Hurry up you AND you AND you.

So there are three things in my life that need to hurry up.

1. My mission call. As of Sunday, my call had not been issued, which means I'm not going to hear anything this week. Which also means because of conference this weekend, it probably won't be for another 10-14 days. sigh... Don't get me wrong, I love conference. That'll make it all better.
But seriously, I've had this badge for over 2 1/2 years. I'm ready to switch it out for a new one.

2. The end of school needs to get here pronto. And truly, at this point, I'd be okay if just finals got here quicker! But in the next two weeks I need to take two ATI exams (standardized tests predicting how we'll do on the NCLEX), a peds exam, a women's health presentation, an article summary, a women's health quiz, a mock ethics trial, and a psych exam. And that all needs to be done before finals even begin.

3. GLEE!!!! It returns in TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY! It's the one thing getting me through all my problems. okay, not really, but it could! I can't wait to see the new songs and Rachel's new romance and Emma and Will and Finn. Oh man. 14 days 14 days. If I get my mission call that day I may have to open it later ;)

Just hurry it up.

Hare Krishna!

First of all, I just noticed that this will be my 10th post this month. This is monumental! I've never before, in the 23 months I've had my blog, blogged 10 times in one month! Double digits baby. Of course, I did know that this would be one of the craziest months of my life, with a couple extra crazies thrown in there. But still, yay! I can call myself a true blogger now!

Anyhooser, today I got to go to the festival of colors! It's a Indian/Hindu(?) celebration of the beginning of spring. Essentially, there is lots of celebration, dancing, smoking of drugs (just say no), and the highlight....throwing chalk at one another! (powder chalk. I told my friend Colt about throwing chalk at one another and he said, "wouldn't that hurt?!" haha. No no. Not the sidewalk chalk. That would make for a VERY interesting festival). The festival was fun and exciting, and I even had a chance to use my nursing skills when a 15 year old girl was thrown into the air when crowd surfing and they didn't catch her. So I jumped in to take care of her until the ambulance came. That was thrilling. I had somewhat of a deja vu feeling....back injury leading to ambulance leading to hospital.....alas, I digress.

The point is, it was fun. I can't believe that after three years of living in Utah this is the first time I've gone, but hey, now I can cross it off my bucket list. That, and blogging ten times in a month.
Hare Krishna!

It was me, Camille, and her roommate Megan who went

And so it begins....

Remember how white our shirts were in the beginning!?!

:)

You say mission, I say mission.

So I've been getting a lot of questions about the status of my mission papers because of that little "oopsie...." that was discovered last week. So now I must say, yes. My mission papers are in. They've been in since last Wednesday, but that doesn't make a lot of difference because they won't be processed until this week. As for when I'll get my call... not the slightest idea. It's possible that they're delayed because I may be medically flagged (due to my chest pains sophomore year) and/or because of General Conference. It's a well known fact around here that extending mission calls slows down around conference time, and because of the week delay, I'm not sure if my papers are in early enough to miss that. So I guess my call may come as early as next week, or as late as when I'm packing up and leaving my apartment in a month (or possibly later, but I don't want to even THINK about my call coming to an apartment I don't even live at anymore....) Sigh...maybe it's better to truly have no idea when it's coming. Then you have no expectations and will be more surprised when it does come! I'm going with that.

SPEAKING of missions, today is an exciting day for a certain someone....

HAPPY 18 MONTH MARK TO CODY (AND SARAH)!!!
only 6 more months without him Sarah!! :)

Hurry Up Spring...

I'm kind of scared to actually say this, because I know I'm only jinxing it, but today was such a LOVELY Spring day!! What wonderful weather! I have such spring fever. And it made me soooooo happy :) :) :)

it made me actually forget how much I want this semester to end and to finally move. out.

p.s. that picture was taken by my mom in Holland. It still makes me think of spring though :)

I had you going, didn't I? Yeah, me too.

Just kidding about the last post apparently. My mission papers DID NOT go in.

When I asked the stake executive secretary on Monday, he said that he had started to work on them and they would be submitted later that day. But he really didn't work on them until Tuesday late afternoon (cut off for the week is Tuesday at midnight). It was then that he found an error in the medical portion of my papers. Under the TB shot section, there was spot to say if the test was positive or negative and then the number of centimeters that the spot was. My doctor put the test was negative, so I guess he assumed he didn't need to put a number. But he did. And the secretary didn't pick it up until last night, and didn't call me til half an hour ago. And now since I've missed the deadline, I have to wait until next Tuesday to put them in, which means the earliest I'll get my call now is early April.

I'm trying hard to not be too frustrated. Mom says that it is such a freak circumstance, that there HAS to be a reason. Like maybe there is a mission available next week that isn't this week. I'm going with that...

Let the guessing begin...

My mission papers are officially in.


Now, we wait.....

Here we go again....

Don't worry, this is the last one! But today my baby brother turns FIFTEEN! Freak!! Young girls, you have one year to prep yourself for this witty, smart, funny, fun-loving hunk of a brother I have, before he'll take you out on a date ;) Once again, I present a montage of Craig's awesomeness. :D

Craig is a great target :)

I'm taller ;)

Happy 15th Birthday Craig! I love you!!

Update

Well, I've had lots of people asking me how things have been since my lovely accident, so I thought I would give a general update.

Saturday was the day of the accident. The doctor told me that Sunday was going to be the worst day for soreness. He wasn't totally wrong. It wasn't as painful as I thought it would be, but then again, he probably meant that it would hurt if I moved, which I couldn't. haha. So I spent the day resting and reading and watching movies. (Yes, I did skip church, but for some reason sitting through my 4 hours of stake conference meetings in the Smith Fieldhouse bleachers just didn't sound like a smart idea...)

Monday was a pretty good day. I still felt like I had been hit by a train (I kinda was ha) but I was able to walk okay. My neck did start to hurt a bit, and I started to find all these weird bruises and other markings all over my body, but at this point I was only really experiencing pain on my left arm/shoulder (I guess where I collided with the ATV?), a little in my neck, and then right over my kidney, right lower back, and just overall soreness. But here I was thinking I was going to have a speedy recovery. Beep! Incorrect. Try again.

Come Monday night. I laid down to sleep but couldn't because it hurt too bad. It was weird because I had slept pretty well the previous two nights. I tried taking medication, putting my ice packs all over my back, being on my side, being on my back, I even tried the stomach approach (ouch!) but nothing worked. I didn't sleep that night. maybe 15 minutes at a time, but with a couple of hours between each "nap". It was miserable. No more than 45 minutes-hour of sleep.

That made yesterday (Tuesday) pretty miserable. I was hurting more than probably any other day thus far. But too bad nursing has all the classes on one day a week: lovely Tuesday. I had class from 8 am to 8 pm. But I was so tired, and in so much pain that I could only make it through my first two classes before I gave up and went home. I tried to sleep but just ended up relaxing, and doing a little bit of homework. Then came last night to sleep. I got into bed and it was the same as the night before. Way too much pain all over for me to sleep. After 45 minutes, I decided to try something different, so I went to the couch with my pillows, blankets, and ice packs. The moment I laid down the pain was (essentially) gone. It was wonderful!! I slept like a baby for a few hours. I did wake up in pain at some points, but still, far more sleep than the night before.

Today, I'm feeling okay. I'm definitely on the mend. I'm sore, but now it only really hurts when I make transitions. I'm fine when sitting, standing, or walking, but transitioning between that all is very painful. I suppose it's to be expected though. At least I am feeling better and don't need to take painkillers anymore. I'm overall trying to take it a little easier. I'm limiting my activity, especially neck movement (just want to be careful with that fracture). I usually get up at 6 at the latest to get a start on my day, but I'm trying to get more rest than usual so I can heal, so I'm trying to sleep in to 8ish.

I'm healing faster than anyone thought I would, even the doctor. I know that it's not a coincidence. I also know that I was DEFINITELY protected in my accident. I must have been going almost 30 mph down that hill and had I not been able to protect my head from the ATV, I can guarantee you that today I would either be dead, paralyzed, or a vegetable. I have no question about that. I'm just grateful that I was protected for whatever reason, and healing quickly.

Anyway. That's my lengthy, way-too-much-information update. I know you're all wishing I had said "I'm fine" and moved on. Too bad I'm not that way :)

Just a quick shout-out. Thanks to everyone who has been SO supportive and caring over these rough few days. Offering rides, telling me I MUST take it easy, praying for me, thinking of me...And especially those who have brought me food of some kind!!! I got homemade Cafe Rio and banana bread (thanks Alyse!), cinnamon rolls from Shea and Kyle, homemade salsa and tabouli from Aaron, and orange chicken from Camille. I really appreciate everyone for helping, especially those who have just sent me a text to say they're thinking of me, or come over to visit. I love the company :)

So after all this, all I can say again is: DO NOT EVER PLAY CHICKEN WITH AN ATV! You'll regret it. haha

GAH!!

I don't understand this. How the heck do I have an 18 year old younger brother?! But alas, Scott turns 18 today! He's freaking awesome, so this montage of pictures is to celebrate that fact :)

That BYU blue looks good on you, bud! Did I mention he's recruited to run track and XC at BYU? :)

He totally bought these boxers haha

Happy Birthday Scott!! Love you ;)

They need to decorate the ceiling of ambulances if you have to stare at it for 20 minutes

For two weeks I have been looking forward to going up to my friend's cabin for a gathering for some friends and their dates. It was going to be a great time to take a break from this *wonderful* month. Unfortunately, things didn't go the way I expected...

Oh it started out all right, everyone was happy and enjoying the cabin and the company and looking forward to a day of sledding, four-wheeling, hot tubing, games, movies, etc etc. I mean, look at these happy faces!




We decided to go sledding first. There was a really steep hill just next to the cabin that was long and steep and super icy. Because it was so long, we were towed up the hill by four wheelers. Very convenient on the way up, not so much on the way down. As I went sledding down the hill for the second time, I turned a bend and low and behold idling right in the middle of the trail was a four wheeler....and I was headed right towards it, headfirst. Try as I might, it was too icy to stop or steer and not really enough time to roll out, so my instinct was to put my arm up and protect my head for the possibility of any neurological damage (thank you nursing for that one). Although I was (miraculously) able to save my head from any damage, there was nothing I could do to save my back. The second I collided, my back twisted in all the ways it's not supposed to, my body curled up underneath the four wheeler on contact, and I was basically just one limp, mangled mess. It hurt. so. bad.
Next thing I knew, I was surrounded by a group of people who were concerned and watching out for me while I struggled to breath and attempted to figure out what was going on with my back that was hurting so badly. But I've decided that if you're going to get injured anywhere, it should be with three nursing girls! (Props to Sara, Sarah, and Shea!) They did all kinds of assessments to make sure I didn't have any neurological problems, and to determine what kind of pain I had and what it could mean. After being in the snow for about 20 minutes, it was decided that I first and foremost needed to get inside and warm up. This required a makeshift bodyboard. Sleds are remarkably handy when used as hard, flat, objects to keep back and neck straight. Everyone did a wonderful job keeping me stable as they all lifted me from the ground onto the sleds.

Sarah R. decided to document this experience. Hence the pictures.

Since I couldn't move my neck/head, and my back hurt whenever my legs were higher/lower than my back, the "board" required two sleds to keep my body level.

The next step to getting into the house was getting me up the long, steep hill. At first they tried pulling the sleds, but that was going to be quite a treacherous trip and everytime they pulled me over uneven snow (aka, THE ENTIRE TIME) I could feel it in my back and it hurt! So that plan was an epic fail. Next plan was carrying me up. I'm glad we decided not to try that one. Thankfully, there was a Jesus-loving drunk (he offered me a beer to take the edge off my pain haha) who offered to bring down his Suburban to take us to the cabin. He was a different kind of Good Samaritan than I would have expected, but I was so grateful to him. He brought us to the cabin and I was carried into a bedroom to rest and be covered in lots and lots of blankets. And to take lots of advil haha (which I really appreciated because those transfers were extremely painful).

okay, this was obviously before the lots and lots of blankets, but you do see the meds! ha

After another half hour of not being able to move, my friends called 911 and told me afterwards (mostly because I had told them a hundred times that I didn't need/want an ambulance). Alas, it was too late, and it was already on the way. So they came, strapped me to a board, put a lovely neck collar on, and took me away.

Funny story about the ambulance that may only be funny to nurses. When I was in there for the 20 minute drive, my pain was so bad they gave me fentanyl (best. stuff. ever! My pain went from an 8 to a 2 in like three minutes) but they had to start an IV in the ambulance. One of the EMTs tied the tourniquet on my arm (far tighter than I had ever had before or needed to be) and left it on my arm for about 2 minutes. Ouch. Meanwhile, the other EMT took my vitals, including blood pressure. When he took it, he asked if I was nervous. I told him I wasn't, but asked why, and apparently my blood pressure was 168/104 and he thought it was because I was nervous hahaha. Nevermind I had a noose around my arm for two minutes making it hard to pump blood ha.

This was in the hospital before they took me for x-rays. I have oxygen in this picture because in the ambulance my oxygen saturation levels dropped to 86-87% (normal is 95-100%) so they threw me on 4 L of oxygen.

Thankfully, all scans came back clean, and I was able to go home. yay!

When getting discharged, they made me go out in a wheelchair because I really couldn't walk well, as you can tell haha. Eric (who had driven up to Heber from Provo) thought this was remarkably funny and wanted to document the moment. haha.

So there you go. My first ride in an ambulance. It's about the same significance as my first step, first tooth, and first kiss. More or less. And even though I am ridiculously sore, walk like a cripple, and have no idea when I'll be able to function again, at least I got to ride in an ambulance. AND keep the hospital pants that are one size fits all--including all obese patients. boo-yah.

Moral of the story: If you're going to play "chicken" with an ATV, you will lose.



Update: The ER doc just called me this morning (Sunday). The radiologist called him very late last night and thinks I may have a fracture in the posterior process of one of my cervical vertabrae (aka my neck area) and recommended a CT scan. Wouldn't that come with neck pain though? I'm not having any pain in my neck...?