Hospitalized Anemaniacs

The first time I ever fainted was two Thursdays ago. It was the evening if the last day of school, on 'ay 23. I can't imagine being able to teach with my symptoms that followed. This is one of many ways that I felt watched over because of impeccable timing.

I went over to Dave's to visit him before I went to Oklahoma to volunteer in relief efforts. As soon as I entered his house, I was not feeling well. I went to his bathroom to throw up but was unable to. On my way out of the bathroom I fainted and Dave took care of me. 

I still felt good about going to Oklahoma. That weekend I was weak and pale but otherwise normal. My  trip with Noelle, Sheredith, Ashley, and Julia was a huge success. We volunteered with cleanup on Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday night I became sick in the middle of the night while staying with my friend Eric at his apartment in downtown OKC.  When I fainted twice in his bathroom, he thought I was banging around looking in his cupboards. When I puked, Noelle got me Sprite.  I had stayed at the Baird's home, and my new friend Sarah Lewis, a cousin of my BYU friend Nicole. I'm glad I wasn't sick in Sarah's house, with all of her little ones running around. 

I spent Sunday night in my sleeping bag in Eric's hallway, a few inches from the bathroom. He got me crackers, Gatorade, and Tylenol cold/flu, which lowered my fever. My vomit and stool was darker than usual, but I didn't think much of it (especially since I hadn't thrown up in a decade).

I spent Memorial Day watching the new season of arrested development, while Noelle and Eric cleaned debris from a donkey farm. I was so weak I had to crawl around. On Tuesday Noelle and I drove to Ace, Everly, and TK's home in Albuquerque. Noelle had to do most of the driving, and then did 10 more hours on her own to get to Utah. I stayed the night feeling sick and drove back.  

I figured I had the flu. I watched movies and read books while my roommate amber helped to take care of me. I had had a cough since January, so on that Thursday I went to a lab to get tested in case I had valley fever. By Friday I was still dizzy and weak, so I called a couple family doctors. They couldn't get any new patient appointment in till the next Tuesday or Thursday. By Saturday I wasn't better, and hasn't heard back about my blood tests, so I went to urgent care.

I guess my urgent care doctor asked lots of good questions, but I guess he didn't believe me on one of them. The first test he gave me was a urine sample. Nope, I'm not pregnant. Nope, not sexually active. He decided I was having a mono relapse. ( It stays in your blood, so easy to get a false positive) This wasn't like when I had mono before. I'm not sleepy, I'm weak. He offered to test my blood, so I took him up on it.

On Sunday I took it easy. I hadn't eaten a real meal all weak, so my clothes fit great. I thought my teeth were turning yellow, but really I was just pale. I had my home teacher give me a Priesthood blessing. He blessed me with comfort and an added measure of the Spirit. I was blessed with patience with the doctors as they find out what's wrong with me, and patience with myself as I heal before returning to physical activity.

Monday morning, urgent care called and told me to go to the ER right away. They said I had profound anemia, my hemoglobin was too low, and I'll probably need a blood transfusion.

This call was not what I expected! I woke up my roommate Sheredith, and she took me. It turns out normal hemoglobin levels are between 12 and 15. If you are below 10, you're anemic. If below 8, you need a blood transfusion. I was a 5.4.  Doctors think I was bleeding internally faster than I could generate new blood. They have me 2 units of blood. By Tuesday I was a 7.5, and on Wednesday a 7.9. 

They admitted me into the hospital, even though I tried talking them out of it. They figured I was internally bleeding. I had an endoscopy on Tuesday and a colonoscopy on Wednesday. They couldn't find any bleeding so they think it stopped. My hemoglobin levels went up to 7.5 on Tuesday after the transfusion, and then to 7.9. They think the bleeding stopped and that my body is making blood again. 

I had some awesome visitors: Sheredith, Dave, KariAnn, Erin, Blake, Elise, Lindsey, Ashley, Jeff, Amber, Brittany, my home teacher Bennett, and my visiting teacher Linda. 

They let me go home on Wednesday. I'm still very weak. I'll meet with a blood doctor next week, and a couple other doctors after that. 

My Classroom (after)

Here's my classroom right before the open house!

Bachelorette pad

Here are some pictures of my friend's house I'll be living in! It's a 5 bedroom in Mesa. I think we will have some good times there.

I prayed super hard that I would make good friends there. It's scary to start from scratch! Luckily I ran into my old friends Tyson, Ben, and brian. Ben forwarded many texts so I would know about gun events. Brian happened to be at many of the events so he proceeded to introduce me to everyone he knew there. Tyson was my dance partner at byu, who invited me to hike flat iron with a bunch of his friends. I met so many nice people! I have a couple dates set up for when I get back, and I'm excited to strengthen those friendships

My classroom (before)

Here are pictures of my classroom! When I go in tomorrow it should be carpeted and painted. I'll be spending the next couple weeks turning this room into a second grade classroom!

Stick shifts and safety belts

2 weeks ago in the temple I felt prompted to go to arizona ASAP to visit the school I've been interviewing at, and to move some stuff down. I decided to go the day after school got out, during memorial day weekend.

Everything was crazy though. My options were:
A)ride down with a friend. I had a friend going anyway, but something came up
2)fly. I had sky miles, that ended up not being enough... I wouldn't be able to move anything down though, and I would have to rent a car on top of that
3) rent a car. This one I researched a ton. Budget was cheapest but after I reserved it I saw I had to be 25. Over the phone Avis told me I didn't have to be 25 if I paid with a credit card, but later found out there was a $30/day fee. If I were honest about my age and got insurance it would cost $350 plus gas for a standard size car.... Yuck.
D) pay a friend $150 or so to trade cars with them for the weekend. Some friends did what they could but for some good reason or another couldn't... How nice of them to try. Some people I thought I was close with like that didn't even look into it.
5) buy a car... You could buy a car in an evening, right? Why not?

I went to the temple and did initiatories on Thursday, the day before I left. I went with option seis (not listed), to take my truck. We have all accepted as common knowledge that my truck has a hard time accelerating, and has some other quirks. No one even suggested I drive it, but I received confidence it would make it.

I told noelle my plan, and we decided I really just had to have my trick work on the way there. It would suck if I were stranded with a truck full of teaching stuff and missed my interview. If it broke down after, I could hitchhike/fly/buy a new car.

I prayed super hard and felt like I should go. It must sound crazy to anyone who knows my truck! Noe, my mechanic, said he thought it could make it. My friend Jeremey from my ward helped me top off the fluids beforehand. I have had my truck for a year and a half and never taken it past salt lake, and I've probably only made that trip a handful of times.

I found myself trekking down I-15 during holiday traffic, with a rusty old truck packed with all my teaching stuff. I left right after school on the last day of school and drove nonstop.

My speedometer can't go past 85, which made getting pulled over for speeding less if a concern. My strategy was to pick up speed on downhill sections, set the cruise control, and hope no one cuts me off and made me lose speed. My highway speed ranged from 30-80. The parts under 50mph were rough, but Oscar was a trooper! What a miracle that we made it the 11 hours...

Job update

I turned down the offer from challenger and Levine. I really liked Levine, but the 40 hour commute and a brand new school could mean no life for me. I'll need time to establish a social life and find balance in a new town. When I decided to turn it down, I felt better.

I still want to work at Gilbert district. I was so impressed with them, and felt good about it. The hr director emailed me and said the principal at Patterson elementary would call me. The principal was a connection through Beth's mother, so I already heard good things. A few years ago, they were rated the best place to work in Gilbert, and it was the first time an elementary school had won. They are one of 17 a+ schools in az. Impressive, huh?

I had a 40 minute phone interview with the principal. The next day, we attempted a FaceTime interview, but ended up having a 30 minute phone interview.

It's for a 2nd grade position. There are 3 teachers, and they are adding another class because they need it. It's a mile or two from where I want to live. It's a good, good school. I have such a good feeling about it. It sounds like just what I want. I've decided of they offer me the job, I'll take it. There were 120 applicants for his 2 positions. He said he would talk to the hr director and see what to do next, and to call him if I need anything, and that he wanted to get it set up quickly. It sounds like I got the job, but it wasn't an official offer, so I'm hoping it turns into an offer!

My Free Hawaii Trip

Okay, it wasn't completely free. I got hooked up with tickets a hundred bucks each way though. I went with my friend Brian who works for Delta and wanted to go anyway, so invited me. I made lots of cool friends and did some cool stuff.-We hiked to Waimea Falls. It was an easy 1 mile hike through the jungle to a gorgeous waterfall. We jumped off some small ledges, and watched people cliffjump for the first and last time.-Swap Meet! Free samples, postcards and jewelry for my students, and an awesome Yukelele.-Sightseeing: Waikiki, Pearl Harbor, the Poli Lookout-Waimea Bay: We buried each other in the sand, jumped off the big rock, went bouldering, swam, climbed trees, and boogeyboarded.-I was able to go through the Laie Temple. It was so beautiful! -The Polynesian Cultural Center was amazing! I loved the evening show, "The Breath of Life". I loved the Tongan and Samoan shows the best. I love the Tahitian dancing best. The boat show with all of the countries was impressive. -Snorkeling with giant sea turtles, Brian, and tons of exotic fish-