Cami Falling for Fall

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!!

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!!!

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

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!