Ching’s 2026 ER Trip
Posted on June 29, 2026 by Ching under Life.
I’m calling this post “Ching’s 2026 ER Trip” because I’m really hoping it’s my only ER visit of the year.
Unfortunately, emergency room visits have become a little too familiar for our family. In fact, Kansas Medical Center should probably name one of their exam rooms after us. It was the same room I ended up in after fainting at YaYa’s 15 years ago, and the same room Brian was assigned during some of his health emergencies, including his bowel obstruction.
We’ve landed in a different room once or twice, but it honestly feels like this particular room has been our designated spot 99% of the time.
How We Got Here
As many of you know, I’ve been dealing with fibroids and endometriosis since 2022. After months of symptoms, I talked with my gynecologist about treatment options, including an ablation and hysterectomy. At the time, though, I wasn’t eager to pursue either. My thinking was simple: menopause couldn’t be that far away, and surely all of these issues would eventually resolve themselves.
By late 2023, my periods had become wildly irregular, and the cramps were sometimes so painful they were debilitating. However, since I wasn’t completely sold on the idea of having surgery, my doctor prescribed birth control pills to help regulate my cycle and reduce the pain. I’m thinking I just need to hang in there for a little while longer.
For almost two years, they worked remarkably well. My periods became predictable, the extended bouts of bleeding disappeared, and the cramps were either minimal or nonexistent. For a while, life felt normal again.
Then my blood pressure started creeping up. Because I’ve historically had low blood pressure, we initially assumed it was a fluke. But after several months of consistently high readings, my new gynecologist (around this same time, Center for Women’s Health closed, forcing me to transfer my care to Associates in Women’s Health and establish a relationship with a new doctor) and I decided to stop the birth control pills to see if they were contributing to the problem.
Stopping the pills didn’t help my blood pressure at all. Poor eating habits, less exercise, and the extra 20 pounds I had gained since this all began probably didn’t help matters either. I gained quite a bit of weight last year while Brian was undergoing cancer treatment because people kept bringing us food and, since he couldn’t eat, I was eating all of it. Eventually, my primary care doctor prescribed blood pressure medication – which is ironic because prior to Brian’s cancer diagnosis, he was the one who was on the verge of being prescribed blood pressure and cholesterol meds.
What stopping the pill did affect was my menstrual cycle. All of the symptoms I thought I’d left behind came roaring back: unpredictable periods, prolonged bleeding, miserable cramps, and all the fun that comes with them. Since I wasn’t planning to go back on birth control, I basically accepted that this was just my life now.
Things Started Going Sideways
Fast forward to May and Parker’s wedding in Kansas City. I felt awful that entire weekend. I was crampy, bleeding for unusually long stretches, and then it felt like my cycle started all over again just a couple weeks later. Around the same time, I began noticing back pain and shortness of breath. Because I had recently bought new shoes for Zumba and pickleball, I initially blamed the back pain on that.
I pushed through it anyway. I taught classes, worked, and kept up my usual schedule, even though the pain was becoming more constant and intense. One weekend, while playing pickleball with Huyen Nguyen, Angie Farlow, and Diona Marshall, I had to ask Michael Farlow to fill in for me every other game because my back simply couldn’t handle it.
The next day, I attempted to practice with my MiLP v3 team and was in so much pain that I immediately knew I needed to give up my spot. Still, I convinced myself this was just my new normal.
The Friday before my ER visit, I tried playing in Friday Night Fiesta. My back hurt, I was completely out of breath, and I felt terrible for my partner. Thankfully, Heide Bartel was there and finished the rest of my games for me.
That weekend, I ran the IPN mini tournament at TapNPaddles on Saturday but took it easy on Sunday. I stayed home, rested, and did nothing because I had absolutely no energy. Since I work from home on Mondays and Fridays, I was able to get through my work day on Monday by resting in between meetings.
The Day Everything Changed
Tuesday, June 2, started like any other workday. I felt awful but I didn’t realize how sick I actually was.
I drove into the office despite feeling miserable. When Chris texted to see if I wanted to grab coffee that morning-something we do regularly—I told him to go ahead and get coffee without me because I wasn’t feeling well.
I was crampy and also felt constipated, so I headed to the restroom. No luck. I returned to my desk and tried crocheting a few rows to distract myself from the discomfort. When that didn’t work, I leaned forward, pressing on my abdomen. A few moments later, I looked up at my computer and realized something was very wrong.
My vision had become blurry. I wasn’t blind, but I couldn’t read anything. I could see my screens and the lines of text, but the words themselves were unreadable. I felt disoriented and scared. I immediately called Brian and told him I needed to go to the ER.
While waiting, I was so out of it that I ended up lying down in the lobby. Alicia happened to see me on her way in. She waited with me in the lobby and walked me to Brian’s car.
The drive to the ER felt endless. The wait at the ER felt even longer. We arrived around 9 AM, but I don’t think I got a room until nearly 11. Brian stayed with me the entire time, only leaving briefly to grab lunch and bring back a hoodie because he was freezing in the exam room.
Finally, Some Answers
The ER team discovered I was severely dehydrated, so they started IV fluids immediately. They also found that my hemoglobin had dropped to 6.5, low enough to require a blood transfusion. They gave me Toradol for the cramps, and at some point I fell asleep.
When Brian came back from lunch, he asked how I was feeling. I paused for a second because I was genuinely surprised. The cramps were gone. The mental fog was gone. For the first time in what felt like months, I felt clear-headed and normal. Other than being attached to a collection of tubes and needles, I actually felt pretty good.
At one point I told Brian he could head home to check on Saki and just come back when I was discharged. He refused. His reasoning? Every time he stepped away, I seemed to come back wearing a new bracelet. When they added the blood-transfusion bracelet, I joked that he didn’t need to worry unless they started tagged my toe.
Most of the day was spent waiting—waiting for doctors, waiting for tests, waiting for bags (of fluids and blood) to be depleted, waiting for results. And waiting to eat. Because surgery was still a possibility, the nurses wouldn’t let me have food until they knew exactly what was going on. It was 2 PM by the time I finally ate lunch. The hospital lunch was surprisingly good.
The Diagnosis
The CT scan confirmed my known fibroids, but it also revealed something unexpected: colitis. Since I’ve always been somewhat prone to anemia, the combination of prolonged menstrual bleeding and colitis likely pushed my hemoglobin down to the dangerously low level that landed me in the ER.
The ER physician prescribed two antibiotics for the colitis (which I had to take for a week) and a 30-day iron supplement to help rebuild my blood supply. He also stressed the importance of follow-up appointments with both my gynecologist and primary care physician.
As he explained it, the ER could treat the immediate problem, but I needed a long-term plan for the underlying issues.
Looking Ahead
Overall, I’ve felt much better since the ER visit. The antibiotics are finished, and I’m still taking iron. The cramps haven’t disappeared entirely, but they’re much more manageable. Interestingly, the back pain that had been making me miserable is gone, which makes me wonder whether it was related to the colitis all along.
I’ve been paying much closer attention to my diet, tracking what I eat and how it affects my symptoms. I’m also making a conscious effort to stay hydrated.
We have our annual health screening coming up in July, and there’s a good chance a hysterectomy is in my future this October. For now, I’m grateful to finally have some answers—and I’m feeling better than I have all year.
And hopefully, this will be my one and only ER trip of 2026.
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2026 Wichita Wicked Brew Tour
Posted on June 15, 2026 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.
The Wichita Wicked Brew Tour is one of our favorite summertime traditions. We’ve done it every year since inception in 2016; although, we found out about too late to get a shirt that year. The key is to finish your tour early so that they still have your size of shirt available but I have seen some go-getters finish the tour the same day that it starts — which is really wild to me, unless you’re drinking coffee and starting early in the morning.
This year we started our tour at Mokas and finished in exactly 10 days.
We met for lunch at Mokas, got coffee with our Mokas duos, and received our first stamps. SIDE NOTE: If you’ve never been to Mokas, the Mokas duos are an excellent value because you get a half sandwich, salad (or soup), and chips (or fruit) for one price. The portions are generous and their food is fantastic, as is their coffee. If you don’t consider the convenience of Scooter’s, Mokas is hands down Brian’s #1 favorite coffee place.
Next Stop – Saturday, May 30: River City Brewing Company. We went to RCB for dinner after the tournament at TapNPaddles. We got a couple of drinks and stamps along with them.
Don’t ask me what this green drink is because I don’t remember but it was very good. That part, I do remember.
After dinner we went to Cocoa Dolce down the street for a couple more stamps. Brian got a small coffee and I got a tipsy gelato.
The following morning we hit Il Primo Espresso Caffe on the way to High Park in Derby to check out the new pickleball courts.
My back had been killing me so we just went for some pictures and I only played a couple of games. It was also way too windy that day. Here’s our Wicked Brew Tour passports up to this point:
Brian had to stop by his office on the way home to check on some painting that was completed. Since we were already out West, we decided to have lunch at Wichita Brewing Company and get some more stamps for our passports.
The East-side WBC is actually where we typically begin our tour because it’s close to us but we deviated from our usual routine by starting at Mokas this year.
Passport update: 5 stamps completed.
On Monday, Brian took our passports to work and bought his coworker Miranda a coffee so he could get two stamps at Nameless. In previous years, this is how we got out of sync. Whenever I went and got coffee on my own, his passport would fall behind. So this year, we decided we would keep the passports together so we stayed in sync the entire time.
I would have gotten a couple more stamps for us when I got coffee with my coworker Chris on Tuesday morning but that was the day that Brian had to take me to the ER. Chris actually texted me if I wanted to get coffee and, I remember telling him he should just grab coffee for himself on the way to work because I wasn’t feeling well.
I had been suffering from back pain and cramps all weekend and I felt the worst that day. I thought it was just my typical cramps so I just sucked it up and went to work anyway. But then, I started feeling disoriented and my vision got blurry and I started freaking out so I called Brian to pick me up from work and take me to the ER. I will save that story for another time because I’ve gotten sidetracked enough.
The next day, I was back to work because I was feeling much better. I went with Chris to get coffee at Larcher’s Market. Brian told me to tell my manager Alicia “Thank you,” so I did one better. I brought her an iced coffee so I got two stamps in the process. Our passports are continuing to stay synced up.
On Thursday morning, Chris and I went to Reverie Coffee Roasters. He had already gotten his Reverie stamp so he didn’t need one from there but I made him a deal that if we went to Reverie that morning, I would buy his coffee in exchange for a stamp. That was stamp #8 for both Brian and me.
The weekend of June 6, our friend Laurie Adams came to town for a visit so the three of us had dinner at Piatto (my favorite pizza spot) after playing in the IPN mini tournament at TapNPaddles. We decided to walk over to Hopping Gnome to get stamps after dinner. Since I was still taking my antibiotics (which were prescribed by the ER doc), I couldn’t drink. Decided to buy Laurie a drink in exchange for a stamp.
Brian and I finished this year’s tour on Sunday by having breakfast at the Pennant, my current favorite coffee shop because they serve the best iced vanilla latte in the city.
This was kismet because it put us just around the corner from the newly unveiled transit center called The Hub. This deserves its own post so more on that later but, since we were already in the area, Brian and I did drive over there to check it out after breakfast. That pretty much concluded our tour for this year. I think this is the earliest we have ever finished. Most of the time, it takes us at least three weekends because our passports get out of sync and then I’m having to catch Brian’s passport up. We were way more strategic this year. I picked up our shirts on Monday last week. We haven’t worn them yet because Brian refuses to wear new clothes until they’ve been washed but we look forward to wearing them all summer long along with others from past years. How about you? How is your Wicked Brew tour going?
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Missing Out Because of Back Issues
Posted on June 12, 2026 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
InPickle Nation returned to Wichita a couple of weeks ago with their Under Armour Championship Series the Dink Minor Leagues MiLP v3, three-player team tournament. You might remember the team tournament that I played in a couple of months ago when our friend Jim Tsen was in town.
This is a similar event, backed by the Dink Minor Leagues, but the teams consist of only three players or the same gender instead of four — two men and two women. The game format is the same – rally scoring to 21 – but matches consist of only three games so there are no singles dream breakers.
I was super excited to play in it so, when it was first announced back in March, I grabbed a couple of friends (Anna Le and Chanell Nguyen) and got us signed up with “Whatever” as our team name. Our team name is kind of a joke because when we were trying to come up with ideas for team names, both of them were pretty much like “Whatever is good with me.”
As you know, I have been plagued with all sorts of health issues not the least of which is my back problem that started a little over a month ago, so I didn’t even get to play. But that’s not the half of it. Our team went through so many replacements and substitutions that no original team members actually played come tournament day. We truly lived up to our “Whatever” team name. LOL.
You wouldn’t believe it if I told so I just had to chart it to explain just exactly how wild this roller coaster journey has been.
End of March, we formed our team with me, Anna, and Chanell. Shortly after, Anna’s daughter Sophia is diagnosed with leukemia and so she asked to withdraw. We ended up picking Monica McGehee as replacement.
While I was at the US Open in Florida, I heard from Chanell. She also has to withdraw because our friend Angelynn’s wedding is at 1 PM that day. Obviously, we’re not counting on getting eliminated early so that was a definite deal-breaker. Anyway, I found out that Jen Refschneider’s (aka Chef Jen) DUPR rating had dropped below 4.6 and she was eligible to play in our group. Texted her immediately but didn’t hear back for a couple of days.
I was looking at the team rosters and found that Katie McKee (who was originally interested in playing DUPR 15 level with Molly Spring and Greta Siemens) registered to play in DUPR 13 with Jen Tiano and Susie Ternes. My next text was to Molly because I knew she was interested in play and no longer had a team. I did hear back from her right away so, at this point, our team now consisted of Molly, Monica, and me. I eventually did hear back from Chef Jen and she said she was available if I still needed someone. We had already picked up Molly so we no longer had a vacancy on our team but the division itself still had one team spot left. Jen who was interested in playing, asked me for Jill Reyes’ number, and now the two of them were trying to form a team.
In the meantime, Molly, Monica, and I grabbed Fong Witte as our fourth for a practice session and that’s when I realized that there was no way that my back would hold up to a full day of playing. I couldn’t barely muster finishing one game. We asked Fong if she was available to play on that day and so then it was decided that she would take my spot.
Another team finally entered and took the final opening so DUPR 13 was full up. Chef Jen and Jill’s team didn’t get it in time. Tami Racine, Krista Crawford, and Huyen Nguyen (aka my first pickleball daughter) were also trying to enter but there was no spot for them either.
I did find out later that Cindy Egan ended up picking Chef Jen to replace Megan Nighswonger, who had also gotten invited to Angelynn’s wedding. Susie Ternes had to replace Jen Tiano due to a knee injury and ended up grabbing Jill, so in the end, Chef Jen were both able to play — just on different teams.
A couple of days before the tournament, Molly told me that her father was throwing a surprise retirement party for her mother-in-law that same day and so now she had a conflict. Anyway, I knew that Huyen wanted to play because she was part of a team that couldn’t enter due to our sold-out situation, so tapped her to replace Molly. In the end, team “Whatever” consisted of Huyen, Fong, and Monica — none of whom were original team members. Wild is an understatement.
The event was super fun and the ladies really showed out. We filled all 12 courts with 24 teams in the morning. There were 8 teams each competing in DUPR 9, DUPR 11, and DUPR 15.
Take a Chill PLL (Parrish Gumeringer, Liz Ellison, and Laurie Newton) took down DUPR 9 division.
Soy Milk (Uyen Dang, Senda Vu, and Abbie Welu) took down DUPR 11 division.
We’ve Got JoKeS (Jill Reyes, Katie McKee, and Susie Ternes) took down the DUPR 13 division.
Be Like Water (Khan Pham, Doan Nguyen, and Michael Cheung) took down the DUPR 11 division.
JKS (Branden Stephenson replaced Jason McCutchen, Keith Lietzke, and Saif Khan) took down the DUPR 13 division.
The men started at 11 AM, as the ladies groups were winding down. Despite there being very few mens teams, I think they still had a good team. There was great competition overall.
Of course, I was there all day to assist with the tournament and support Duane with whatever he needed so it wasn’t like I completely missed it. I was bummed I couldn’t play, though. Playing is way more fun than spectating.
Special shout out to our official Regina Pinkston who came to hang with us all day.
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Hikari Sushi & Ramen
Posted on June 12, 2026 by Ching under Food and Drink.
We usually don’t have to venture South to Haysville much for dining (mostly we either go up North or West) but our friend Keith Lietzke has been raving about this place so we had to try it.
I took pics of Brian perusing the menu.
PRO TIP: Be sure to check out the daily specials board for awesome deals on some gems like fried salmon (Sake on Fire) and spicy salmon (Dinosaur Roll).
I remembered to get food pics but I forgot to note which was which. Your guess will be as good as mine on all these.
Brian, predictably, got ramen. He was very please with the meat-to-noodles ratio. He usually doesn’t get this much chashu at Yokohama or Kyuramen so that’s a positive mark for Hikari.
I’m not sure that we would drive all the way to Haysville because we have really good options in Wichita. For ramen, our current go-to is Kyuramen. For sushi, I really like Blue Fin and Wasabi. Hard to justify the longer drive for similar food. Glad we got to try it though, and the dinner company was phenomenal.
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Closing Out May with Some Fun Events
Posted on June 11, 2026 by Ching under Events, Health.
May was a super miserable month for me. I was experiencing some really terrible abdominal cramps all month, starting with Parker’s wedding weekend. I didn’t let it cramp my style, though. Pun intended.
I played in the final Friday Night Fiesta of the month with Zach Young. Well, kinda sorta. I played in a couple of games until my back could no longer handle it. Thankfully, Heide Bartel was there fill for the rest of the games.
I ran the weekly InPickle Nation mini tournament at Tap on Saturday afternoon. Thankfully, we had enough players signed up so I did not have to play in it.
Afterwards, I Brian and Chris at Nails and Beyond for some much needed self-care.
Then Brian and I went to Fong and Josh’s annual crawfish boil shindig. It was Brian’s first time attending.
I was supposed to go to O’Brien’s for Monica McGehee’s (on the right in the pic below) birthday celebration but I wasn’t feeling well (as I hadn’t been all month) and that was pretty much all the activity I could muster.
I spent all day Sunday vegging out. I was super “crampy” and maybe spent all of two hours upright. I think this was the weekend that we were supposed to have brunch at HomeGrown but I woke up just not feeling great and went back to bed. Brian was really looking forward to HomeGrown (it’s his favorite breakfast spot) and I felt bad for disappointing him.
Anyway, Brian got up me for breakfast later that morning, and I spent the rest of the day in our recliner with my heating pad. I don’t think I even showered at all that day. I wondered (besides calling it quits in the middle of FNF on Friday) if people could tell how very miserable I felt inside. I didn’t feel 100 percent all and was barely keeping it together.
Monday was Memorial Day and we met some friends (Susie and Grant Ternes and their three kids, and Keith Lietzke) at Hikari for dinner. It’s a sushi and ramen place in Haysville that our friend Keith constantly raves about. I’ll write a separate post on it later because I took a bunch of food pics.
I’ll also fill you all in about my ER trip last week which helped me figure out what has been making me miserable all month. I was down a significant amount of blood and was practically “walking dead” (I had 6.5 hemoglobin according to my ER labs). ER doc was amazed I even went to work that morning. He said if I were a man, I would have been bed-ridden. Nope. I was still walking around, doing stuff, and even “trying” to play pickleball. How I didn’t pass out at any of these places was beyond me. More on that next time though. Until then, I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.
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