Jean... not just a great fabric

Difficult Day On-Air

2010-03-07T13:15:00.007-07:00

I came to the radio station this morning expecting a normal day announcing. I opened up the newspaper to put together my news stories and saw something that brought me to tears. A friend of mine from my early years of college died yesterday. He was a Sigma Chi when I was a Kappa Delta and we were in the same social circles and often hung out at the same parties and with the same people. I lost touch with him in the past year... but today he has been at the front of my thoughts all day.

Though Utah Pubic Radio broadcasts throughout Utah and parts of Idaho... the majority of our listeners are in Cache Valley. I was always taught that when reporting news the most important thing is to report items that directly effect your listeners... basically what is local. I had to read it.

This is what I drafted up and read on-air about my dear friend Trent Walker, "T-Walk" as we called him...

"24-YEAR OLD TRENT WALKER PASSED AWAY YESTERDAY DRIVING THROUGH SPANISH FORK.

WALKER PULLED HIS CAR INTO THE SOUTHBOUND LANE ON ROUTE 89 TO PASS ANOTHER VEHICLE. HE COLLIDED INTO A SEMITRAILER HEAD-ON. WALKER DIED ON THE SCENE AND THE SEMITRAILERS DRIVER, 45-YEAR-OLD SLOBODAN (SLO-BO-DAN) SPANOVIC (SPAN-O-VIC) WAS FLOWN BY HELICOPTER TO UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL IN CRITICAL CONDITION.

WALKER WAS FROM BRIGHAM CITY AND WAS DRIVING HOME TO HIS RESIDENCE IN LOGAN."

It was emotional to report this... and difficult to give the station ID right after... but I got through professionally. Though I'm sure my emotion came through when I said his name.

Rest in peace T-Walk. We'll miss you.

Here is the Deseret News article....

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700014568/Man-killed-in-head-on-collision-in-Spanish-Fork.html

Gemma Kayte LeBeau

2010-02-26T23:18:00.006-07:00

My niece was born today!! 7 pounds 14 ounces, 12 inches long! She is perfect.

This is my older sister, Dawn's, forth child. My mom also had four children with my dad. They both went in the same order... Girl, boy, boy, girl. So it was as if Dawn's "Jean" was being born. Dawn was in the delivery room when I was born and she really wanted me to be in the room when her little girl was born.

I have never been in a delivery room before. I had an idea of what to expect from my Family and Human Development (my minor) classes... but it was nothing like experiencing it live.

We got there at 7 am. Ready to break her water and have her come naturally after that... but like most things... that didn't go as planned. Her doctor got called into delivery and wasn't going to be there until later on in the day. We started penicillin, pitocin, an antibiotic and a IV for hydration... so many tubes. The pitocin was going to speed along the contractions and basically induce labor. The doctor didn't come until 1:30 ish and then things went fast. He broke her water and her contractions started getting very regular and she dilated up to 7 cm in ten minutes from 4.5... she was also on an epidural so she really didn't feel... well... anything. It must have been a really strong epidural mixture because it basically paralyzed her. She could not move or feel anything from her waist down. It was hilarious. I am so pro-epidural it is ridiculous.

I was not expecting the smell. Birth has a smell. Very interesting lesson to learn. Awesome. Kinda. Moving on... It was magical. So wonderful. Not gross at all, or scaring which I was half expecting... It was simply beautiful. This little person came out of my sister... this perfect being. She was so well mannered too... she hardly cried, thought the doctor wanted her to continue... she opened her eyes immediately and was looking around, opening her mouth... just seeing what the world was all about... It was so precious. I was the first to hold her after her mom and dad... I was the only family member besides them in the delivery room. My sister really went above and beyond to make me feel special today. It was so kind of her.

Dawn and Craig's oldest daughter just turned 4 two months ago. Her next is 2, turning 3 in April, and her last boy is 18 months. Now she has a newborn. Yeah... she is getting her tubes tied tomorrow morning. Good decision?

Baby Gemma is beautiful. I can't wait to see her again tomorrow!!!

Website

2010-02-21T10:11:00.002-07:00

I bought the domain jeanwest.info from GoDaddy and am working on creating my website on iWeb here on my Mac. I am having so much fun with it! The purpose is to have a central location for my resume, sound bites, and a little biography on me. The only thing is, it is soooo time consuming!!! This week is so crazy and I really wanted to finish it so I can get the ball rolling on job interviews and sending out my resume (including my website) out to employers this week.

The sight is basically done, now I am working on putting the website and domain name together without spending too much money! I have been on the phone with GoDaddy and Apple... still chuggin a long!

It's exciting!!! Stay tuned! I'll let you know when it is done!

Speaking of staying tuned... I found out who buried my car! It was my friend Tim Ray, who swore up and down that he had nothing to do with it, Brian Orr and Seth Hansen. Ugh. All my close friends. I should have known it wasn't random... too much work!

Car Prank

2010-02-07T11:54:00.004-07:00

My poor car... beautiful Ashton, my 2000 Honda Accord EX... woke up colder that usual yesterday morning here in Logan Utah. Never has he missed California so much. Poor baby.

I woke up to a picture text from my roommate of a car covered with snow. She simply said "Guess who's car?"... I thought it was hers. So when I woke up ready to go to the Radio Station... I had to postpone my trip because I couldn't find my car... Hum... Well, there is both my roommates cars... and there is a pile of snow... hummmm..... DANG IT!!! THAT IS MINE!!! ugh. I ended up being on time to the station, but my pants and

boots were wet, and I was sweating from digging... sweating in the snow is one of my least favorite things in the world, up there with people who smack their gum and Lucky Charms with an unbalanced amount of cereal and charms...

I haven't been able to figure out who did it, but there was a man that came over and was filming me and asking me questions when I was digging out my car... I thought he may be involved, why else would he videotape me right? But he was so convincing! He said he saw my car last night and hadn't seen anything like it and he was mad that he didn't have his camera then. THEN he saw me

today and had his camera... ha! A likely story. Then someone approached my friend Tim asking him if he knew me... turns out it was the same guy... whoever he is.

Hope to get a name soon. William Shakespeare once said "If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?"

Radio

2010-01-31T09:28:00.004-07:00

Well, there are 97 days until I graduate from Utah State University... a thought that is still overwhelming to me... but not as much as it once was. I have found an internship up on campus working for UPR (Utah Public Radio) an affiliate of NPR (National Public Radio). I have been titled the "All Things Considered Producer" as well as "Sunday Announcer."

I am here now, Sunday morning January 31, 2010. I have really enjoyed working at the station! Coming in almost everyday either doing training to be an announcer, announcing, helping Tom Williams the All Things Considered Host, converting programs from Adobe Audition to DadPro32, getting new content to be read over the air, editing already prepared material, and my favorite... doing phone interviews. I've been patched through to a Senators cell phone, talked to the IRS Media Relations representative, the Sundance Director and more! So fun!

I love the feeling of being important, to have a job that needs to get done... knowing how to do it... and getting er done! It is a thrill.

The future seems brighter than it as before. I have found a passion. Radio. Not sure if I want to continue in Public Radio for the rest of my life... or maybe go into Commercial Radio... but I have found a couple stations in California that I would like to apply for. KPCC 89.3 Southern California Public Radio, and KQED 88.5 Northern California Public Radio.

Last year, before I discovered my love for radio, I had no idea where I was going to apply or what I was going to do with my life. Now I have a direction, not only a direction, but a PASSION! How exciting. The future seems less scary.

Now the tricky part... actually getting a job in the field I want. I'll keep you posted!

This is Jean West and thank you for listening to Utah Public Radio!

My Dad's Heart Attack

2009-07-14T18:14:00.005-06:00

Okay, this is really long, I posted it on my blog, noted it on facebook and printed it in my journal (where more personal notes are added to it…) I don’t expect a lot of people to read it but it was nice getting out all the details, especially since I’ve told this story so many times, I’m not sure who has heard what pieces, so hopefully this fills in some blanks… It is truly an amazing story and we are so blessed it happened the way it did. Today is Day 7 in the CCU (Coronary Care Unit (basically ICU for heart patients)) at Los Robles hospital in Thousand Oaks, California... my hometown. I'm writing this as my dad is taking a nap, I am right by his bed listening and watching all his monitors, I made the nurses teach me what all the numbers mean so I can be more of a help if one of the alerts goes off. My sister, who has been with me here since the day of the heart attack, left this morning so I am here by myself for the first time and will be with him until Feb. 12 when I fly back to Logan. It is a very scary thing, the CCU is full of… people? umm… very sick people. There. That’s better. It is a site for sure. Just in order to get in you have to call from another room outside the double doors and give them a four digit family pass code for the receptionist to even talk to the nurse taking care of you loved one… then they have to see who it is and give the okay. Ug. Okay, I suppose the best place to start is the beginning. My Papa had massive back surgery two weeks ago. They cut a foot and a half long incision in his back and fused two of his vertebras together and screwed some others in position realigning his back… it was quite the process. How does this relate? Well, before he had his surgery he had a blessing. Long story short, without getting into too many personal details, the blessing said he would be alright and the surgery would be successful… the peculiar part was that it talked more about the recent future… and how his posterity would be blessed because of his faith, testimony and righteous living with miracles in the near future. So for the past couple weeks he was worried thinking “Which kid?? What is going to happen??”So my Dad woke up Saturday morning January 31, 2009 and literally thought to himself “What a beautiful day! I can’t believe people are going to die today and they don’t even know it...” He was playing church basketball (I know right), just after the game he began feeling a deep pressure on his chest. He thought he was just tired so he went out to his truck… that was four rows back in the parking lot to keep it from getting dings from other cars… to lye down… BY HIMSELF! Ug. The pressure never went away and got worse; it felt as if an elephant was sitting on his chest. He couldn’t get relief and started vomiting. He then realized he needed help so he started honking his horn, this continued for a good ten minutes and no one heard, he tried walking but took two steps and realized he wouldn’t make it and fell back and caught himself on the door. He took some deep breaths and somehow threw the truck into drive and drove right up to the front doors of the church. At this point he thought he was just dehydrated and needed water (ha.) so he stumbled in and leaned on the water fountain, drank and splashed water on himself. It didn’t help. Someone finally came out from the gym and saw him, his first human contact in a half hour. He asked them to call the paramedics; he finally realized something was seriously wrong. In the ambulance they gave him squirts of nitro… he knew it was a heart attack. Okay… so my dad ran two marathons last year, eats well, is 53, and is in the best shape of his life… what the heart attack?? Oh wait, my nana and all of her brothers have had heart attacks, one even died. Literally, none of us have ever considered this, we always check “no” to everything when we go to the doctor, it just never sank in that one branch of our family tree has a history of heart disease. Ug. This is when the miracles start…Two days before, Dr. Goel switched his schedule to be on call that weekend because he wanted to take the weekend he was scheduled for off. There are fifteen heart surgeons at Los Robles, only two can do the surgery my dad needed, instead of going in cracking the rib cage and doing open heart, they went up the groin, through an artery to the heart. The blood clot, or thrombus, was located in the Left Main aka “The Widow Maker” (I detest that nickname) which was 99% blocked, they got to it and cleared it out, putting two stents into the Circumflex and Left Interior Disending that are a bifurcation of the Left Main. He had and aortic balloon pump put in him for about three days that expanded and contracted constantly taking stress off of his struggling heart. 10-15% of his heart muscle died. In the days to come we learn that Dr. Goel was, hands down, the best man for the job. He only sees the condition that my dad had, MAYBE once a year, it’s rare, and deadly. After going in and clearing it up, Goel told us that my dad had only five more minutes to live if that, and if he had gotten another surgeon, they would have had to do open heart and it would have been to late, there was no doubt in his mind. Geez. That is so hard to hear a doctor say. They don’t sugar coat anything here! Because it took so long, the arteries backed up and started filling up the lungs up with fluid… blood that he would be coughing up for the next week and that would be coming out of his nose. It’s a terrible sight seeing your parent cough up blood… I wish that upon no one. In the CCU he developed a case of a pneumonia and an infection. His lungs went back and forth and he hasn’t gone without oxygen.It has been 9 days in the CCU now. He is still getting breathing treatments every 4 hours. Taking short walks with the nurses and constantly on oxygen. I have learned how to read and understand what all the numbers mean on the monitors, his heart rate, blood pressure and mean, oxygen level, respiratory readings, and more… it’s been an amazing learning experience.Let me tell you my list of favorite nurses… from favorite to least… 1. Connie- simply amazing2. Sue- hillarious3. Barbara- large and in charge4. Kim- simple and efficient5. Jeanne- name close to mine6. Taran- full of information7. Karen- meh8. Victoria- ew9. Evil Asian- gr10. Ken- bah!!! (seriously, just look at the name…)I hated Ken. I have reasons for all the above…and I’ll be glad to tell them to you if you are curious one day… Connie actually gave me a stethoscope so I can listen to my dad’s heart and lungs (she showed me how) AND a flashlight pen so I can check his pupils, AND two pairs of scrubs!!! She loves me! And I love her! And her and my dad were totally flirting, it was so cute! Haha, my dad even made a joke about a sponge bath and checking his catheter… COMPLETELY out of character for my dad! Haha! He is funny on drugs!My experience?? I was at Wal-mart buying a billion cans of Coke Zero for the super bowl party at Kunio’s the next day… (funny, my dad watched the Super Bowl and his heart rate kept on spiking (most amazing game ever! Go Steelers!!!) and the nurse wanted to turn it off but my dad wouldn’t have it! Haha!) So my sister called this is how the conversation went…“DAWN!!! I’m in line at Wal-mart in Logan! You know exactly where I am, how exciting!”(through sobs) “Are you driving?”(worried) “No, why?”“Everyone is okay”(oh no) “What happened”“Dad has had a heart attack”“Who’s dad??”“Dad.”“Our dad?!?”“Yes”(complete shock sinking in, I started to shake, instant sobs came)“Is he alright?!?!”“I don’t know, he is still in surgery, Richard is on his way and John Meadows is there”“I’m on my way to the airport… I’ll call you back”I drop the sodas right where I was (sorry Wal-mart people) and ran, literally, to my car hysterically crying. I must have been a site but looking back now I don’t even remember it that well, it was my first real feeling of shock. Supreme sadness. I needed to get to the airport now, I knew I shouldn’t go alone, in case I got a bad news phone call and I was alone, slash driving, slash whatever… just not a good idea… Family, I needed to call Lacey, tell her and ask her for a ride, she worked in an hour… so normally… like I do in most crisis situations, I called Tim… Asked him through hysteric sobs to take me to the airport (Sorry Kunio, it’s what you get for being Best)… he immediately asked me where I was… Main Street on my way home… He was on his way. My hero. Lacey and Zuma were waiting for me, already looking up flights, bless their hearts, and Lacey was on the phone with my brother, mom and everyone else she could get a hold of. They got my flight and I started packing. I was in a complete daze and literally couldn’t think. Tim had to coach me through what to pack; he stayed back and gave me space, but kept watch waiting for a breakdown, thank goodness for friends. I really, really don’t like being touched when I am crying, and don’t like crying in front of people so he handled it perfectly for me. Zuma must have had some sort of inspiration because he booked me on the same flight that my sister, Dawn, from Boise was on. And Lacey cancelled work for me, thank goodness; I really needed her with me. Lacey, Zoom and I drove to Salt Lake. We were two hours early for my flight so we went to visit my Nana and Papa in the hospital there. That is where we learned of the blessing. We also learned that when my Papa heard about my dad’s heart attack he started having muscle spasms because he knew the blessing was referring to him. Such a testimony builder. When you book your flight last minute, they almost always put an SSSS on your boarding pass… which means you have to put your baggage in a large red bin and stand in a glass box while they go through everything you brought piece by piece then pat you down… I’m not a happy camper at this point. I wanted to get to my sister, I knew she was already there and I needed her. I was mean. I love being mean. It never happenes. But that freakin lady was NOT going fast enough. We won’t go into details but I pried my phone from her clutches, she finished and I literally ran. My luggage strap broke. I picked it up and continued running, I couldn’t be slowed. Of course my gate was on the opposite side of the airport and it took me forever to get there. I finally saw my sister in a clearing as I was going down stairs and ran in her arms. We broke down together. Terribly scared. We couldn’t get to California fast enough. We tried to take our minds off of it on the airplane, thinking of a skit we could put together for our dad… there is nothing he likes more than hearing my sister and I sing (terribly) together… it makes him laugh like no other. (my sister and I are amazing singers… but only together) We though of every song we could think of that had the word “heart” in it… wanna hear part of our list??-Achy breaky heart-tearin up my heart when I’m with you-I swear (with every beat of my heart)-and POP goes my heart! (haha, from Music & Lyrics)-Celine Dion… My heart will go on-Opps I did it again… I played with your heart-and we rewrote Aladdin… A whole new heart!!!Haha, we think we are funny. Comic relief we created. It worked. Then we landed. A family friend picked us up. He was the first to see my dad in the hospital, him and the Elders Quorum President heard about it and immediately went to the hospital, President Payne is a Doctor at Los Robles and was able to navigate his way right to where my dad was. The two of them gave my dad a quick blessing right before, and I mean right before, they were still hooking him up and putting stuff in them as they were doing it, he went into the operating room. John, the family friend, told us he looked gone, past grey to blue, and his face was bloated like he had never seen. He couldn’t breath so he just moaned in sever pain. John took us to my dad’s truck, that still had vomit in it by the way, and we drove ourselves to the hospital not knowing what to expect.The first time I saw my dad that night will leave a permanent impression in my mind for the rest of my life. He looked dead. Gray and ashy. Distant. Not my dad, not the strong, invincible man that I was use to. He wasn’t able to talk to us. He had a mask over his nose that strapped to the rest of his head and he couldn’t talk with it shoving oxygen into his lungs. It was so scary. Worst experience of my life by far. When I walked in the room and he barely opened his eyes he reached for me with his fragile white hands, all that he could move. It broke me, I couldn’t talk to him. I was speechless. Just happy to see him. I couldn’t believe how close I was to never having that experience again. I didn’t want to make things harder by blubbering on in speech, nothing seemed important to say. My sister and brother were there. The four of us bonded like never before that night. Another miracle was my brother. Ever since high school… six years ago now… my brother and dad have had a distance between them. It was really causing a divide in my family. That night when he, my sister and I were in my dad’s kitchen, he said “If there was any doubt that I loved dad, it was erased today.” He got to T.O. from Santa Barbara in 22 minutes… it usually takes an hour and a half… he was on his bike… not recommended. He told my dad he loved him so many times, I have never heard him say it. It was a warm feeling, an amazing feeling. The nurse… Barbara… told us we were lucky to have a dad. We are so lucky, to not only have a dad… but that dad. He is amazing. He is being so positive and in such good spirits all the time, not complaining and helping out anywhere he can. He has been very pleasant. My dad and I now spend our days together, talking about life, making nurses laugh, playing cards and Yahtzee, and I am reading him “The Associate” by John Grisham, and “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins… depending on our mood. I love him so much; I’m lucky to have this precious time with him and am sure we will both remember it always.These of course aren’t all the details… and there are still more days in the CCU and details to come… I may post more if anything terribly exciting happens… but there you go… geez… how do I end this beast?? Umm… the end? Yes. The end! But it’s not… oh man… k well bye then. :)Oh! one more thing! When something like this happens your really find out who is in your support system... who has your back. Thank you for all the calls, texts, balloons, flowers, notes, postings, prayers, to those precious people that fasted, just thanks to everyone that cares. You have no idea how much it means to us. My dad sends his thanks and love as well. You all are so wonderful! We love you!

I was a cool kid...

2008-12-10T10:31:00.007-07:00

My mom and I on the beach... typical day of my childhood growing up in California... I had it rough.... Cheez Balls and all!!!

Me as an amazing child...

all sorts of ready for my first swimming adventure with my brothers Richard and Bobby!!!

...so I went home Thanksgiving and was passing time that I wasn't eating turkey by looking through old boxes stored in the garage that no one really knows are there... typical. I stumbled across these amazing pictures and decided they couldn't be cooped up in a box anymore! They must be publicly exposed to the WORLD!!! VIA INTERNET!!!!!

...so here you go world :) enjoy!

That time of Year...

2008-12-10T09:53:00.001-07:00

It’s that time of year again.
The time where you reevaluate you life and toss out what you don’t need, and make goals for the future.
The time where you find out who really cares about you and gives you a personal, meaningful gift for Christmas, or skips town quickly before a possible one-sided awkward gift exchange can take place.
The time for inevitable change, not only with classes and weather, but with ideas and thinking.
For me, this time is pivotal. My brother is graduating from Utah State University after his clearly focused 6 years, and getting commissioned into the United States Army. My entire family is going to be in town… we had to buy 29 tickets! That’s a lot of relatives, a lot of hugs, and a lot of smiling… I can feel my cheeks hurting already. I’m super depressed about him leaving though! He was the one that showed me around USU’s campus my first day up here, and has been with me, here, everyday of my college career! What will Logan even be like without him here?!?! Ug. And I can’t even be scared for him going off into the army and all because he is getting stationed in Hawaii for three years!!! ROUGH LIFE!!! Get your tuition, books, rent and everything else paid for while your at school… for what?!?! A three year vacation?!?! Geez… should’ve joined the army my freshman year…
So this brings on another huge decision in my life… where do I live next semester? You see… Lacey is my brothers wife, and she has a two bedroom apartment that next semester will just have her in it and she doesn’t want to live alone… do I live with her? I have a contract at Bridgerland apartments will my long time buddy Emily, whom I absolutely adore and love to the core… but does family take precedence over that? It’s in Providence, so much further from campus in Logan. And it would be extremely hard to leave Emily, and I haven’t sold my apartments contract, so I would be paying for a place I’m not living in. ug.
Another life decision… I’m thinking of changing my major to Deaf Education. I would love it for sure but that means I would have so much further to go in school! I only have three semesters left with Public Relations and love the field… ug.
I don’t even want to get started on my Christmas shopping… it’s too overwhelming and is 30 decisions wrapped up into one task. Not satisfying at all. Well…until Christmas day that is.
More life decisions are ahead… New Years Resolutions… become a better person, loose weight, be a better friend, straight A’s, study more, smile, laugh and have more fun… and all that other idealistic crap we fool ourselves into believing for three… maybe four days. Till January 5th hits and we sink back into our old, comfortable habits.
Life is too permanent for me.
Can I just not make decisions? Dance through it like nothing affects me?
Meh.

Ice Bowl- Published Article

2008-12-03T14:24:00.003-07:00

I got published again!!! YAY!!! Tim Ray started a grand tradition at Utah State University where they play football every tuesday on the quad... it was started in the snow last winter and is now called the "Ice Bowl".

You can find the published article @ http://www.hardnewscafe.usu.edu/sports/120308_icebowl.html

Enjoy!

Cami Falling for Fall

2008-11-02T23:57:00.001-07:00

Everyone should have a "Cami" in their lives. Someone that makes fall even more beautiful than it already is here in Cache Valley. Cami is a girl that I barely know but feel like I've been friends with her for ten years! She is simply amazing. No one has more right to be overly stressed out than her. She has dating problems, family issues and more financial obligations than most college students... and yet she still has time to throw leaves in between class. She is definitely someone we can all look up to. She even told me that fall is therapeutic, the colors and temperature.

I agree completely with Cami. There is just something about seeing a pile of fallen, slightly discolored leaves gripping for thier last hours of life... and running through them. In that moment, you forget about life and get lost in the yellows, oranges and reds.

Falling is beautiful.

My First Published Article!!

2008-10-22T14:43:00.000-06:00

Hello world! In my online journalism class one of our assignments was to write an article with local intrest and the best ones would be published to the Hard News Cafe here at Utah State University and mine was!!!! yay!!! So go read it!

My parents will be so proud...

I can finally call myself a journalist! Not just a journalism student!!!

...Now I can finally say my tuition dollars have meant something.

http://www.hardnewscafe.usu.edu/artlife/features/102008_wifi.html

SURGERY!!!

2008-07-06T15:44:00.000-06:00

The picture on the right is of my kneecap... it is placed as if you are sitting in a chair looking down at it... obviously there is something fishy... it's like a bad game of Tetris...

So my poor knee will never be the same. It all started about five years ago when I was dancing with a guy... let's call him Nick Noble... and he twisted me and my foot caught in the middle of the dip and by body went one way and my leg went the other way... witnesses say they heard a pop, I just felt extreme pain. This has continued through multiple events throughout my life... ice-skating with Pablo (that one was my favorite because the worker that helped me was really cute and nice... mmm)... dancing at the institute with Mishka... jumping off the tower during Flashdance performance with Jacqueline... dancing at the institute with Mishka... a couple others.... but the most recent being playing catch with Jessie in front of the Sigma Chi house. That was the last straw... I had to go get it checked out.

So I went to the hospital in Logan where they sent me to get an MRI at Logan Regional where they discovered a "complex full-thickness chondral fissure along the patellar apex. There is an unstable underminded cartilaginous flap, as well, along the patellar apex..." etc. Simply... as a result of the multiple dislocations throughout the years my cartilage under my knee cap is completely screwed up... cracked and flappy... ew.

IT GETS BETTER FOLKS!

So I was headed home to California for the summer thinking... "a knee scope... not bad... that will only put me out for a couple months and they can do it orthoscopically (without cutting me open) sweet" OOOOHHHH NO. I went to an orthopedic surgeon here in Simi Valley, CA... let's call him Dr. Littoff... and he moved me around some... pulled me... pushed me... measured me... had me squat (i did a plie and he was confused and had me do a "catchers squat"... i like plie's better)... and decided he wanted to do some more x-rays on me in different positions. TURNS OUT... there was a reason for all my dislocations... a birth defect.... my kneecap is out of it's socked naturally so when i do extreme movements with my let... twisting and bending at the same time... it doesn't fall into the socket like normal knee's... it goes off to the side scraping the cartilage on the bone causing severe damage.

EXCITING HUH???

Ya... not really. He game me three options of surgical procedures... i didn't like any of them... 1. to cut the tendons and muscles that are holding it to one side "hoping" it will readjust itself back into the socket. 2. drilling a hole in the kneecap and looping a tendon through it to get a "tether" effect... meaning if the kneecap wants to dislocate again the tendon will hold it back, though over time it will stretch. ew. or 3. brake the shin bone and screw it back into place so that the kneecap is back in the proper alignment. ALL THREE SUCK!

So, my dad and I went to discuss at a sushi restaurant... yes, I was distressed... and I needed sushi. He remembered his cousin (my second cousin) Dr. Hugh West is an orthopedic surgeon in Salt Lake right by the University of Utah. okay, this blog is getting long... long story short... Dr. West's tactics were a lot better and his surgery was a lot more stable and made the most sense, and most importantly... THE SCAR WOULD BE HALF AS LONG!!!! (though still 4 inches)... but this is opposed to 8 that Littoff wanted to cut here in Cali.

So I am having surgery on Tuesday July 8th, 2008. Dr. West is performing the operation. It will be at the new hospital they built in Murray, Utah. I will need to do a variation on option #3 Littoff gave me... but Dr. West's variation has a higher success rate and a faster recovery time. He will break my shin bone and screw it back so that my kneecap falls into the proper alignment. After Tuesday I will stay the night in the hospital... then I will need to be flat on my back for 7 days. Complete bed rest. I will be at my Nana and Papa's house just across the street from the Salt Lake Temple. I will be there till the 20th... then I am going to Boise to be with my Mom and completely recover. (HA! i really just want to see my sisters new baby!)

MORAL OF THE STORY!!!! COME VISIT ME!!! I hate being bored... lying down for an entire week scares me! MEH! so I'm going to give you the addresses where i will be and you will come see me and i will kill you in some card games and talk your ear off and ask you a million questions... sound like fun??? i thought so too!!!!

July 8th-9th (Surgery)

Hospital...

5848 S. 300 E. (Fashion Blvd.)

Murray, UT 84107

July 9th-20th (Bed-rest-of-death)

Nana and Papa's House

171 3rd Ave. #103

Salt Lake City, UT 84103

WISH ME LUCK!!! ...I've never had surgery before and have never been checked into a hospital! I'm scared!!! Pray for me! and COME VISIT ME!!!!

Summer Work

2008-06-02T13:35:00.000-06:00

HA!!! So AAAABOUT work. Welp, kind of a long story... but hey! you are reading my blog so you must have some jean time... since I am going to the Bahamas in the middle of June it has been really hard. I have tried to find a job. I applied to Applebee's [my late employer], Marie Calendar's, Starbucks, IHOP, some Doctors office, Islands, some steakhouse... and others but no luck. I wasn't trying that hard because I knew no one would hire me for a month... then let me vacay for a month out of the country then let me come back for another... It has just been a hard situation. SOOOO my dad... being the WONDERFUL man that he is. has let me be his personal assistant [slash personal slave] and I have been working around the house like crazy everyday. It has actually been really good for me, I have learned a lot. Wanna know examples? K!
I cleaned out the Spa in our backyard, emptying [how does that hose thing work!!! i still don't get it... where it is like the middle part of the hose and you suck one end and if it is lower than the other end the water comes out... crazy!!!] and refilling, balancing chemicals.
I'm working on online banking for my dad, but it isn't working out! If anyone knows how to do it i am in desperate need! Washington Mutual is ridiculous. Everyone should go to Wells Fargo! or Bank of America... but they don't have them in Utah. bah.
Paying Bills. Who knew it costs so much for adults to live! I'm so excited to pay my own bills!!! haha!
I organized his closet... my dad is THE most random person in the world. I'm not kidding! he has everything in there from Honda watches to bubbles to disco balls to every Dr. Seuss book ever written! It's ridiculous and fun at the same time.
I mow and trim the lawn every week. HA! who knew! I'm a gardener! it's fantastic, and surprisingly easy... it's like vacuuming... perfect lines and all! I enjoy it... plus it gives me a killer tan! whoot whoot!
I painted a room in our house. My dad rents out the rooms in our house to help out with money, slash to ruin my life [but it has helped me to deal with adversity and go with the flow and get use to roommates... especially older male ones. i think it has prepared me for my future... though it was an odd way to do so... hum.] Painting... some cream color... haha, it was fun, taping, unscrewing blinds and light switch thingies etc. meh.
Fixed sprinklers in the backyard... loves home depot!!!
Cleaning the house daily, trash, bathrooms [even the roommates... ew] kitchen daily.
Washing the motorcycle and the truck... Ashton gets very jealous.
And i have to say.... the most exciting of all... cutting down the monster of a bush slash tree that has infested the majority of our side yard since the beginning of time. this thing was a beast!!! and it has taken three days to cut down. "There was a saw involved" but no... a CHAINSAW! It was ridiculous. ME and JOEL with POWERTOOLS!!! HAHA, seriously fun but seriously dangerous... how did we not die?!?! it doesn't make sense! We had regular saws too... hedge clippers... a blower... shovel [weird word]... rake... ridic! There are PLENTY of pictures to document this wonderful event. HOURS! SCRAPES! CUTS! BUGS! CHAINSAW! GAS! OIL! TANS! haha, man people should have filmed us. seriously. Hum... welllll that is what I am doing for work this summer... more to come!