Happy Anniversary!

Ten years ago today was a big day! Ten years ago I had an 8 hour operation that changed my life. I have a medical condition called Scoliosis which means my spine isn't straight. When I was in 7th grade they did the test in PE where they call you in to the locker room and the school Nurse asks you to take your shirt off and bend over so they can see your spine. When it was my turn, I did just that and was pretty suprised when she said I had Scoliosis and wrote a note for me to give to my doctor. I didn't think anything of it, but when I went to my regular doctor she said it looked pretty bad and that I needed to see a specialist in Oakland.
My mom and I drove to meet Dr. Shively and I took the first of many, I mean MANY, X-rays. We came to find out that the curve in my spine was so severe that it required surgery. Here's basically what my spine looked like before:

The operation took 8 hours and these are the technical terms for what they did:
Anterior fusion: This surgical approach is through an incision (cut) at the side of the chest wall;

Posterior fusion: This surgical approach is through an incision on the back and involves the use of metal instrumentation to correct the curve

The Anterior fusion required that they puncture my right lung, and the Posterior fusion resulted in my getting 2 Titanium rods screwed to my spine to keep it from returning back to its original shape. Somewhere along the line they also removed at least 1 of my ribs that I know of, and fused it into my spine to compensate for the extra length being added. Crazy stuff, I know! 
Here's a pic of the end result:

You can't see my spine really well, but the rods are pretty obvious. You can see a little bit of my spine at the bottom of the picture, and its clearly still not straight as can be. So I'm destined to be a shorty, and thats fine. =) People always ask me if I set off metal detectors and the answer is NO! (duh!)

There are a few funny side affects from the operation though:
-My left hand sweats (like A LOT), and the right one doesn't. (A family friend who's a doctor said that this is probably the result of a nerve being cut)
-The skin in between my shoulder blades is numb. (Like when you go to the dentist and they numb up your face and you touch it, and it feels not all the way there, thats what I feel.)
-My feet sweat PROFUSELY. (I know, t.m.i. right? lol. Its not a stinky sweat, just a lot of moisture. Just ask my family: I've slipped in the kitchen a few times.)
-And of course I had to get over 100 stitches, and now I've got 2 impressive scars: the one down my back starts at the base of my neck and goes all the way down to a few inches above my rear end, and the one on my right side is about 6 inches long and curves around my ribs.

Pretty crazy. This was a whole lot for me to handle as a 13 year old girl. Especially since I had to wear a back brace to school for a little over a month afterwards that looked kind of like this:

 Mine was a little bit longer and strapped on the sides instead of the front.

This was such a growing experience for me physically and spiritually.
Physically: I grew about 2 inches taller as a result, and was able to stop being in constant pain.
Spiritually:   I was able to witness the power of the Priesthood as I healed quicker than anyone thought possible. Before my surgery I was not hanging out with the best of friends, and not acting as I should. Who knew something that put me to sleep for 8 hours would be such an eye opening experience? I know I was probably being a bit overdramatic, but I realized that if I died, I would have a lot of explaining to do to Heavenlt Father. So I made some changes, and grew a lot stronger in the Gospel.

I also became very aware of how many people loved me, especially my family. While drugged up on Morphine I even told Suzanne she should go donate a kidney while she was there visiting me. lol  Good times. =) They were very great during this whole ordeal, especially my mom. She drove me to every doctors appointment in Oakland, and was with me every step of the way. I had aunts stop in the take care of me when Mom went back to work, and my Beehive class came to visit me in the hospital.
I came to learn at a young age that even though I felt like crap but I was a pretty lucky girl. =)

Our New Car!

Today we were FINALLY able to buy a 2nd car. Byu Idaho has been SUPER slow giving us our money for financial aid, but today we were finally able to get the money we needed to get things done. We've been needing a 2nd car ever since Jason started working in Idaho Falls. He works pretty long shifts, and when he's working, I'm without a car. I've had to walk home from school a few times, and its not very much fun. We live a good distance from campus, and there are grasshoppers/locusts EVERYWHERE. I'm not a bug person.
We found this car listed on KSL and knew it would be a great commuter car when the guy told us it got about 40 mpg. =) Its a 2005 Kia Rio, and the guy threw in a set of snow tires and I think we got a good  deal for such a new car.

Now all I have to do is learn how to drive a stick shift. =(

Why I love music...

So last night Jason and I went to a Jon Schmidt piano concert on campus and it was truly amazing! I've always been a sucker for songs with piano in them, and his music is the best. I love his style, and he's hilarious to meet in person. Most people would die if they had to sit through an hour and half piano concert, but there's something about his music that just is calming, and just plain interesting. I was just in awe of his talen the whole night and it made me wish I hadn't given up playing the piano so early.
Here's a video of one of his new arrangements that is pretty well known, and I've listened to it a million times already. lol

Tales of the sleep deprived...

I don't know what it is, but lately I've been "sleep walking" a lot. What I mean by this is that I remember getting up, and having a conversation with Jason, but I don't remember very much about what I said or did.
Last night, I woke up around midnight went into the living room where Jason was on his laptop and insisted that I was late for work. He told me it was only midnight, and I went and squinted at the microwave and went to bed without saying a word. Weird.

I think I must be paranoid about missing work or something because a few weeks ago I sat up in bed and tried to convince Jason he needed to get up for work. The problem was, that it was like 2am. lol
I've had this problem for awhile. When I first started working as an early morning custodian in Fall of 2008 one night I got out of bed at like 1am and carried my 2 pillows into the kitchen. I didn't realize what I was doing until after I woke up a little more. I'm really glad none of my roommates were awake for that.

I've had a few sleep walking incidents through the years as a kid too. When I was like 10 my dad and sister were up working on homework at the table by my room when I got up and slammed my door. They asked what was wrong and I said "I can't do it!!!...I can't draw a star!" HAHAHA!!

After my brother was born,  him and I shared a room for about 2-3 years. When he would start crying it was my job to take him to my mom. One night I think I was dreaming about cleaning my room or something when he started crying. I took him in to my mom and these were my exact words: "Mom, do you want this poster? I don't want it anymore." hahaha!! Neadless to say she snatched him from me pretty quick.

I guess I should have warned Jason what he was getting into. =)

I remember...

So today on my "lunch" break (at 7:30am) at work I was eating a nacho lunchable and it got me thinking. I started thinking about how I remember when pizza lunchables were invented. I was in the 3rd grade and I brought one for lunch and I was the coolest kid ever. lol Then I started thinking about all the other things that have changed since I was a kid...

I remember when blue M&M's replaced that gross tan colored one.

I remember watching Full House before it was re-runs.

I remember begging my mom for a pager in middle school. (what the heck would I have done with that?!)


I remember when staying up till 10 to watch all of TGIF was the best part of my week.

I remember when my family had a cell phone "just for emergencies," and it weighed like 5 pounds.

I remember sitting in my room for hours listening to the radio hoping a song I liked would come on so I could add it to my mix tape. (haha...so true!)

I remember hating playing pogs with Suzanne because she had a metal slammer and mine was plastic, so she always won.

I remember playing MASH like every Sunday during church.

I remember being absolutely TERRIFIED of the show Are You Afraid of the Dark...like seriously.

and I remember most of all that on Power Rangers, Tommy and Kimberly were destined to be together. =)

good times.