Back to Beginnings

Below is more of my story of how I got to be a triathlete.



Full of joy and amazement the day my daughter, Mavilee, was born, I could not have predicted what came next. Although I was thrilled to arrive home with my baby, I was absolutely exhausted. Having had a cesarian to deliver her, I figured this was normal. I had just been through the ordeal of my first operation. Lack of appetite, shortness of breath, fatigue would dissipate naturally. Right? Wrong.



Because I was so anxious to get home with my baby, where my mom and husband had been waiting for a week, the hospital released me on the home nursing program.


Oh, I was so excited! The nurse would come visit me, teach me how to parent, and all would be fine. When Jill, the nurse, arrived on Monday morning, I was a little bit scared. She was a strapping hulk of a woman who took no prisoners when it came to taking care of her women.

We had a chat. She weighed the baby. She showed us how to wrap. She checked my stitches. Then she asked how I was doing.

"I'm fine," I said tentatively. "I wonder, though, is shortness of breath normal?" I inquired almost apologetically.

She looked at me quizzically. "Noooo," she said in that sing-song kind of way that indicates concern. "It's not really normal."

Then she shifted into gear. "Right. Go down and see your family doctor. Find out what's causing your shortness of breath and call me today after 2:00."

On the way to the doctor, I began seeing spots in my eyes. Dr. Wong took my blood pressure and confirmed that I wasn't well. It was through the roof. He ordered me to get some kind of scan and return Tuesday.

We went for the scan. I had to lie down with my head within this giant disc. The radiographer told me that I might feel like I had to wee. He put die through my veins. I felt very hot then very cold. Terrified, I whimpered to myself, "What is happening to me?"

A CT machine makes sounds that we instinctively run away from. It is like a train barrelling down on you then suddenly shifting. My body jumped from the sound. The radiographer would say, "Try to stay still, please." Geesh! How possible was that?

~More on that later~