Third post in two days.. crazy! i find as i blog more, i want to blog more and more and more.. maybe i SHOULD start keeping a journal.. but i'm afraid i would become like Starla and take two hours a night to write everything. Goodness knows i don't even go into thoughts and feelings and such on here.. and it still takes me a long time.
I didn't end up getting to bed until after four this morning. I was in bed at 3:30 (i had homework and i had to read my scriptures for half an hour), but then my stupid cough wouldn't go away, so i went ahead and left my room so i wouldn't wake my roommate up. I made some hot milk and honey (my late-night treat - they are delicious), and waited until my throat had calmed down. Then i finally went to bed. I didn't go to the temple this morning - as a matter of fact, for the first week this semester, no one did. But that's okay, because we got the opportunity to go to the Draper temple to do baptisms this afternoon. It was such a great experience - I got to do 7 of Starla's ancestors names. It was so great. After going to the Nashville temple and the Provo temple, both of which are tiny, the Draper temple seemed massive- and the way the temple is built, the baptismal font is on the side of a hill (ish), so there are giant floor-to-ceiling windows that let in gorgeous amounts of sunlight. And the bathrooms are MASSIVE! you don't have to try and squeeze past people every two steps. I wish i could describe how amazing it was to be there with my closest friends. The nine of "us" went - me, steven, steven, nathan, starla, heidi, ashley, carly, and rachel. To be able to look around the confirmation room, and see all of them together in white was astounding.
After we went to the temple, we came home and all went to the rugby game. Rugby is hilarious! It's like football, but with no pads or guards, and the clock doesn't stop, and there aren't many rules - if you get knocked over with the ball, you just pass it to the next team member, and they keep going until they are tackled, then they pass it on, and so on. It's so funny to watch, and it's really fast-paced because the ball rarely stops. Pretty much the only time play stops is if a goal is scored or someone on the team gets hurt. Which, sadly, happens. Rugby is a tough sport.. you have no protection, and it turns into this free-for-all pileup scrimmage. It's crazy! but lots of fun to watch.
Then, we came home and had pizza! Starla's mom made us a pepperoni pizza that we brought home and heated up, and then Starla and I made two more pizzas: one half cheese/half pineapple, and the other one was chicken broccoli ranch. They were delicious, if i can say that without bragging. Now, a lot of people are playing games, but i feel really antisocial. i think i'm tired. I have sooo much to do tomorrow. Two tests to study for, a test to take, two papers to write, math homework to do, a chapter of bio to read, and a chapter of government to read. Let's see.. total time required? (2)+(2)+(2)+(3)+(1)+(1)+(1.5)=12.5 hours. if i wake up at 8, maybe i can do something tomorrow night. Maybe. i highly doubt it. oh, and i need to plan my life.. aka next semester's classes. i have to sign up soon.
Alright.. i'm pretty sure i need to sleep. i'm off to bed.. and it's not even midnight! it's a miracle..
Friday, March 27, 2009
DiGeorge
yeah, i know this is the second post today, but i figured i would share what i had learned.. i think it's neat.
So, when my sister was born, she was born with a disease called "Thymic Dysplasia". Well, being in microbiology, we learn all about the different diseases and what they do, and our section about a week ago was over immune deficiency disease. Well, nowhere in our book does it mention "thymic dysplasia".. i knew it was kind of a big deal, but i figured it must have been rare, or not nearly as life-threatening as i had always believed. So, i decided to do some research.
They've changed the name - it is now grouped under the name "DiGeorge anomaly" .. which IS mentioned in my book. Pretty much, it's a fatal disease where the patient is born without a thymus gland - thus, no T-cells, and is susceptible to any type of virus. This is a big deal - the body can't fight off infections. I started looking up more things - the DiGeorge anomaly typically leads to facial deformities, severe cardiac problems, cleft palates, mental retardation, stunted growth and more in the few survivors. It IS treatable - but not very well, and the patient is left much more susceptible to death from infections. And the craziest thing of all - it has a mortality rate of 86% after you are six months old.
I learned two things from this:
first off, it reaffirmed my thoughts that i definitely want to go into pediatric medicine. I'm still leaning toward physical therapy, but it would be neat to be able to work in a field where i could make improvements to the healthcare system, through research and experimentation. These things fascinate me (enough that i've spent quite a bit of time researching it!), and i want so badly to be able to help kids, so that they don't have to suffer nearly as much. we've come so far already, and there is still soooo much to do. Thank goodness for modern medicine.
Second- this story is a testimony-builder. I knew, from a young age, that my sister would have to get transfusions every month, for as long as she lived. which they predicted wouldn't be past the age of ten. however, right after my parents first joined the church, (my sister was probably around ten, i think..) my sister got a blessing of health. The doctor ran some tests, and were astounded when everything came back completely normal. She'd had this all her life, and so this was majorly miraculous. Now, my sister is 24 (ish), and she's extraordinarily healthy. There are only two remnants of her disease left - her scars from the time she almost died of chicken pox, and her susceptibility to strep throat. I wish i could explain to you guys what a miracle this is, after studying so much in microbiology. With most immune diseases, there is only short-term treatment. With the Lord's help, my sister never again needed treatment. how cool is that?
So, when my sister was born, she was born with a disease called "Thymic Dysplasia". Well, being in microbiology, we learn all about the different diseases and what they do, and our section about a week ago was over immune deficiency disease. Well, nowhere in our book does it mention "thymic dysplasia".. i knew it was kind of a big deal, but i figured it must have been rare, or not nearly as life-threatening as i had always believed. So, i decided to do some research.
They've changed the name - it is now grouped under the name "DiGeorge anomaly" .. which IS mentioned in my book. Pretty much, it's a fatal disease where the patient is born without a thymus gland - thus, no T-cells, and is susceptible to any type of virus. This is a big deal - the body can't fight off infections. I started looking up more things - the DiGeorge anomaly typically leads to facial deformities, severe cardiac problems, cleft palates, mental retardation, stunted growth and more in the few survivors. It IS treatable - but not very well, and the patient is left much more susceptible to death from infections. And the craziest thing of all - it has a mortality rate of 86% after you are six months old.
I learned two things from this:
first off, it reaffirmed my thoughts that i definitely want to go into pediatric medicine. I'm still leaning toward physical therapy, but it would be neat to be able to work in a field where i could make improvements to the healthcare system, through research and experimentation. These things fascinate me (enough that i've spent quite a bit of time researching it!), and i want so badly to be able to help kids, so that they don't have to suffer nearly as much. we've come so far already, and there is still soooo much to do. Thank goodness for modern medicine.
Second- this story is a testimony-builder. I knew, from a young age, that my sister would have to get transfusions every month, for as long as she lived. which they predicted wouldn't be past the age of ten. however, right after my parents first joined the church, (my sister was probably around ten, i think..) my sister got a blessing of health. The doctor ran some tests, and were astounded when everything came back completely normal. She'd had this all her life, and so this was majorly miraculous. Now, my sister is 24 (ish), and she's extraordinarily healthy. There are only two remnants of her disease left - her scars from the time she almost died of chicken pox, and her susceptibility to strep throat. I wish i could explain to you guys what a miracle this is, after studying so much in microbiology. With most immune diseases, there is only short-term treatment. With the Lord's help, my sister never again needed treatment. how cool is that?
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Spent most of my time last night goofing off.. i've been avoiding the fact that i have upcoming tests in order to give myself a bit of a break - and it's helped. I DID do homework last night, but only as much as was necessary. Then, joy of joys, i was in bed by midnight!! amazing. However, i managed to sleep until 10:30 today - wow. I crashed. And missed math class, but that's okay, because on Thursdays our TA teaches, so it's not a big deal. We don't typically learn much on Thursdays. Just review problems. And i evidently needed the sleep.
I know the sleep still wasn't all the restful, though.. i coughed for half the night. I distinctly remember waking up at midnight, one, and two o'clock coughing, and i suspect that i was coughing while i was half asleep, too. I managed to wake up Rachel, which makes me sad, but i can't help it.. this stupid cough won't go away. I'm not sick, i don't think. Actually, i'm fairly positive that it's from choking on a piece of bread on Sunday - i think i cut my throat, and irritated it. It's typically okay during the day, as long as i make sure to drink enough or chew gum. But during the night, i'm pretty sure it hates me. yup. it's not happy with me.
After going to 292, Heidi, Starla, and I decided to grab lunch at the Cougareat. (random side note: the chicken calzones from Freschetta are amazing!). we had a great time, with lots of inside jokes and laughing. Steven and Nathan joined us.. i love our random lunches. It's gone from being on Fridays to Fridays and Thursdays, and now we all eat lunch together on Fri, Thurs, and Tues. I typically skip tuesdays, though, because i have too much stuff to do.
Went to Biology.. where we filmed our rap. Well, the second half. We had a group project to do, and we decided to do a rap. on biology.. here's one of my stanzas.
Due to the cessation of the smallpox vaccine
The rise of this disease is something quite obscene
Lesions on the body, lesions on the head
Monkeypox leaves 10% of all its victims dead
isn't it a work of art?
Now i'm working on homework. well.. kind of. Blogging. but close enough :)
and now i'm really going to work on my homework.
side note: temples are taking over. everything.
I know the sleep still wasn't all the restful, though.. i coughed for half the night. I distinctly remember waking up at midnight, one, and two o'clock coughing, and i suspect that i was coughing while i was half asleep, too. I managed to wake up Rachel, which makes me sad, but i can't help it.. this stupid cough won't go away. I'm not sick, i don't think. Actually, i'm fairly positive that it's from choking on a piece of bread on Sunday - i think i cut my throat, and irritated it. It's typically okay during the day, as long as i make sure to drink enough or chew gum. But during the night, i'm pretty sure it hates me. yup. it's not happy with me.
After going to 292, Heidi, Starla, and I decided to grab lunch at the Cougareat. (random side note: the chicken calzones from Freschetta are amazing!). we had a great time, with lots of inside jokes and laughing. Steven and Nathan joined us.. i love our random lunches. It's gone from being on Fridays to Fridays and Thursdays, and now we all eat lunch together on Fri, Thurs, and Tues. I typically skip tuesdays, though, because i have too much stuff to do.
Went to Biology.. where we filmed our rap. Well, the second half. We had a group project to do, and we decided to do a rap. on biology.. here's one of my stanzas.
Due to the cessation of the smallpox vaccine
The rise of this disease is something quite obscene
Lesions on the body, lesions on the head
Monkeypox leaves 10% of all its victims dead
isn't it a work of art?
Now i'm working on homework. well.. kind of. Blogging. but close enough :)
and now i'm really going to work on my homework.
side note: temples are taking over. everything.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Umm.. yeah. i'm bad at this.. it's only been four days.. that's not horrible, right?
Sunday was pretty great.. I got the opportunity to go see the Draper temple dedication .. well, watch it on broadcast at the Marriott Center. I struggled to stay awake during the talks, but I really loved the rest of the temple dedication. It was so cool to be at the Marriott Center, and look around, and see all of the temple-worthy people that filled the stadium. I especially loved at the end, singing "The Spirit of God". It was an amazing experience. I love Sundays - i don't think that i would do nearly as well without them. Especially since i decided not to do homework on sundays. It gives me some nice bonding time with my friends, and a day off from school. Oh.. Me, Starla, and Heidi made an omelette.. it was massive! it wouldn't even fit on the plate.. i think it was like 8 inches long, 6 inches wide, and about 2 inches thick.. lots of cheese, broccoli, and ham. There will be pictures as soon as Carly gets them up on facebook =] and tunnel singing was amazing, as always.. Steven announced his call to Sweden. yay for missions!
Monday, we had FHE - it was amazing! Brenna gave a short lesson on hope and comfort, and then Kate put forth a great suggestion: we all got "father's blessing" from our FHE brothers/dad/sons. It was my favorite FHE that we've had yet. To be able to see all of our brothers gathered around with their hands on my sister's head, blessing them with comfort and strength was really uplifting. I had to laugh, though, when Dallin gave me my blessing. Every other blessing had started out "I give thee a blessing of peace and comfort." Dallin put his hands on my head and promptly said "Dana, I give you a blessing of patience." It figures. But it's exactly what i needed. I'm sooooooooo thankful for the power of the priesthood. I don't think i'd be able to make it through school without it. Even cooler, though, was seeing my brothers give each other blessings. The spirit was so strong in the room for the whole hour.
Tuesday, not much happened, at least in my life. Went to classes, came home, did homework, end of story. I'm sure something fun must have happened .... but i don't think so. Oh well - around here, calm days are always welcome.
Wednesday. today. Pranked our FHE brothers :). We took 1500 dixie cups, filled them with water, and put them all over their kitchen floor.. we completely filled the floor! it was amazing, and there will be pictures as soon as Kate gets them put up on facebook.. exciting!! I hope they like it ;) It took us (me, kate, holly, ashley, and starla) about an hour.. and their kitchen is LARGE! (the same size as mine.. without the Love Sac). i wish i could see their expressions when they walk in..
Can you tell i'm bad at getting my own pictures? maybe one of these days i will learn to carry my camera..
Sunday was pretty great.. I got the opportunity to go see the Draper temple dedication .. well, watch it on broadcast at the Marriott Center. I struggled to stay awake during the talks, but I really loved the rest of the temple dedication. It was so cool to be at the Marriott Center, and look around, and see all of the temple-worthy people that filled the stadium. I especially loved at the end, singing "The Spirit of God". It was an amazing experience. I love Sundays - i don't think that i would do nearly as well without them. Especially since i decided not to do homework on sundays. It gives me some nice bonding time with my friends, and a day off from school. Oh.. Me, Starla, and Heidi made an omelette.. it was massive! it wouldn't even fit on the plate.. i think it was like 8 inches long, 6 inches wide, and about 2 inches thick.. lots of cheese, broccoli, and ham. There will be pictures as soon as Carly gets them up on facebook =] and tunnel singing was amazing, as always.. Steven announced his call to Sweden. yay for missions!
Monday, we had FHE - it was amazing! Brenna gave a short lesson on hope and comfort, and then Kate put forth a great suggestion: we all got "father's blessing" from our FHE brothers/dad/sons. It was my favorite FHE that we've had yet. To be able to see all of our brothers gathered around with their hands on my sister's head, blessing them with comfort and strength was really uplifting. I had to laugh, though, when Dallin gave me my blessing. Every other blessing had started out "I give thee a blessing of peace and comfort." Dallin put his hands on my head and promptly said "Dana, I give you a blessing of patience." It figures. But it's exactly what i needed. I'm sooooooooo thankful for the power of the priesthood. I don't think i'd be able to make it through school without it. Even cooler, though, was seeing my brothers give each other blessings. The spirit was so strong in the room for the whole hour.
Tuesday, not much happened, at least in my life. Went to classes, came home, did homework, end of story. I'm sure something fun must have happened .... but i don't think so. Oh well - around here, calm days are always welcome.
Wednesday. today. Pranked our FHE brothers :). We took 1500 dixie cups, filled them with water, and put them all over their kitchen floor.. we completely filled the floor! it was amazing, and there will be pictures as soon as Kate gets them put up on facebook.. exciting!! I hope they like it ;) It took us (me, kate, holly, ashley, and starla) about an hour.. and their kitchen is LARGE! (the same size as mine.. without the Love Sac). i wish i could see their expressions when they walk in..
Can you tell i'm bad at getting my own pictures? maybe one of these days i will learn to carry my camera..
Saturday, March 21, 2009
So, thursday I studied all day for my biology test, and i ended up with a 78, which makes me happy, compared to the 66 i got on the last one. plus, you can take the test twice, and if you get above a 75 on the first one, he'll take the higher of the two tests, which makes me insanely happy.. i'm hoping i can raise my grade quite a bit.
After studying for three hours and then taking the test, i got home at about 8:30, and then went to Steven's mission call.. he's going to Sweden!!! So far we've got Nathan in Cambodia, Nate in France, Eric in Texas, Kirk in Ohio, Steven in Sweden, Jacob in Tailand, and more.. that's only my friends, not all the guys.. our ward has about three mission calls a week that are being opened now. Then, Brindy (Starla's little sister) came over to spend the night, and our 'group' had our Thursday-night Temple Devotional. This is one of my favorite parts of the week.. we all get together and spend about an hour reading scriptures and conference talks and singing hymns to prepare to go to the temple the next morning.
Thursday night, i got about two hours of sleep..and got up at 4:45 to go to the temple. This week, Brindy drove us (it figures the only one with a car is 16, and doesn't live close enough to take us everywhere..), which was great. We were back home by 7 and i attempted to do my math homework, but i fell asleep. i slept until 9:40, went to class, came back, and slept from 12-3. now, the fun starts. Heidi borrowed a van from her aunt, and we took 15 of us (starla, ashley, rachel, me, carly, heidi, steven, steven, katie, jill, brian, peter, autsin brindy, and brenna) to Heidi's house.. they fed us dinner, we played missionary tag and jumped on the trampoline and swung on the swingset, and then we went to her high school to see "Into the Woods". The play was .... interesting. That's about all i can say to describe it. The production was pretty good, though. Then, we went back to Heidi's house to play with her family, and drove back home. It was pretty fun, but resulted in not much sleep... Everyone congregrated outside after we went home, and so i didn't get to bed until after two.. and not asleep untili 3:30. whoops :) but then, i slept until 12:30 (i desperately needed it), so all was well
and i understand that this probably boring - this has become my journal, more than anything. and i'm too tired to write interestingly... it's been a long and stressful week.
After studying for three hours and then taking the test, i got home at about 8:30, and then went to Steven's mission call.. he's going to Sweden!!! So far we've got Nathan in Cambodia, Nate in France, Eric in Texas, Kirk in Ohio, Steven in Sweden, Jacob in Tailand, and more.. that's only my friends, not all the guys.. our ward has about three mission calls a week that are being opened now. Then, Brindy (Starla's little sister) came over to spend the night, and our 'group' had our Thursday-night Temple Devotional. This is one of my favorite parts of the week.. we all get together and spend about an hour reading scriptures and conference talks and singing hymns to prepare to go to the temple the next morning.
Thursday night, i got about two hours of sleep..and got up at 4:45 to go to the temple. This week, Brindy drove us (it figures the only one with a car is 16, and doesn't live close enough to take us everywhere..), which was great. We were back home by 7 and i attempted to do my math homework, but i fell asleep. i slept until 9:40, went to class, came back, and slept from 12-3. now, the fun starts. Heidi borrowed a van from her aunt, and we took 15 of us (starla, ashley, rachel, me, carly, heidi, steven, steven, katie, jill, brian, peter, autsin brindy, and brenna) to Heidi's house.. they fed us dinner, we played missionary tag and jumped on the trampoline and swung on the swingset, and then we went to her high school to see "Into the Woods". The play was .... interesting. That's about all i can say to describe it. The production was pretty good, though. Then, we went back to Heidi's house to play with her family, and drove back home. It was pretty fun, but resulted in not much sleep... Everyone congregrated outside after we went home, and so i didn't get to bed until after two.. and not asleep untili 3:30. whoops :) but then, i slept until 12:30 (i desperately needed it), so all was well
and i understand that this probably boring - this has become my journal, more than anything. and i'm too tired to write interestingly... it's been a long and stressful week.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Hospital?
So, today was totally unproductive as far as homework goes.. I slept from about 3:30-6:30 this morning, and at 6:30 my roommate Allie came out into the kitchen (i slept on the couch). She was complaining of really bad stomach pain, to the point where she was throwing up and doubled over crying, poor darling. So, we woke up Sam and he took us to the hospital. Well, it turns out Allie had acute appendicitis and had to have emergency surgery. I stayed at the hospital with her all day, from 7:00-4:30. Thank goodness, everything turned out well. Allie's surgery went really well, and she's doing fine, but meanwhile, i didn't think to grab my homework, so i didn't do much. Actually, the only thing i thought to grab on my way out was a banana and a granola bar. And i thought to brush my teeth. Thank goodness. but that's it.. no changing clothes (good thing i fell asleep in my jeans!), or brushing hair, or fixing contacts.. just grab food and run.
I really like hospitals.. maybe it's my fascination with health, but everything they do seems so neat. Frustrating at times, but neat.. i like wandering around looking at the different chemicals and such, and what they do, and finding out the purpose of the different machines. i even like the smell to a certain extent.. yeah, i'm odd.
It's funny to me how crazy tired you can get from sitting in a hospital all day.. i didn't do anything except sit with Allie for hours, or in the waiting room when she was in surgery, but it's still draining and exhausting. I fell asleep in a chair for a few minutes, while Allie was dozing, totally without meaning to. My amazing roommate Kate brought me a delicious lunch (dry cereal, a half-eaten can of applesauce, and a PB&J sandwich.. but i loved it =]), so that gave me a bit more energy, but it's still weird how exhausted i am..
After i got home from the hospital at 4:30, i ate dinner, and took an 1 1/2 hour nap, which helped immensely.. worked on some homework, ate another dinner, worked on more homework, and now it's homework time again!! yay for being a college kid with a test tomorrow.. :)
And i'm amazed i managed to make my day last for this long of a post.
I really like hospitals.. maybe it's my fascination with health, but everything they do seems so neat. Frustrating at times, but neat.. i like wandering around looking at the different chemicals and such, and what they do, and finding out the purpose of the different machines. i even like the smell to a certain extent.. yeah, i'm odd.
It's funny to me how crazy tired you can get from sitting in a hospital all day.. i didn't do anything except sit with Allie for hours, or in the waiting room when she was in surgery, but it's still draining and exhausting. I fell asleep in a chair for a few minutes, while Allie was dozing, totally without meaning to. My amazing roommate Kate brought me a delicious lunch (dry cereal, a half-eaten can of applesauce, and a PB&J sandwich.. but i loved it =]), so that gave me a bit more energy, but it's still weird how exhausted i am..
After i got home from the hospital at 4:30, i ate dinner, and took an 1 1/2 hour nap, which helped immensely.. worked on some homework, ate another dinner, worked on more homework, and now it's homework time again!! yay for being a college kid with a test tomorrow.. :)
And i'm amazed i managed to make my day last for this long of a post.
it's 2:48 am.. (do you know where your children are? lol).. and i have so much to do. Currently, for the rest of tonight, i have to finish studying and taking notes on 3 1/2 chapters of biology, proofread and edit two papers for Gov, do both my online and written math homework, and read my BoM for half an hour. There's not enough time in the day. and yet, i'm writing a blog post. Heidi, you should love me.. this is for you. I decided if you can keep up on yours, i can too. Just don't expect it to be coherent or interesting at 2:50 in the morning..
today (well.. yesterday.) was kind of boring. just classes. i think. it's early enough i can't quite remember. i spent like 5 hours in heidi's room studying. Oh, we had a "family" dinner.. our next year family, plus Steven Perry and Nathan. Rachel made lasagna.. it was amazingly delicious. and then i proceeded to study some more. Isn't that such an interesting day? *rolls eyes*
Tomorrow should be about the same.. studying, studying, studying, and more studying. Stupid bio test.. 7 chapters is a LOT of material to memorize. But, Steven perry is opening his mission call!!!! sweet. So many boys are going so many places.. like Nathan going to Cambodia! I can't wait to eventually get my mission call. It'll be exciting.
yeah, i really think it's time to be productive again. and my computer is about to die. although, it's told me that there's 3 minutes left for the past 10 minutes.. it did that for two hours once.
ugh.. sleep.
Happy (late) St. Patrick's Day!
today (well.. yesterday.) was kind of boring. just classes. i think. it's early enough i can't quite remember. i spent like 5 hours in heidi's room studying. Oh, we had a "family" dinner.. our next year family, plus Steven Perry and Nathan. Rachel made lasagna.. it was amazingly delicious. and then i proceeded to study some more. Isn't that such an interesting day? *rolls eyes*
Tomorrow should be about the same.. studying, studying, studying, and more studying. Stupid bio test.. 7 chapters is a LOT of material to memorize. But, Steven perry is opening his mission call!!!! sweet. So many boys are going so many places.. like Nathan going to Cambodia! I can't wait to eventually get my mission call. It'll be exciting.
yeah, i really think it's time to be productive again. and my computer is about to die. although, it's told me that there's 3 minutes left for the past 10 minutes.. it did that for two hours once.
ugh.. sleep.
Happy (late) St. Patrick's Day!
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