Exciting times

Two great things today:

1) I found a gluten-free pasta that everyone in our family loves (we are *not* fans of the corn-based packaged products the commissary stocks): homemade gnocchi!

2) Matt passed his check ride!!  Woo hoo!!  He actually got a "good" overall, which is even better than he needs to pass!  We were really hardcore with diet, spinning, and relaxing for him last night and in the morning, and I am so happy that it paid off.  Tomorrow he may be flying his first mission across state lines...to Wichita, KS (about 2h away by car).  Cross countries flights are coming up soon too!  What a change in our feelings and confidence about training, almost day-to-day, lol.

Party city

In the past two weeks, the girls have been to 4 birthday parties--quite a few considering they've only had one other one since we moved here in August!

Venues have included Chuck E. Cheese (~1hr 45min drive from where we live), Leonardo’s Discover Warehouse, and Skatetown).  We have long been fans of Chuck’s (and have even made the drive just for a day trip) and are members here at Leonardo’s.  

Leonardo's pics (in this toasty winter weather we've been having...):

 

The Skatetown party provided a great opportunity to check out somewhere new—and we will surely be going back.  I 100% did not think my 5 and 3 yr old daughters could hold their own at a roller rink, but, well-equipped with their Christmas skates and safety gear, they took to the floor like fearless adventurers.  My 5 yr old was already trying jumps and backward moves, and both participated in the limbo and hokey pokey.  Neither is a fan of falls…which are sort of inevitable when you are learning to skate.  However, the difference between falling on scratchy concrete v. the smooth roller rink floor is amazing.  Without a scratch or bleed to prove it, as far as they are concerned, the fall did not hurt.  :OD

 

I even got out on the floor with them (on skates) and had such as good time that I am going back with the girls on my Biggest Loser team one of these weekends for a group workout.  Hoping to get a little skating in by myself and then have Matt and the kiddos join us for the 2^nd hour.  Saturday mornings there is a beginner session (I am definitely a beginner!) from 10am-noon that features a free lesson for the young ones, and calmer skating in general.  Very excited!  :OD

The slew of parties has also gotten each girl thinking of how to plan their own.  My oldest’s is next month and she wants an all-girl rockstar makeover party with a music-themed/shaped cake, Chic-fil-A lunch spread, and stuffed guitar pillow party favors for attendees.  She is incredibly specific.  :O)

The new year has also given me a better handle on Daisy Scout happenings and I am so loving Girl Scouts.  I cannot think of a more well-rounded, community, peer, and family-oriented activity for girls to be involved with.  A snapshot of our activities these next two months: field trip to the fire station (as part of our Gerri petal "Respect for Authority"), cooking cultural food while modeling traditional clothing from and teaching about Indonesia for Thinking Day (each Troop in the Council selects a country...we are going with Indonesia since one of our girls was adopted from there), crafting with residents at a local nursing home, participating in the service at our local church for Girl Scout Sunday, and of course some tasty cookie activities to boot!

I have been blessed with a great co-leader whose daughter my two adore.  Here the girls are crafting/baking with [edible] Press Dough (homemade cookie dough they can shape using a ton of accessories they received for Christmas) while us adults plan out the next couple of meetings & outings.

Some great globs of dough colors to work with:

The finished products (post-baking).  They held their shape super-well!

The girls enjoying their treats:

Since this is in theory a pilot training blog, I guess I should update a little on Matt's training.  We've kind of been in a holding pattern due to his motion sickness, so there hasn't been much to report.  After throwing up 4xs his first flight back after break, he had a successful flight, followed by a successful solo, and two days of double turns (back-to-back flights, including solos).  Things were going great and he was one ride away for his final check ride of the unit...when he started throwing up again.  I suppose I am partly to blame for this last bout of motion sickness.  One habit Matt has taken up since pilot training started...and one which I may be partly to blame for modeling so wonderfully for him these past 9 years...is stress eating.  Basically when he is nervous, anything (besides gluten) is fair game.  After his last check ride, and after being the only one in his flight to hook a check ride (something he has been relentlessly hard on himself about, unfortunately, despite my efforts to assure him that no one in his class could mind and they all know he is giving it his best--seriously, despite his struggles with motion sickness and busy family life on top of training, he consistently takes time out to help and study with classmates struggling with academics--which is the area he is strongest in).  Anyway, since he was flying early in the day, I planned a pre-flight snack of rice (following BRAT diet guidelines) and a post-meal lunch of rice--with shrimp an veggies in a peanut butter sauce.  Well...guess who stress-ate the whole thing right before his flight?  So guess what is his lunch for tomorrow (despite a very early check ride)?  One tupperware of rice and fat free hot dogs (his go-to meal) and another containing a large salad with some steak on top.  No one I know stress eats salad, lol, even though we'd all be a lot better off if we did!  Here's to a great flight tomorrow!

& to close...a cute picture of Tunia in a holiday sweater...that it has been too warm for her to wear out on her walks lately!

Back in the saddle

Well, the holiday break is over, Matt is back in training, and the girls are back in school.  The girls eased right back into their routine—with 1 birthday party each to look forward to this weekend--and are excited about swim lessons at the Y resuming next week.  Matt has his first flight since the >2wk long hiatus on Tuesday…and I wish I could say overcoming motionsickness has been like riding a bike (in that once you have it down, you have it down), but that has not proven to be the case.  Despite spinning religiously over break—and even turning down the opportunity to roadtrip again to New Orleans to keep up our Barany chair routine, and despite a rigorous professional spin on Monday, Matt still threw up a whopping 4 times yesterday afternoon.  To cap it off, he is battling a cold, which is affecting his sleep.  He went to see the flight doc about that and his motion sickness (every time you throw up or report motion sickness during flight, you have to be cleared by the flight doc in order to proceed with training).  He was prescribed some Mucinex and grounded from flying until Monday (there are very few meds you can fly while taking d/t side effects).  Because he needs to fly every day to keep motion sickness at bay, it will in all likelihood be a lot of spinning this weekend, but then square one again on Monday. 

In my opinion, they way the training routine operates certainly does not help matters anyway.  Matt is slightly behind in academics (but still over a month ahead of syllabus) due to the bout of rough flights he experienced prior to the break.  You are not cleared for the next block of academics until you pass your check ride for the previous block, so he has some catching up to do.  Academic classes are held in the morning, which means for the foreseeable future, all his flights are in the afternoon, which is a far worse time to be flying, simply because he has eaten more.  When he can hop right out of bed, grab oatmeal w/flaxseed and a banana, and head off to his plane, results are muuuuch better.  It makes the cycle more difficult to beat.  And another thing that makes me extremely anxious about the program is how easy (in my opinion) it is to regain solo-flight status after a long bout of rough flights.  Of his past 10 flights, Matt has encountered problems with motion sickness or disorientation on 7 of them, resulting in “hooks”.  No matter how many he hooks, as soon as he passes 2 in a row, he will be qualified for his aerial solo.  He has assured me that when this time comes, he will play it extremely safe and do the minimal required in terms of maneuvers, so as not to pull too many Gs, etc. (increase susceptibility to motion sickness), but it still makes me nervous.  This is not the first time I have felt like the program may move too quickly for the new guys (those entering training with zero hours), but I am one of those wives/moms who always worries about everything and Vance does have excellent safety and success stats to back up its judgment.

Well, here’s hoping for the best and for Matt to have some pleasant flights next week.  :OD

Airsickness: 0, Matt: 1

Matt has rocked two flights since his 3-day spin program and is looking to solo as early as next week.  Quite a change from our previous perspective of thinking he might be eliminated as early as next week.  One of the greatest challenges guys on the spin program face, particularly those who entered IFS with zero flying hours (a minority group in this private-licensed-heavy crowd...it seems like prior E's are the ones least likely to enter with experience, as they generally do not have as many opportunities for experience d/t deployments and all...) is learning a huge new group of skills/terminology with extremely staggered opportunities to use it.

It is difficult enough to have ground school condensed into a few weeks, and then be expected to solo-pilot a jet with 12-19h of training on it.  When you combine that challenge with airsickness and the spin program, flights are cut short d/t to prolonged vomiting, flights are missed for 3-5 days at a time d/t spinning, and opportunities to practice aircraft control are slim/none when you are having difficulty retaining control over yourself (piloting while dry heaving or worse is obviously not safe/permissible).  We had been preparing ourselves for a worst-case scenario of total elimination, and capped our goals at possibly washing back a class for another round of training and spins.

Matt's anxiety/hyperventilation-driven problem seems highly nippable--as evidenced by two great flights and absolutely killing the Barany chair program.  We are super-optimistic and excited about next week.  And it would be awesome to have him solo before the holiday schedules kick in (breaking up his flying time with 4-5 days at a time off, when 1-2 can be hard enough when you are learning to get the hang of things).  And better yet, we have company visiting the next two weeks--what a time and treat watching Matt's solo flight would be!

The Beast

Today, Matt finished the second day of his 3-day motionsickness spin program.  And, for a second time, came home feeling fresh and non-nauseated.  He was called "a beast" on the chair and one of the experienced program directors told him she has "never seen anything like him" and believes he could outmaneuver anyone on base in terms of not getting sick on the chair.  He clocked 45 "advanced maneuvers" today, without getting motion sick once.  The typical difficult spin session averages about 22-25.

This was a huge shock and relief to us, as it shines a bright bright light at the end of the tunnel.  Matt's instructor believes his airsickness is due more to nerves and hyperventilation than anything.  Matt's typical stress level is atypically low, however since IFS started, I have never seen him as stressed, so it is not surprising that he brought some of those nerves with him in the air.  The biggest problem seemed to be talking himself through maneuvers (and thus having to take frequent gasping breaths through his oxygen mask in between sentences).  He told me that basically he has been talking nonstop through every flight (verbally going through everything he does and checks in the air), but that that habit has been affecting his oxygenation since it is more difficult to breath when you are flying.  This theory was tested by having him "chair fly" in full gear--and sure enough he was motion sick in minutes.

Matt will take to the skies again on Thursday!  We are very optimistic that his trainer is right and that he can get a real handle on his airsick situation!  :O)

T6 training

Matt is entering Phase II tomorrow...

Apparently, this is what he is going to be doing.

He'd been talking about "turns" and "spins" for the past couple weeks...I'd assumed he just meant turning (N/S/E/W) and flying around in circles.  Turns out he meant spiraling upside down and free falls.

Wow...  No wonder it's been a rough couple of weeks on his GI system!

Yuck.

So, Matt shared an interesting story at the dinner table tonight.  It is no secret that, excepting the past three days when he has been medicated during flights, he has been throwing up a lot.  Pilot students are responsible for bringing their own puke bags on board...and disposing of them afterwards (might not seem like a lot to remember...).  Well, apparently on his final flight last Friday, that second step slipped his mind and apparently we had two bags of vomit sitting on our coat rack in wax-coated paper bags inside his flight bag all weekend long.  I am *amazed* I did not smell them.

Gross though that is, I am also pleasantly surprised that Matt both discovered and cleaned up the situation himself.  Apparently the vomit had started to eat its way through the bags and soiled his flight gear as well. Back in the day, he would have asked me to take care of this sort of thing, much like he asked me to plunge his clogged and soiled toilet for him a few weeks after we'd started dating.  I am not sure whether this step on his part is due to maturity...or the fact that I am always bringing up the toilet thing, even after 8 years of marriage.  Either way, I love it!

Last day on meds

Matt had another great flight today, thanks to his meds.  We are both very curious/cautiously optimistic to see how he flies without them.  He asked his flight doc why, if the motion sickness program here boasts a near-100% success rate, pilot students cannot medicate their way through their solo, for a more accurate/fair assessment and chance to learn skills.  Apparently, according to the doc, the meds and spin program are a sort of screening program in themselves.  Not only do the meds give Matt a chance to experience flying a jet at its best, but they also help build his confidence/decrease his nerves for future flights--as one of the causative factors of motion sickness is, in fact, stress.  The condensed 3- and 5-day spin programs assess the more physical aspects of motion sickness, as well as projected ability to overcome.  And Matt did note marked improvement across the course of his first 11 spins.

We are hoping for the best!

Best Halloween EVER

Monday, October 31, 2011 marks the best Halloween experience our family has had (unfortunately Matt had to miss it due to his 15 days of 12h shifts--but on the upside, his anti-motionsickness drug regimen gifted him an extraordinary flight).

The girls started out their day with festivities at Cimarron Montessori, which included a walk to a local nursing home, where the kids sang songs and put on a costume parade for, and then trick-or-treated from wonderful residents (and, having spent a semester of clinicals at a nursing home, I can only imagine what an absolute ray of sunshine this must have been for their day...I am such a sap, but it actually makes me tear up to think about how wonderful it must have been); then enjoyed an entire afternoon of pizza, crafts, partying, and movies.  The girls came home for a tasty dinner of mini mummy meatloaf, and then we were off to the base festivities!

I love a well-organized and safe event, and the base housing trick-or-treat was all that and then some.  The trick-or-treating hours were both stated and condensed (5:30-7:30pm), which I think inspired much broader participation.  An email was sent out instructing folks that did not wish to participate to leave their porch lights off.  Most folks participating actually sat on their patios/lawns to hand out candy, which gave the event a festive, friendly, block-party-esque atmosphere.

Heading out for some fun!

One of the commanders set up candy stations and a "pit-stop" with chili, cupcakes, drinks, and more; and the Enlisted Spouses Group served hot apple cider from a crock pot.  Security Forces and a team of volunteers, including McGruff the Crime Dog patrolled the streets and handed out safety coloring/goody packs to trick or treaters.

Thanks to a Halloween-day 50% off sale at Walgreens and no utility bills, giant inflatables garnished many yards...my kids are obsessed with these, so they were a huge hit!  It was such a fun and safe event.  The girls and I stayed out the entire two hours.  The kids walked a lot, but near the end of the evening, they curled up in our wagon with their favorite blankets, so it was a nice little workout for me, to boot!

Best decorated house of the night: spirited, but not scary...and that fence is not normally part of their yard--they really went all out (and I am sorry I did not capture the towering pillars they erected on either side!).

Thanks to Cimarron Montessori, Kenwood Manor Nursing Home, Vance AFB Family Housing, and anti-motionsickness drugs for a day of wonderful memories!  :o)

A tight squeeze

Matt revealed to me the other day that he has gained something like 16 pounds in the last year!!  I only wish I packed on extra weight as non-obviously as he does.  I am not entirely surprised, particularly as IFS and pilot training have taken their toll on him.  IFS' chow hall food reintroduced him to the high-sodium diet and unlimited quantities of food.  His first week back, it was not uncommon to see him take a bite of something and then add salt (via shaking the salt shaker directly into his open mouth).  We nipped this in the bud, as it is the girls' dream to consume straight salt (and, for that matter, butter), so I certainly didn't want this practice to appear to have parental endorsement.  His UPT schedule has also kept him extremely busy.  When he's not studying, while he does hit the gym, he is more often relaxing--and certainly not running as much as he used to (strength training is much more of a stress reliever for him).  I don't think it hit either of us that his physique had changed until he tried to squeeze into his chaps-style compression pants, fitted specially for him a few weeks back.  Yes, they are supposed to be snug, but we could barely zip them up--and he needs to be able to fit them over his flight suit!!

Ever since I started teasing him about his pirate eye study strategy, he likes to pay homage to it in pix:

Alas, I am sure the gain will be short-lived as, with the resumption of flight next week, he also needs to move back to the bland, gluten free, milk free diet he relied on to get through his solo in August.  Lots of bananas and oatmeal.  He has already asked me to send him with appropriate, meal-like sack lunches (but without meat, citrus, acidic, fatty, peanut butter, spicy ingredients), pretty much every day from here on out--but most definitely for his first 15 days, when the 12h on/12h off schedule is strictly adhered to and the guys cannot even head home for meals.  Guess I will have a lot of recipe googling to do this weekend!

The "puke chair": a family experience

This weekend the girls and I got to take Matt for a spin, and try out the Barany chair for ourselves.  With his "dollar ride" (first flight, nicknamed such because the students joking "tip" their instructor a dollar when it's done--although they often "jazz it up" a bit [at IFS, Matt drew a picture of his flight instructor as a superhero superimposed over George Washington's face--he does great likenesses]).

Matt definitely seems to be getting better at both taming "flare ups" (mostly by diaphragmatic breathing) and recovering after the spins.  He was passed out in his recliner and burping all evening his first day, and on Saturday he was his usual self within a few hours, and today, after he went with one of our neighbors, I would have never guessed he'd spun at all.  Then again, the Giants also pulled off a big win this afternoon, which undoubtably bolstered his mood a bit as well!  :o)

For the spin sessions, Matt is supposed to do at least 3 reps of 10min/ea every time he rides the chair.  He warned me before we went in that he may try to talk me out of a 3rd spin after he is 2 in, and sure enough, that is what happened!  But he stuck it out and performed fantastically.  While spinning, Matt can simulate dives, climbs, and turns by positioning his head at different angles.  A major key to calming motion sickness is to keep his head as steady as possible.  Apparently, after 20 seconds at a constant pace, the fluid in his ears stabilizes, allowing him to proceed comfortably, provided his head does not move too much.  This definitely helps explain why turbulence causes his symptoms to flare up dramatically.

Spinning (first pic is simulated ascent; second is normal flight position):

Here he is, post-spin, recovering:

The girls and I also got to go for a little spin.  I got [slightly] nauseous almost immediately, but both girls described it as "fun".  The chair is set up in a small fitness room, complete with a TV/DVD player, so the girls were in heaven.  Although they enjoyed testing out a few workout machines faaaar more than Phineas and Ferb (otherwise a favorite).

Checking out the room:

Going for a ride!:

All in all, a fun and educational afternoon and I was glad we were able to help Matt out a bit.  I definitely need to give the girls more credit.  They are probably about 2 years younger in my head than in real life, and it is sometimes easy to forget how much they can handle/how patient they are.  They have also been doing an awesome job in church service lately too (and traditional Catholic, not contemporary, to boot!).

PB2X4

...in our grocery list lingo, that means four containers of:

A little less than the amount Matt goes through per week!  And his answer to living a somewhat indulgent dining lifestyle while going through UPT with motion sickness.  Prior to IFS, Matt would go through several containers of regular peanut butter a week, and was terrified he would have to eliminate this treat from his already-limited (gluten free, dairy free [except for yogurt and cheese]) diet.  However, after discovering PB2, such is no longer the case!  :o)

PB2 is peanut butter sans the peanut oils, reconstitute-able by adding water.  Until this weekend, Matt would gulp it straight from the container (calling for me to dust off PB2 from his AF uniform on at least one occasion, and causing him to erupt into inhalation-based coughing fits on far more than one).  Lately, he has started to enjoy it reconstituted, almost as a soup, and treated himself to some fun add-ons from the commissary today: unsweetened cocoa powder, ginger preserves, raisins, and figs.

The fact that our very small-scale commissary always keeps PB2 in high supply makes me wonder if this is a popular solution for other pilots/pilot students as well?  It certainly is working wonders in Matt's case and it is nice to see him enjoy something so much, even if he leaves clumps of its dust all over the kitchen/house.  ;o)

The "puke chair"

When Matt is not in class, at the gym, in the "mancave", or in the house, he is in the "puke chair" (more officially formally known as the "Barany chair").  Matt is probably the most prone-to-motion-sickness person I've met, and this ailment has plagued him in pretty much every vehicle he's tried: roller coasters, cars (only when a passenger), boats, and planes.  He knew his nausea would be a problem going into IFS and looked up relaxation and breathing techniques (calm demeanor and diaphragmatic breathing [to stimulate vagal nerve] are major strategies) and more or less got passenger car-sickness under control months ahead of initial flight screening.

However, airsickness was another story.  By controlling his already-limited diet (he has mild gluten and lactose intolerances) and subsisting on bland, low-acid, low-fat foods like bananas and applesauce (strong flavors like garlic and egg, acidity, and fat are nausea/vomitting stimulants), he was able to obtain clearance for and successfully complete his solo flight, however, due to his frequent status as aircraft passenger during training (and later, as copilot, during routine flights) and his own limited control of the plane when he is flying, motion sickness continues to plague him.  He is definitely a fighter, though, and was in fact the only officer in his flight screening class who opted to stick out the mid-air puking in an effort to pass screening (others voluntarily washed-out).

Vance UPT boasts a 97% success rate in "curing" motion sickness, in large part due to this chair:

Once aerophysiology has oriented you to the chair, you are free to access it (with a partner) 24/7.  You are strapped into the chair and your head rests in the black adjustable headrest in one of several positions to simulate different flight maneuvers.  Your partner manually spins you until and continues to due so until you are at the point where you are ready to vomit.  Then he/she slows you down and your body is allowed to recover...however, immediately upon doing so, you are spun again until your limit is reached...the cycle continues.  The theory is that your body will learn to self-control nausea since it can no longer rely on vomiting for relief.

Worst part about not being permitted to throw up: feeling awful the rest of the day.  Matt will come home after an hour of spinning ready to pass out in his recliner, while alternately binging on peanut butter banana tortilla wraps.  Foul-tasting as vomit is, at least it regularly brought relief.  However, for obvious [control] reasons, you cannot be routinely throwing up while piloting an airplane.

I have yet to visit the chair with Matt, mostly because he is in class during my 3 hours of daily free/errand time, when our youngest is in preschool, and it is not an activity screaming "family affair".  The girls would go absolutely crazy if they saw this thing and probably beg nonstop to ride it (alas, the things we find "fun" as children, lol).  Luckily he has a buddy in his class and now one in the neighborhood as well who are also in need of spinning, so he should have plenty of opportunities to beat airsickness.  :o)