A tale of judging and heat stroke...

Ugh.

I left to judge a 3-day Regional in Pennsylvania on Thursday. I noticed the humidity right away, but I've judged in humidity before, so no biggie.

Friday I judged LOTS of dogs. The weather was hot and humid, but there was a breeze, thank Goodness. I judged from 8:30 AM - 7 PM and felt fine, though my feet were KILLING me.

Saturday dawned somewhat cloudy, very hot and oppressively humid. Now, I'm a Wisconsin girl, but have been in Arizona for the past 20 years. If our humidty index gets over 20% on any given day, that's pretty amazing. Granted, it gets high during the monsoon season, but that lasts all of 2 months.

I'd estimate the temp on Saturday to be upper 80's, low 90's with a humidity index of 85% - 90%. The air was not moving and it was yucky. I started judging Team Gamblers and felt pretty good. I was drinking water...lots of water. I was getting new bottles every 15 minutes. By the end of the class, I was feeling a bit woozy. I sat down in front of a great fan while they built and walked my GP (round 1) course. I went out to judge that course and started feeling worse. I was still drinking water, and also dumping it over my head from time-to-time.

There were two groups...group A and group B. I barely made it through group B before everyone dragged me out of there and into some A/C. They took me to an RV where I layed down. I started shivering, and feeling generally out of it. A competitor, who is also a nurse, assessed me and determined I should go to ER. On the way to ER, I almost vomited, but held it in. When we got to ER, my friends were very pushy and got me into triage ASAP. During triage, I lost the entire contents of my stomach. I hadn't eaten a lot that morning, but a WHOLE lot came back up. They got me into a room and started pushing fluids.

After 2 bags, the doctor told me my sodium levels were dangerously low. He said I could choose to go, but it would be against medical advice. I wanted to stop imposing on a very wonderful, kind friend so I said I wanted to go. The doc said to push fluids with sodium, so my friend gave me a G2. On the way to his house, I told him to pull over so I could get out and vomit up the G2 I had just drank. We headed right back to ER. They put in 2 more bags of fluids. By 1 AM, my bloodwork showed that my sodium levels were on the low range of normal, but were good. I also felt much, much better.

My friend took me to his house at 2 AM, where we slept until 10:30 AM! We went to the show at about 11ish and I so wanted to judge! Of course, the doctor said no f-ing way was I gonna judge, so instead I sat in front of the lovely fan and chatted with friends. I also finished up my paperwork from the previous day. Luckily there were plenty of other judges to fill in my other classes.

It was a very unpleasant experience, but I felt so badly for the club and for my extremely kind-hearted friend. He is truly a saint. He stayed with me the entire time and calmed and soothed me and was a fabulous person to have around. I can't say enough for the entire club and all the competitors who were so concerned for me. One good friend told me she just couldn't sleep she was so worried about me.

I'm glad it's over but am now somewhat worried about judging in similar conditions. I've been judging for 14 years and nothing like this has ever happened to me before...ever. I was reminded by many that I'm not as young as I once was, so I suppose that plays into it as well. Not to mention that while drinking water is good, it was taking away any sodium I had, which is NOT good. I started drinking Propel on Sunday, which has some sodium and other good stuff in it.

In a previous post I mentioned the reason why I continue to judge...the people are so phenominal, it's amazing. The nurse even gave up her Grand Prix run to come to the ER with me. I couldn't thank her enough. I'll keep judging for now, but will more carefully choose the times of year and location before I say yes!