Our Story Part 3

It has almost been 2 months sense the last time I updated my blog? Has it really been that long? I am really slacking! Well at least I can blame some of it on Brandon. He has been really busy and has not been able to help me get it updated. Brandon and three other partners started a Company and it has been taking up a lot of his spare time. We are really excited about this opportunity and hope we can tell you more about the project they are working on when he gets a little closer to their launch date. Last time I was telling about my experience with Lupus, kidney failure, and Chemo Therapy. I started Chemo on July 3rd 1996 at the University of Utah. It was funny to me because the nurse that started my IV and hooked me up to Chemo could not even handle the bag of Chemo without these big gloves on to protect them. I was thinking you won't even touch the bag and you want me to feel good about you pumping me full of this stuff. I was really scared but I felt like I had to be strong for me and my family. On the 4th of July Fairview has an Annual bike ride. I was feeling so good that I wanted to go do it, but my mom didn't think it was a good idea.

This is kind of how Chemo went for me. I really didn’t ever feel sick. After every treatment I would wait thinking I would be deathly ill at any moment, but it never happened. I was prepared to lose all my hair. I had already lost a lot of hair with my Lupus. Then all my hair started to come back. It was amazing. I felt great, and my body started to respond to the treatment. I had treatments for a year and a half. My kidney function improved, and all of the other Lupus symptoms started to go away. It was a miracle. I felt better than I had felt in a very long time and I kept all my hair.

I got better and was able to enjoy college. I went to Snow College and loved it. I had so much fun with friends and was able to move beyond all the health problems that had been dominating my life for the past few years. I was also helping to Coach Drill team for my High School, and really excelling in my classes. I graduated from Snow in 1998. The funny thing is that for some strange reason I stayed at snow for a third year, even though most of my friends were moving on. I just felt like I needed to stay. It was not until the first day of classes of spring semester that I would find out why.... (hint is in the picture above)

I think that is a sufficient teaser for my next blog entry. I promise will not be in another 2 months. I will try to get a few in each week from now on.

Our Story Part 4

Our Story Part 2

 

Okay it is time for me to get back to tell you our story. The first part might be a little long drawn out but I will do my best to make it entertaining. So last time told you about how important I feel about attitude, and how it was dance that helped me learn the importance of having a positive attitude in all I do.

All of my crazy interesting health issues started to appear back in high school. It started my Junior year. I was in the middle of a Drill Team practice when I started to feel a strange pressure in my leg. It started to swell and before I knew it it was twice the size of my other leg and started to turn a strange purplish color. The next day I went to the doctor and they did an ultrasound and found that I had a blood clot in my inner thigh. So I found myself in the hospital on Valentines Day. Not really the most fun way to spend a holiday. Not much time passed and I found myself once again having another blood clot.

This second clot prompted my doctor to send me to the University of Utah to see a specialist. They then told me that I had a condition called Lupus Anticoagulant which is a really fancy name for a blood clotting disorder. It didn't mean that I had Lupus but it did mean that there was a possibility that it could turn into Lupus. They then put me on a blood thinner to keep me from clotting. I was also hospitalized one other time for a blood clot, until they could get my blood levels under control.

My Senior year was going great. The blood thiner was doing its job. I had no more problems with blood clots. Then my health really took a turn for the worse. Around Christmas time I started to feel very fatigued, and totally lost my appetite. I was stuck with fevers weakness that completely incapacitated me. On New Years Eve my family took me to the hospital. That night they did some tests that determined that I was having Kidney Failure. It was then that my Doctor diagnosed me with full blown Lupus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes your immune system to attack itself. Lupus causes your immune system to attack vital organs, like the kidneys, liver, heart, and brain. Basically all any vital organ is fair game. In my case it had attacked my Kidneys and had successfully started to cause them to shut down.

Suddenly all the other symptoms of Lupus began to make themselves known. I had ulcers all over in my mouth. I had flair ups of rheumatoid arthritis that made me not even want to move. I had alopecia, that is just a fancy way to say my hair was falling out. I had a very prominent butterfly rash on my face that is another calling card of Lupus. I was a mess to say the least. You can’t imagine how sick I was. This was not the way I had pictured spending my Senior year of high school. I was in and out of the Hospital and trying to juggle school, Drill Team, and have a semi normal life. My doctors were trying everything to try to save my kidneys and get my Lupus back in check. I felt like I was fighting a losing battle.

By the Spring of 1996 it was obvious that the medications were not slowing down the progression of my kidney failure. So they sent me to a Nephrologist (Kidney Doc) who decided that it was best to do a kidney biopsy. By the way that was one of the most uncomfortable things i have ever experienced. I had to be awake and it is a little uncomfortable to have a giant needle shoved in-between your ribs so that they can take a chunk of your kidney out. This was a bit of a hard week for me. I had a Kidney Biopsy, my wisdom teeth pulled, and I got salmonella poisoning all in the same week. After the biopsy they decided the best option to save my kidneys was to have Chemo Therapy. If the Chemo didn't work I would need to start dialysis and start looking for a kidney donor for a transplant. It was all so hard to deal with. I should be thinking about College and boys and having fun with friends. Instead  I was in a fight for my life. When I first found out I went down in my room and cried. Then I decided if this was what I was going to go through I would make the most of it. If I was gong to be sick and bald I was going to have fun with it. We got me three wigs that were super cute so I could hide my hair loss. I decided that I would not let it get me down. I refused to let it change my positive attitude.

That is about enough for tonight. I will try to write some more tomorrow. Goodnight.

Our Story Part 3

Homemade Valentines

 

I was watching Studio 5 a few weeks ago and they had a segment on about making homemade Valentines for you kids to take to school. I called Brandon and had him look up the ideas they shared on their web site. We found this great idea to make iPods out of little boxes of Valentine candy. I couldn't resist making them for Peyton to take to school for her Kindergarten class.

It took most of our Sunday afternoon but we busted out 30 of these tasty little valentines. I warped all the foil on the Reese’s Peanut butter Cup ear buds, and cut all the string. Brandon edited the Screen on the iPod so it had a Song that said, “From Peyton with Love”. I thought that was a cute idea. He also cut out all the colored paper.  Peyton cut out all of the little face pieces and glued them all on our little make shift iPods. She was so excited. It was a really fun little project and it was fun to have the whole family working on them together.

You can find information on how to make these on the Web Site Family Fun. They also have a printout to make the little iPod control cutouts. This was supper fun to do. I think we will pick little fun things every year to make for our Valentines.