googling rhabdomyolsis.

Not going to lie, life is on fast-forward right now...I feel like the treadmill is on full speed and if I don't focus I am going to fly off. So when my dear husband has been telling me that he feels like he's barely holding on, I don't blink an eye and when he tells me that sometimes he thinks he is going to have a heart attack, I nod and agree. I feel on the verge of a mental breakdown on a weekly basis. And when he leaves work early and sleeps for 15 hours straight, I wonder how long it takes to catch up on 5 years of sleep deprivation. But when we are on vacation in Kelowna and my strong-as-the-Hulk husband can't lift my suitcase, I start to worry. We spend the first day at the waterslides at he says his muscles are seized up and he can't catch the kids jumping into the pool, I am concerned. Then in the evening when he can't squeeze toothpaste out, we decide we better go to the ER.

Our friend dropped Simon off at the Kelowna ER and we waited at the beach that was next to the hospital. There was nothing we could do but wait for results and the kids had a lot of fun swimming and digging in the sand while Simon was hooked up to IVs and getting vials of blood tested. Two bags of saline and 5 hours later, the doctors released him and told him to rest because his levels of creatine kinase were off the charts. Apparently endurance athletes like marathon runners or long distance cyclists will have these symptoms too. The doctor just said to rest and drink a ton of Gatorade and go back to the ER if he still doesn't feel better.

So we drive off to Enderby and to the family farm. There is a secret 'island' that only the locals know of and we retreat to the private sandbar and do exactly what the doctor says. But maybe because I google and read aloud everything horrible that is associated with high levels of creatine kinase, Simon doesn't sleep well and neither do I so Simon goes to the ER in Vernon this time and gets retested again. Another five hours, another 4 vials of blood, EEG scan and assortment of other tests later, the doctor diagnoses Simon with rhabdomyolsis (pronounced like this: rhab·do·my·ol·y·sis). Basically, its the breakdown of muscle tissue that leads to the release of muscle fiber contents into the blood. But at least the doctor said he doesn't have the syndrome which is serious and could lead to kidney damage. He has the condition but not the disease.  I guess that is proof that being a dad is just like running a marathon or the Tour de France.

Simon didn't really like spending two days in the ER but with the assurance that Simon's heart was still ticking as it should and that he could recover from this gave us the reassurance we both needed to have a little fun with a few minor hiccups.

Natallie, our ever patient girl sat still in the warm shallow waters for so long with her net catching minnows. She did get a whole bunch of fish but she also got a leech suctioned to her arm! I was totally useless and panicking so it was good that another lady at the beach recognized what it was and was able to pry it off her arm. Blech. Leeches are disgusting creatures. Naturally, we built a jail for the leech in a bucket and the kids marched around it to make sure the leech served its jail time for its crime of scaring a little girl and her mother. And then a bit later, Noah stepped on bee and was crying uncontrollably. Again I was useless and didn't know what to do so Simon stepped in and was able to get the stinger out. It was his first bee sting and he didn't turn into a giant puff ball so its good to know he isn't allergic.

So other than a couple trips to the ER, a leech on the beach and a bee sting the rest of our trip was pretty relaxing and enjoyable. We paddleboarded, built sandcastles and sandmermaids and went to a farm market with animals. We fed donkeys and alpacas and ran away from a greedy goat and got really, really lost in a corn maze. It started out being fun but after awhile wandering around in a 34 degree heat in corn isn't that much fun so Simon helped bushwhack our way thru the corn and back out into civilization. If it wasn't for our short cut, we would still be in that corn maze right now.

Now that we are back home we are trying our best to slow down...it's challenging with 2 energizer-bunny lunatics that we affectionately call our children but we are trying to take little pauses in between the busyness to enjoy the little things - like having a slurpee picnic on the lawn when daddy comes home from work, going for a walk in the woods after dinner, tickling Noah til he squrims with his belly laugh, snuggling with the kids at bedtime and having a mini date night (i.e., watching White Collar on Netflix) together after the kids are asleep - we are trying to treasure these little things knowing that as crazy as this phase is that we will miss it so much when its over.