A trip to InstaCare, a Urologist, Student of the Day, a cold, and ride with Wonder Woman

Eric had quite the ordeal to begin the week with.  Saturday evening as Scott and I were watching a movie and Eric and Rubie were upstairs watching a movie together Eric came to tell me that he has something hard and painful on his penis.  I don't know why I didn't take a look at it, but since Eric didn't seem to be in any pain or bothered by it I just said see if it goes away or you can wash it off in a bath tomorrow morning.  Well Sunday he told me it was bigger.  So I looked.  It was a large red bump with a small white point in the middle.  Reminded me of a zit just starting to develop.  Now I was a little concerned but he still seemed fine.  Monday morning it was bigger and starting to be painful.  I sent him to school and when the pediatrician's office was opened called and got him an appointment for that day.  We went to see Dr. Connor and she said it was an abscess that certainly needed to be taken care of--drained, but that she wasn't equipped to do it.  She wanted to avoid giving him a shot in his penis to be numbed.  She thought we should go see a Urologist.  Which meant Primary Children's hospital.  Luckily there is also an office in Riverton.  We got an appointment to see him on Wednesday morning.  Dr. Connor did say that if it grew and became more painful before Wednesday morning that perhaps going to InstaCare would be a good idea.  Tuesday morning the abscess had grown bigger and looked like it could just burst.  Poor Eric.  But he went to school anyway.  When Samuel and I were on the way to the AF rec center to the pool, Eric called, just 45 minutes into the school day.  He was uncomfortable, in pain, and having a hard time sitting there in school.  So I picked him up and took him to the InstaCare.  The Dr. there was amazed at the size of the abscess.  He wanted to take care of it right away.  Again poor Eric,  The Dr. gave him a shot in his penis (and Eric hates shots and wants to avoid them), then without much time passing, took a scalpel, lanced that abscess and squooze the heck out of it.  Eric of course was screaming and I and a nurse held him down.  I was amazed at the hard white goo that came out of that thing.  It was gross and what an ordeal for Eric to have to go through.  In an effort to help me out Carlee came to get Sam from me.  I had put the car keys into the diaper bag and sent it off with Carlee.  So poor Eric, instead of getting him home right away to get him comfortable and resting, we had to sit in the waiting room while Carlee took Finn to school in Draper and then drove back to give me our car keys.  By that time it was about noon.  Sam had fallen asleep in the car but woke up when he heard my voice.  She would have taken him with her but by that time I just thought I would take him.  Unfortunately he wouldn't take another nap.  I got no workout in that day.  I just took care of my boys.  We still kept our appointment with the Urologist in Riverton on Wednesday and that took that whole morning.  Eric was doing much better with the abscess reduced to a small red bump.  It is almost completely gone now.  Dr. Connor called yesterday to follow-up with him.  The InstaCare had taken a culture of what came out of the abscess and she said it was a staph infection.  The InstaCare had prescribed a anti-biotic which I guess is standard for that sort of thing.  Having to deal with that really messed up the week for me as far as workouts and cleaning and cooking.  But that is what Mom does.  Kids and family first.

Rubie was finally Student of the Day on Friday.  She was so excited!  She wanted to be Student of the Day in her class since the beginning of school.  She gets to where a special little stuffed animal around her neck and bring in home for the weekend.  She got to do the math on the giant math worksheet.  There are other privileges but I'm not exactly certain what those privileges are for the day.

Scott had another cold this week.  Or maybe he never really got better and it just came back with a vengeance.  It was pretty bad.  He missed work at least one day and has had the air mattress set up in the family room most of the week so he could sleep and rest there.

Friday night I took Rubie to ride in the Wonder Woman mother/daughter ride.  There were probably 20 other moms and daughter's participating.  I wish that a bigger deal had been made over it for the girls.  We could have done a longer ride and had a ribbon or something for them.  But we just went around the park and then all came through the finish line with no one cheering or anything.  It was pretty anticlimactic and I felt bad about that because Rubie was so excited about it.  So I bought her a small bike jersey from a previous years ride.  It looks super cute on her and she can probably wear it for the next 6-10 years.

Saturday morning I participated in the 5th Annual Wonder Woman ride.
 

I tried to get some other biker friends to come out and ride with me, but no one was interested.  Maybe I should have tried harder.  I wanted someone to ride with that we would be at the same level so we could pace together.  I thought that Brittany Chatwin was going to, but she never registered and then had something else going on.  So I just went on my own.  I probably could have riden with the top 3 girls if I had my crap together. There was just all this drama for me getting the ride going. For some reason I took a long time getting out of the house.  The funny thing is I had a dream that I woke up late and was late getting to the ride.  Well, for sure that happened.  I meant to leave the house at 6:30 and didn't leave until 10 minutes to 7.  What was I thinking!  I was thinking get as much sleep as I can.  So I pull up to the park with 5 minutes to get my bike all together before the century ride starts.  Argh!!  And then my gear bag that straps under my seat with an extra tube and tire changing stuff breaks,  The zipper comes right off.  Crap!!  So I haul on over to the start line just as the 100 miler starts and see Marci Simmons.  I yell for her and ask for safety pins.  She runs and finds some and pins my number on me as I pin the gear bag together.  So I start probably 3 minutes after the 100 miles leave.  They are all strung out so far and I just ride.  I do want to get to the front but I don't push myself.  We have 100 miles to go after all.  But I still make it to the front of the pack except that I slow down a bit and talk to one lady, Karen.  I can see that there are still 3 riders ahead of us.  Gary Thurston is driving the HT training / Thurston cycling suburban in front of the riders.  We start to catch up to the front riders, I want to pace with them.  I try to get Karen to but she tells me she does not want to because she isn't very good at it.  We pass an aide station.  Somehow I loose sight of the 3 riders in the lead.  I don't know if they have stopped or we passed them.  Gary pulls the Suburban over, he is SAG for the ride.  I also get far ahead of Karen.  Wouldn't you know it I also get ahead of some volunteers and miss a turn.  I got about 4 miles off course, come to a fork in the road and there is no sign.  I call Gary to figure out what I've done wrong.  He tells me to back track and that the sign is on the left side of the road and the volunteers should be there by now.  Not only that but as I get back there all the other riders are making the turn.  So now, I'm back behind all the 100 milers again and probably the 70 milers have started too.  It's fine though.  I like seeing all the riders and I cheer as I ride past all the girls and the aide stations.  I don't know why more women aren't cheering.  I pass a lot of them that don't look too happy to be riding and I'm just cruising past and cheering and smiling.  Anyway, for the whole ride I'm chasing those 3 riders.  I'm pretty sure that one of them is Amber Foster.  One has on a T3 outfit.  I'm sure that I am just a few minutes behind them.  I have a good ride.  I pay attention to the time so that I fuel my body regularly and that helps.  I never feel like I bonk or am just done riding.  I stopped at the aide station that was at Lincoln Beach which was just a bit over half way for a bathroom stop, water, and oranges.  Actually I stopped in Genola too for water and gatorade.  The whole way from Genola to Lincoln Beach I never saw another rider and SAG support.  I wondered whether I was on the correct route.  But going around West Mountain there is only one route.  Stopping at Lincoln Beach was rejuvenating.  I stopped one other time after that.  One the 2nd loop I stopped with about 12 miles to go for oranges, water, and a shot of coke.  I loved the ride.  Other than wondering many times if I was really on the correct route because I didn't see any other riders or support.  The day was beautiful, the weather great!  So for the 100 milers I think I was the 4th finisher behind the other biker girls that I could never catch.  Maybe if I'd pushed myself harder I could have caught them, but I didn't want to bonk and catch up only to not be able to stay with them.  Sometimes it is hard to know how hard to push yourself.  But when I finished I felt really good about my effort.  I was tired and sore and didn't feel like eating.  Just drinking and sleeping.  That's a good sign I tried hard, right?  I loved seeing the superheros Heath always rounds up that were on the other side of Goshen Canyon.  Instead of a medal we received arm warmers at the finish line and there was a delicious nacho/salad bar and cakes.  Which all I could eat was meat on lettuce.  I didn't stay around very long because I felt kind of awkward not having anyone to hang out with.  I thought for sure I would know someone.  And well, I also wanted to make friends with the 3 biker girls.  I found it was Amber, Laura Anderson in the T3 outfit and the other lady was Donna.  Next year I'll do some better recruiting.  One problem was that James rode Nebo and the gang followed him on that ride.