Lesson learnt by daughter...

[cazzie]

She hasn't been herself several days - pale after coming off ice. Eating less, sleeping more but absolutely DENIED that she was at all poorly. Even telling blatent lies (only subsequently found out by me and her father....) "I ate with Dad.... no I ate with mum and I'm not hungry etc."

Why - because desperate to skate and desperate to do a competition.

Night before - no food. Sleep 12 hours. Insisted she felt fine. (Even coach warming them up came to me and asked if she was Ok because she looked awful but told the coach she was 100%).

Well - she did the worst skate we've ever seen. Parallel sit spin - only 2 revolutions in parallel position and so slow with entire spin I thought she owuld fall over. Same with change foot sit spin. Just landed the first axel. Left off the loop at the end of second axel (meant to be combination axel) and really skated very slowly. Arbitrary fall at some point as well. And - unlike her usual self - no performance at all. Came off pale and breathless and cold. Worst artistic and performance marks ever in competition and came third last. Really upset with herself!

Few hours later - high fever. Turns out she had had a sore throat and headache for 3 days and not told me in case I didn't let her skate. She said although she felt awful she thought it was only for a minute and a half and if she forced herself hard enough she was convinced she could do it. She's too unwell for school now and feeling really wretched and realises that she made herself worse by skating (and sitting in freezing cold rink).

Is a pity she had to learn this lesson the hard way and I hope she doesn't ever do this again. Long may the memory of how ill she feels right now last!

[herniated]

How old is she?

[cazzie]

11 last week.

[Tennisany1]

Cazzie, I hope your daughter feels better soon! Kids often think they are invincible. My dd once waited until she had a raging ear infection in both ears before she burst into tears in the car because she couldn't stand the pain. She admitted later that she didn't say anything because she didn't want to miss skating! She was 6!

Don't be too hard on yourself or your daughter, these things happen to the best of us!

Take care.

[dbny]

She's lucky to be learning this at 11. I'm 62 and still have trouble giving things up when I'm not well enough.

[katz in boots]

She's lucky to be learning this at 11. I'm 62 and still have trouble giving things up when I'm not well enough.

Yep, age 50 and I still drag myself to the rink totally too injured to walk, or not well enough to be there. And not even with the excuse of a competition - I do it cos I love to skate!

[fsk8r]

Yep, age 50 and I still drag myself to the rink totally too injured to walk, or not well enough to be there. And not even with the excuse of a competition - I do it cos I love to skate!

Another one! In 30s still skating and dragging myself to work - with pneumonia! Took two weeks before stopping and seeing a doctor.

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh, we've all been there and done that, I'm afraid. Even adults who Ought to Know Better. It never works.... I once had had an accident and burnt my arm rather badly, but still tried to skate - my body kept giving me indications that this was a Bad Idea (like my back seizing up while I was trying to do up my boots), and finally, before the final round, I had such an upset tummy that I couldn't leave the hotel room!

I think one always hopes.... and only ever withdraws if you can't get out of bed. But it never works, you never skate well.

[sk8tmum]

My DS did the same thing - he had bronchitis, as we found out afterwards, but, he covered it up (age 8) with his sister's help (she was sorted out afterwards :twisted:). He actually had a fantastic skate, and came in first ... because:

a) he was so out of it with fever that he was totally fearless and went for every jump and spin;
b) he lost all inhibitions and interpreted and sold the program like crazy;
c) at the end, he executed this incredibly deep bow and sweep of the arm before he skated off ... why? because he was covering up bending over to prevent coughing up a lung after the routine.

Since then, ove the years, I've seen him skate somewhat ill, and you know, he seems to skate better sick than well - ? Maybe it's a guy thing, I don't know ... DD skates awful when she's sick, but, at least she can cover it up with makeup!:lol:

[Isk8NYC]

A one-time lesson is a great experience. Just make sure the not eating isn't a pattern, know what I mean?

Suggest a "stay healthy" period that starts two weeks before any important event. Just to build awareness, planning and good habits.

During those two weeks, everyone has to be careful to avoid germs, stay away from sick people, no one shares any drinks/food, everyone washes hands/faces with soap (lol), tissues get tossed by the user (followed by hand washing) and I clean all the doorknobs and bathrooms.

[Tennisany1]

^^ The two week stay healthy is a great idea. Because so many in our club have been out with H1N1 we have started a routine of using hand sanitizer regularly when we can't wash hands. I put a bottle in dd's skating bag but I notice the rink also has a number of containers mounted around the rink.

[Isk8NYC]

I carry a bottle of sanitizer and our rink also has the bottles at the counters. I always go to the bathroom and wash up after I change my skates or after I teach. If I don't, I feel like my hands are germy, lol. For some reason, I always get interrupted on my way to/from the restroom, lol. Hand sanitizer is fine in a pinch, but I think the alcohol dries out the skin and the perfumes make my allergies crazy so I try to avoid it if I can. I use wipes on the doorknobs, though.

I went to a Church event where they served BBQ food - ribs, corn-on-the-cob, beans. The tables were filthy afterwards with blobs of food and dried BBQ sauce. I decided to help clean up and fixed a bucket of hot water with cleanser.

I was DISGUSTED to find that the resident Cleaning Queen only allowed people to use wipes on the tables. It took twice as long (since you couldn't "melt" the sauce easily) and I could see the leftover dried food on the surface.

I don't give a damn if it's "sterile" - I want to eat off a clean table. I went around and spot-cleaned the tables when she had flitted off to tell someone off for sweeping wrong.

[Tennisany1]

...I was DISGUSTED to find that the resident Cleaning Queen only allowed people to use wipes on the tables. It took twice as long (since you couldn't "melt" the sauce easily) and I could see the leftover dried food on the surface. ...

I still think lots of hot soapy water is the best defence. Wipes are okay in a pinch, but nothing beats a scrub with hot soapy water and a good rinse.

I read somewhere, can't remember where now, that for hands, using hand sanitizer, then washing, then had sanitizer again is the absolute best way to remove germs etc. I find the alcohol drying as well but I put up with it when nothing else is available. There is at least one brand available around here that has no perfume which is great for those of us with allergies.

[sk8tmum]

There are effective hand sanitizers around without alcohol; I know this because the alcohol based ones are banned in our area schools (they drink it, and they set it on fire ... sigh).

Actually, I wonder if competition organizers are going to be more vigilant about ill skaters due to H1N1? The schools around here send kids home if they cough once, or even look unusually tired and pale ... I'm thinking that some of the H1N1 concerns would be making parents and others check out the other skater's health situation more closely - ? I know I felt very badly when I realized my kid could have infected someone, however, given that as a BOY he was of course changing in the ref's room (which seriously had things growing out of the toilet and up the walls) - maybe his bacteria could have attacked the resident bacteria and created a new safe zone - ????

[cazzie]

I know there is H1N1 at dd's school and think school is the place where bugs spread dreadfully. They have hand sanitisers all over the place but I reckon sneezing is the way everything spreads and even kids her age seem to cope really poorly with secretions when not well! (I get shocked when some children who should know better still wipe noses on their sleeves!) I was horrified when dropping my son off at school how ill some of his classmates look (and sound) and I know how hard it is for working parents (I'm working from home mostly today) but think schools maybe need to be a bit stricter about ill kids not being at school.

Re not eating - I have a child who is the biggest eater in the world (although really thin) except when ill - but yes - we were shocked how successfully she managed to be deceptive which is a good lesson for us as parents.

Sometimes I really, really hate winter!