital, I sprung into action mode.  I called my mom to ask her to come get the kids.  When Jarod overheard this, he said "that's crazy.  Tell her to meet me at the hospital and I'll drive your car in there to meet her and you ride with Chris"  I didn't even think about saying "no, it is too big of an inconvenience for you" like I normally would.  I just said "are you sure? OK!"  I ran to get the Envoy to strap the kids in, got in and tried to start it.  The battery was 100% dead.  It didn't even click.  I realized we must have left a light on or something while sitting in it trying to keep warm earlier that morning.  Without even thinking, I just jumped out, said "Thank You God" that we had driven separately to accommodate Chris' bike, and jumped into his van.  I drove it over to Jarod, got the kids strapped in and sent them on their way.  Later, I realized I had also left my (brand new birthday gifted Coach purse) in the Envoy with all of my money and credit cards and other things in it.  I totally anticipated it not being there when I got back, but it was!!!! 

Once I got back in the ambulance, I hated having to listen to Chris literally yelling in pain.  He explained later that his muscles were literally seizing up on him and causing cramps all over his body.  Our doctor, Derrick, later explained that it is something to do with the lactic acid or something from dehydration and hypothermia.  After I called Chris' mom to explain things to her, I called Derrick.  He said he'd meet us at the hospital and told me to be sure to yell back to tell Chris he was a moron for trying to do the tri after being sick! The EMTs got a big kick out of that.

Things kind of calmed down after the IVs got in and the warming blankets got his temperature up.  He went from 96 to 100.2 within about 45 minutes.  His official diagnosis was hypothermia.  We got to the ER, got checked in, he got a 2nd bag of fluids and some blood work.  He was really tired and kind of drifting in and out of sleep.  I was telling him about things that had happened and at one point he said "I love you, but I don't think I want to talk anymore."  Then there was silence. 

After about a full minute of silence, he looked at me with a really confused look on his face and asked incredulously "did someone give me birthday cake?!" (which I think maybe turned out to be my favorite moment of the whole day)

The nurses brought in some good drugs and stuck them in his IV.  He really started to feel better and act better then.  He returned to his old self of joking around with the nurses and doctors.  They did a lot of blood work and Derrick said that if everything came back normally, he'd give him one more bag of fluids and then send him home.  Thankfully, everything came back normally.  He stepped into the ambulance at about 10am and we walked out of the ER at about 1:45.

After we got home, I got him some food and he took a shower (since he still had on his nasty stinky triathlon clothes) and rested on the couch.  I called my mom to come get me.  We layed Carter down for a nap and stuck the girls in front of a movie and headed out.  We went to Jarod's house who had so thoughtfully grabbed all of Chris' things that had been left (including his wallet, his phone, his iPod, his cycling shoes, etc) We drove through Taco Bell to grab a bite to eat since it was now almost 3pm and neither of us had eaten lunch.  (Myself because Chris or I neither one had a wallet at the ER and she because, as she put it "HOW DOES ANYONE GET ANYTHING DONE WHILE TAKING CARE OF THREE KIDS?!?!")  We went out to the reservoir where my Dad met us to jump start the Envoy.  Thankfully, it started right up and thankfully, my purse was still inside with all of its contents!!

We rested a lot during the afternoon, had a big dinner at Olive Garden (because Chris was STARVING) and then headed back home.  We were all in bed by 8:30pm and slept really really well last night.  He got the chills once more last night, but with a really hot shower, a heating pad, and a bunch of blankets, he was OK again. 

It was an insane day.  I am just relieved that he is OK. 

I told him that after the image of him being loaded onto a stretcher and into an ambulance had been seared into my brain, he might not be allowed to run in his planned November marathon.  Or, he'd have to make sure they allowed participants' wives riding along behind them in a golf cart.

With some birthday cake.

Just in case.