For the Blog Lovers!

Thanks for all the random messages requesting a post....and I am back for another installment on the blog.

Seeing that it is the middle of the night and I am not able to sleep (sometimes a common occurrence, sometimes not) I decided I had no excuse but to post the musings of my mind this fine evening (or morning).

First of all I'd just like to say that life is great, and I am one happy girl. I am trying as much as I can to embrace these two quotes:
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, It's about to learning to dance in the rain." AND "Come what may and LOVE IT." Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Really that sums up my thoughts on the hard things in life....especially the ones that last F O R E V E R! You can either suffer through it with a poopy attitude, or embrace it and do a little dancing! (because we all know how much I LOVE to dance, even for no reason)

With that said I am still plugging through all the crazy chemo and fun health things that go along with my FAP, but making some great friends in the process. Let me give you a glimpse into my fabulous friends up at the Huntsman.
1. Katie, my oncologist's nurse, has become one of my favorites. I call her on a regular basis, and love that she is always so nice in helping me out. We almost were up at Bear Lake at the same time this past summer. =)
2. Grace, the PA with my doctor. She is a superstar who has also been a recipient of my phone calls, mainly on a Friday when Katie is off, or when I need the docs opinion on something, but doc isn't around at the time. She is especially because she recently rode in the LOTOJA! What a winner.....one of these years I will join her cool team of riders!
3. All the nurses in the infusion clinic! I know it's not fair to group all those fine nurses together in one....but there are so many.....Karen, who we bonded over the Draper Rodeo last year (when i walked into the round of chemo after the rodeo she said she had seen me at the rodeo,...friends from the start) Laurel. My first nurse at chemo.....just a hoot of a person! The other week we were trying to come up with a name for the North side nurses and ended up making a phone call to one of her friends for a Harry Potter definition clarification....a funny time. My memory is spacing the names of the others I am thinking of (I will account that to the chemo brain....it really does exist). We have the nurse who loves Disneyland and makes me jealous when we talk about her fun trips there! I need to go to Disneyland. The many nurses who work their hearts out to help me (and every other patient there too!) to feel comfortable each time!
4. My friend Amelia. Granted I first met her in my ward, but she instantly became my favorite when I found out she worked at the Huntsman in clinic B. I have shared many good minutes and hours with her. She comes and hangs out with me when I have chemo sometimes, and even brought me the most delicious chocolate chip cookies once! She's a winner for sure. One day the people down at her clinic are going to tell me I can't visit her anymore, and my life may just end, because she makes those early morning blood draws worth it. =) Oh yes and lets not forget to mention she also will give me shots (ones that I should be capable of doing myself, but I just can't handle even the thought of giving myself a shot....sounds dangerous to me). LOVE HER.
5. All the nurses and other staff at the hospitals I encounter. My life is enhanced greatly by the great people I encounter when i got in for tests, blood draws, or endoscopies. I just had an endoscopy today (or I guess yesterday really if we shall be technical) and I had too much fun talking with the nurses while we were waiting for my turn (there was a two hour delay because of an emergency that one of the doctors had to do that delayed things....). The nurse was extra cool because she KNEW what FAP was....even knew one of my doctors. She had a great sense of humor too.
6. You are probably wondering if I will ever talk about the doctors that are the brains behind all of this....well you must know they are EQUALLY as fantastic as all the people I have spoken about. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love my doctors. First and foremost they know their stuff and they do a GREAT job. Second of all they also treat me as a person, even a friend. They know my name. They know my case. They say hi to me, even when I am not visiting their office and paying them to talk to me. Once I ran into one of my doctors up at the Point restaurant up on the 6th floor, when we both were eating lunch, and he said hi and then proceeded to introduce me to someone really important at the hospital (I can't remember who....I was just shocked that he did it in the first place) and then proceed to say nice things about me like I was one of his favorite patients! Really....how can you not love someone who says something like that. Another time I was waking up from a procedure and suddenly someone stopped and said my name, I looked up at it was my surgeon! He stopped and said hi and chatted for a second and said he saw my name on the schedule, but how nice for him to stop and say hi. (because I know I wasn't all there because I was just waking up....ha ha) It is just so delightful to associate and be taken care of by so many great doctors. I think I've even won over a few who were more about business at the start....ha ha. It is nice to know that they all know each other and associate together too. To know that they tell me that they have talked with the other doctors on their opinion of different situations of what they should do regarding different things that come up with me and my FAP.

I sure hope I didn't forget anyone.....if I did I will have to make a second installment.

So there's that. Things are going well as of right now. Just rolling along with the recent chemo and hoping it will do it's job soon!


Here may I pause and apologize for the lack of pictures.....I am lacking pictures of life recently....

Other things taking my time: SCHOOL! I can't believe it's year four of teaching. I still seems like YESTERDAY when I couldn't decide which job to take, and then stepping into the first day of teaching and being scared out of my mind that i was going to get to the that first concert and have NOTHING THAT SOUNDED LIKE MUSIC. Now I am trying to find instruments for all the kids in my classes, and trying to teach the LARGE amounts of students signed up. It's awesome! I end each day tired having filled every hour of my work day.

When work is done most days I have a few private trumpet lessons each day. It is especially fun to be teaching private lessons. I have some great students with who just light up my life every week.

Other than that i spend the rest of my hours with my sweet friends! I have so many great friends, and have made some fabulous ones up here in the sugarhood. I could give a blurb on many a people, just as I did earlier with my medical friends, but I think I'll save that for another post (sleep is soon going to take over...). Lets just say that I love my friends. I spend many a good evening and day with each and every one of them.

There is my life in a nutshell for now. Of course there are variations, like the fact that tomorrow is my friday for the week because we get Thursday and Friday off. what a great way to get ready for conference weekend. =)

One last shout out, this one to the G parents Whatcott! First of all 100 points for them taking me today to my endoscopy and hanging out for extra hours. =) They are about to leave on a mission to Riverside, California and I am sure going to miss them. Sundays won't quite be the same without visits to their house for dinner by grandma, dishes with grandpa, and games! BUT they will be a light to Riverside and be great friends to the people out there like the people at the Huntsman are to me. Thanks for your example of faith Grandma and Grandpa! I LOVE YOU!

Peace out for now...until later.