State Lifeguard Championship

Earlier in the summer, Seth was on a lifeguard team that competed and won the regional lifeguard competition.  The top 3 teams from each region advanced to the state competition. Last Monday was the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation State Lifeguard Championship.  This is the first time a team from Jason's pool has competed in the state competition.  Being the only team from a small town (and a small facility), they were by far the underdogs.  Competition was fierce, with several teams that have been to state before and many that come from year-round facilities with hundreds of guards.  Also, if you remember, this team not only has a member with type 1 diabetes, but also a team captain that had a liver transplant 3 years ago.

Each team had 4 events to complete.  The first event was a spinal scenario.  The guards not only had to respond to a spinal injury (fake, of course) but they also had to address rule violations in and around the pool as well.

The next event was a big pool scenario.  There were several incidents the guards had to respond to: an active drowning, a baby in the pool, an unconscious person, and a "shadow baby."

The final part was actually 2 events: first aid and CPR.  The first aid event was crazy!  There were 3 victims.  The first was a baby (doll) that was unconscious, so it only needed to be monitored until EMS arrived.  Victim 2 had heat exhaustion, a bee sting, a broken ankle, asthma, and a seizure. Victim 3 had a gash on the knee, a bloody nose, diabetes (hypoglycemia), and was spitting out teeth.  It was brutal!

The CPR event was immediately after first aid, in the same location.  The mannequin was lying beside what looked like broken glass, with a giant insect on its chest, and a bottle of bleach and an electric cord on the other side.  All hazards had to be dealt with before CPR could begin.  Intense!

After all teams completed the events, scores were tallied and winners announced.  Seth's team didn't place in the top 3, but they weren't last either! They placed 9th, which was so amazing considering it was their first time.

Diabetes did not play incredibly nice, of course.  Seth woke up over 200, and then there was the breakfast spike.  I'm sure he didn't feel his best, but he never complained and he didn't allow it to affect his performance in the events.  He did a conservative correction, knowing it was probably adrenaline. He still crashed on the way home.  I watched Dex while he napped, and woke him up when he was below 70 with diagonal down.

I am so proud of this team!  They worked hard and did a great job.  Watch out for them next year, Georgetown and The Woodlands!  This team may knock you down in the rankings!

Lifeguardians

This weekend was incredible!  Jason's lifeguards competed in the annual lifeguard competition for our area.  He has had teams compete for the last several years, and they always do well.  This year, he had 3 teams competing.  Seth's team name was The Lifeguardians, from the movie The Guardian (starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher).  The team watched that movie at our house almost every night the week leading up to the competition.  It inspired them, made them reach for greatness.

So, here's how the weekend went:

We left early on Friday morning. 3/4 of the team rode in our car.  One member was in another car.  Jason is all business when he's driving.

I didn't really see the team very much during the day.  I was busy being a first aid victim (I had a broken ankle). Jason and I took a selfie before the games got started.  We got to work in the same event.  He was judge, I was victim.  Day 1 had 4 events: first aid/cpr, fitness, scanning, and The Weakest Link (lifeguard trivia). 

At each event, the team would re-enact a scene from the movie.

Captain: Pop tall!

Team: (clap clap clap) Hoorah!

When they came to the first aid/cpr event where Jason was judging, they added another scene.

Jason: Lifeguardians, will you come find me if I am lost?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!!

Jason:  Will you come save me if I am drowing?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!

Jason: I believe you will.

I wish I had taken a picture of the one of the excellent splints on my "broken ankle," but unfortunately, I only took this really sad, how not to splint an ankle.  

After all the teams rotated through the first 3 events, The Weakest Link started.  All 30-something teams did this event at the same time.  After Seth missed a question and got out, he noticed his Dex sensor was coming out.  No problem, I brought a backup.  We planned to put it on when we got back to the hotel.

All the teams from our pool had dinner together that night.  It was just fun team-bonding time.  When we got back to the hotel, I asked Seth about putting on a new sensor.  He decided to wait until after the games were over.  I was a little nervous about that, but because of the nature of the games he wasn't really able to look at his receiver very often anyway.  Deep breath, mom.  It will be fine!  Jason needed the tape replaced on his sensor, but his held up pretty well.

Day 2 started out super early. I was busy again, this time as a rule-breaker in the scenario event. Jason was again a judge for that same event.  Again, when the Lifeguardians finished his event, they re-enacted the scene from the movie:

Jason: Lifeguardians, will you come find me if I am lost?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!!

Jason:  Will you come save me if I am drowing?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!

Jason: I believe you will.

And upon leaving each event that day:

Captain: Pop tall!

Team: (clap clap clap) Hoorah!

 No pictures from the early events on Day 2, which were scenario (watching for rule-breakers and injured/unconscious people), spinal (correctly removing a victim from the pool when they have a suspected spinal injury), 3 blind mice (blindfold first aid - one team member talks 3 blindfolded team members through a first aid event), and Crash Bag Clean-Up (not completely sure about the details on this one, but something about putting supplies into a bag correctly using a diagram. Fastest one done correctly won.).  

After those 4 events, the obstacle course began.  Each team member had to complete their task, then tag the next member for their portion.  Person A had to stack chairs then tow person C across the pool.  Person B then had to pick up "trash" on the side of the pool, then take a buoyancy belt to person C.  

Person C then aqua-jogged across the pool....

.....then she got to slide down the really cool slide and tag person D.

Seth was person D. He had to get on a rescue board (backboard) and paddle across the pool.

He was first in and first out!  They won their heat!

After lunch, the awards started.  Medals are awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for each event, as well as an overall winner.  The top 3 overall winners advance to the state competition.

The Lifeguardians won 1st place in one event, and 2nd place in 3 events.  When they began to announce the overall winners, I was nervous!  4 medals meant they had a really good chance of placing in top 3.  There's no way to describe the utter joy when they called out "1st place, Lifeguardians!"  Screaming, hugging, tears of joy.  Indescribable and surreal!  The team is headed to state!  Jason has coached teams the last 5 years and has wanted to take a team to state the whole time.  Now he gets to take not just a team, but a team with his son on it!  Besides having a person with type 1 on their team, the team captain had a liver transplant almost 3 years ago.  This team is going to the state competition with a busted pancreas and a borrowed liver!  How incredible is that????  

After they received their award, one final time:

Captain: Pop tall!

Team: (clap clap clap) Hoorah!

Then Jason had to do his bit one last time as well:

Jason: Lifeguardians, will you come find me if I am lost?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!!

Jason:  Will you come save me if I am drowing?

Team: Yes, Senior Chief!

Jason: I know you will.

The Lifeguardians with their coach

We headed home after the awards.  Only 1/2 of the team was in our car this time.  They were absolutely on cloud 9!  Seth was jingling his medals together and said, "That's what winners sound like."  No, he was not being arrogant.  He was just celebrating!

When we got back to the pool, I had to take a picture of the trophy.  It actually belongs to the city, and will stay at City Hall.  There is also a travelling trophy that the team will get to keep until next year.  The city name and year will go on that trophy.  Hopefully they will be able to get it back next year!

I'm hoping to have another blog post the first part of August telling you how this incredible group of young people won the state competition.  Stay tuned!

 

Memories of a year ago

Fridays are lifeguard inservice days. For an hour, they drill and practice their lifeguarding skills, as well as work on fitness. One drill involves the team treading water while holding a backboard out of the water. One at a time, the team members swim one lap. This continues until all team members have done a lap. That was one of the drills they did today,  and it brought back a memory of the same drill at about this same time last year. The biggest difference?  Last year, Seth could barely complete the drill and threw up after it was over. He had NEVER had problems with any of the drills before. I was worried, but he felt better and seemed to be ok. Less than a month later, he was in ICU in DKA. I don't beat myself up over it, but I do think of it sometimes.

Today, he swam and treaded like a champ. No vomit. What a difference a year has made!

Another thing the lifeguards do every week is have lunch together after inservice. Today, when Seth pulled the needle out after injecting, a stream of insulin shot out of the needle.  Not a drop, a stream. He tested 2 hours later: 104. He ate a snack, then tested at 4 hours: 137. That stream of insulin was a blessing in disguise. 

Diabetes, drumming, and dozing

Friends often ask how I can stand to listen to Seth drumming every day.  You see,  he is in not one,  but 2, local bands in addition to high school band and jazz band. He loves to drum and he is very good. But it is loud. Some days I have to ask him to stop before he is finished, but generally I just let him practice as much as he wants. Why? It's great exercise and helps keep his blood sugar in a good range.  But even more..... he doesn't think about diabetes when he is drumming.  So I let him drum.

I have also discovered that I can nap while he drums.  Sounds weird,  but I think I figured it out. When I was pregnant with Seth,  Josh was 2. I was exhausted all the time,  so when I needed a nap I would give him a toy that made noise. If the noise stopped, I woke up. Not a fantastic parenting technique, but one that arose out of necessity. Now I am finding myself doing the same thing 16 years later. I can sleep while he drums. The noise means he is ok. When it stops, I wake up.