Wow, has it really been 3 months since my last post? That's pretty bad, but not unexpected. A lot has happened in the last three months. Jakson and Xander started school for one. I started a post about way back when they actually started, but it's kind of lost some of it's relevance now. In case you're wondering they both love school and they are both smart little guys. Halloween was a blast. I got to scare lots of kids with my freakish costume. Unortunately, I didn't get many good pictures. I think my brother Steve got some. If you read this send me those pics! Thanksgiving was also great. I filled up twice, got sick, the boys played with cousins of all sorts, Erika got to hang with less-frequently-seen family and it was very laid back. My kinda day. I guess the biggest news and most frustration comes from selling our house.
We sold our home in Provo about 2 months ago. We weren't really expecting it to sell, but it did. At the last minute. We had stopped looking for other places to live and planned on fixing up our home more to our liking. Then a family came through and offered what we were asking so we sold it. Since we didn't have another place to live we had to start seriously looking again. We found a place we really like in AF, but that has been the up-track(crappy part) of a rollcoaster one too many times so we said forget it after trying to work it out for a month and a half. we decided on another home in East Lehi that we really like as well and if all goes well we will be moving in next weekend. We have been living in Travis and beverly's basement so we are excited to have some room to roam again! We are VERY thankful to them for letting us stay with them and be a nuisance while we sort out the house situation. We only meant to be there for a month or less, but they've been very accommodating and we're grateful for that.
I thought I'd just catch everyone up on what's going on in our lives. The stress is always here, but the joy and love is here with it so life is good!
....oh yeah. I also added a few new songs to the mix on the left. I don't filter my music as much as others so I can't promise you'll like it, but I do. And I will be better about updating this once we are in our new home!
We're still here!
Boyz to Men, ABC BBD
If you grew up in my generation you know who Boys II men is. They are the original boy band. Back in the day (and even now ;)) theirs were the songs we made out to. I remember singing karaoke to their songs a few times even. So, when we heard they were coming to perform Erika got us some tickets. I wasn't sure what to expect. Honestly, I'm not a huge concert-goer. I wasn't super excited to go, but erika sure was. I have to say that it ended up being a blast! The concert was at the Scera in Orem. Outdoor concerts are so much more fun than indoor ones. We showed up half an hour early and the place was PACKED! I was surprised. Once we got in we met Caesar and Sarah there. We were lucky enough to find some decent seats in the middle. The only annoying thing about our seats was the Asian family in front of us. For some reason the dad felt the need to hold his 6-year old son on his shoulders the whole time. Luckily I sat next to a college girl, Leslie I think was her name, who was cool and ended up becoming my best friend ;)LOL. She got the Asian family to sit down out of the way. Problem Solved.The first few acts were honestly pretty gay except for seeing a 12-year old girl just wail! It was amazing to see this little girl fromAlpine sing her heart out better than all the other performers she was competing against. It was a sort of Utah-Idol type thing and this little girl represented!Once they were done I was fully expecting to see the Boyz II Men guys roll out in their wheelchairs and serenade everyone their with raspy old voices. I mean, c'mon. They were old when I was young. Realistically they are probably only 10-15 years older than me so when they strolled out onto the stage unassisted by wheelchairs, crutches, or canes I wasn't as surprised as I originally thought. They put on a GREAT show! They had everyone singing and dancing. It's not often you see big acts (once upon a time anyway) nowadays that synchronize their dancing and harmonize their singing so well. It was such a great show that they even came back out after it was over for an encore. After they show we took some pictures with Caesar and Sarah and headed home. Unfortunately for my new friend Leslie she eventually realized that Erika is indeed my wife and she would have to go home alone. Would I do a Boyz II Men concert again? Fo Sho. | ||
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It's always sunny
WARNING - the above clip contains hilarity of a vulgar manner. Do not watch the above clip without parental permission.
I found a new favorite show. There's not a lot of TV I like to take the time to watch. but I do enjoy a few shows. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a show that I've wanted to watch since it came out, but it's never on at a good time. Thanks to hulu.com I can watch it whenever I want. I'm a very generous pserson and like to share little nuggets of joy with others when I can even though I know a lot of you out there will just find this particular show offensive. Maybe that's what draws me to it. I'm not afraid of political incorrectness. Enjoy!
Best Vacation Ever
Joe has been slacking, so I decided I better take over and post some stuff. We recently had a great trip down to Moab and Goblin Valley. I had never been and had no idea what to expect. It was so beautiful down there, the mountains and the arches are amazing! We camped out one night in goblin Valley and then went to Moab. I wasn't to excited to go Camping on my birthday so went to a hotel the 2nd night to make me happy. But, the camping was great! We bought a huge blow up Queen size mattress to put in our tent :). The dutch oven cooking was so yummy and of course we had to make some smores! My Dad, Step mom, brothers and sisters and Sage, Skyler's wife came along with us and it was a great family vacation. We we pulled up home from the trip and Jakson said "This was the best vacation ever!" It was real sweet! Here are some pictures you can enjoy!
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Days of '47 seconds of excitement!
Yes. Me. Joe. At the rodeo. For those who know me you know that you're about as likely to find me at a rodeo as you are to find a dollar in a dogs butt cheeks. I use that analogy because I actually did find a dollar on a doggy bum once. But that's a different story for another time. Erika did get me to go to the rodeo. Beverly is all bout horses and I thought it might be cool to see a cowboy impaled by a a bull horn. It ended up being a decent experience.
It seemed a bit overpriced and not quite as exciting as I was hoping. Nobody was even injured. Oh well. The highlight of the show was a cowboy getting a couple buffalo to climb on top of the his trailer. I'm sure it takes a lot of patience and know-how to accomplish something like that, but it's not the most exciting thing to watch.
The crowd was pretty entertaining though. I even saw one lady, er, woman entertain herself for the whole 2 hour show with what she could find in all of her different holes, crevices, and cracks.
I must say though, horses are pretty magnificent animals. Humans are very strange. Will I ever go to another rodeo? Most likely. I'm an easy-going guy and can find fun pretty much no matter what I'm doing or where I am.
Skyler and Sage Together Forever
My Brother Skyler Just got married on Friday. We are so excited for him and Sage. Its such a small world because we knew some of her family already but had never met her. Me and Joe went to school with her brother. And I went to School with her sister in law. And Sage was best friends with one of Joe's neighbors. It's kinda funny to think about how we never met her.
Skyler and Sage met on a blind date and she almost stood him up. They have so much fun together and they make such a cute couple! I am so glad to have another sister.
The wedding was beautiful! They got married at her dads house in Lindon. It was so nice having my mom and Cliff and all our cousins and family. Joe and Spencer had a good time decorating the car actually a little to much fun! AS you can see from the pic. 
SLOGGER
It's amazing how much happens in a month. I have so many updates to make to the Gonzalez Family Blog and I am being really slow about it. I am just the usual blog slacker. I guess that we could call me a "blocker" or a "Blacker," no, wait, I think I like "Slogger." That's it. That's me. I am a Slogger! I don't feel too bad though because lots of us are. SLogger. Good term. You all heard it here first. It could mean SLow blOGGER. Or SLacker blOGGER. I should trademark the term. Be looking for new blog posts soon!
X-Man
I didn't want to leave Xander out. As I was looking back through the posts I realized that I failed to mention Xanders birthday. His big day was the end of March. He is 4 years old now. He also finished his first year of preschool a couple of weeks ago. He's enjoying sleeping in. He must get that from Erika because I have a hard time sleeping when the sun is up. Xander likes to tag along to Jakson's Tee Ball practices and games. He usually tries to tackle the other kids. He's good at teaching the team concentration. It's hard to focus with Xander around, but he's a load of fun! Oh yeah, he threw up last night.
Slackers-R-Us
I am really getting bad at this! There is so much going on to consume my time that it's hard to find time to write anything on here! So, what has happened....Jakson had a Birthday. He's a big 6-year old now! We went to Bear Lake over his B-Day weekend with Erika's family. We go up every year for memorial day and it's always a great time despite being cold. It usually rains while we're up there and nobody dares get close to the lake for fear of hypothermia. One year it even snowed when we were there. Come to think of it, it snowed a little bit this year! We always bring home some yummy raspberry something or other. This year we got some Raspberry honey that would make a great piece of toast even more delectable!
Jakson also finished Kindergarten. Time for that boy to get a job! I kid, I kid... He is definitely excited for Summer. He made a bunch of friends through school and is excited to hangout with them over the break. He's also in the middle of Tee Ball season. He's one of the better players on the team. What would you expect from Joe's boy? Xander is also happy to have is brother around as well. He would get bored in the mornings with nobody around to beat him up.
Let's see, what else? Spencer graduated. I'm sure he paid off a few teachers to do it, but he made it! Skyler is donning the metal shackles next month. I think that's it for now. I'll have to add pictures later.
Congratulations! Screw you!
We made an offer on a house we loved back in January. We listed our house for sale about the end of January as well. After many months of waiting we get a call saying that our offer has been accepted! Unfortunately they said we had 2 weeks to close. We hadn't even sold our house yet so it wasn't looking like it was going to happen. After talking to a few brokers we figured a way that we could get the house. After a lot of thinking we decided that it would be too much of a pain and too stressful to have to worry about both houses. Long story short, we are still in the same house and someone else has moved into the house we love. We were a little bit upset about it at first, but we are confident that we can find other houses that we will like just as much. Life goes on and we have plenty of other things to worry about. In fact, it's almost like a weight has been lifted because after waiting and worrying about this new house for so long it's suddenly not an issue anymore! Lemonade my friends...lemonade.
Wham-O!
So after I got off work I picked up the boys from my Mama's house. They were hungry, as was I, so I took them to Taco Bell. On the way home we came to a round-about. I hate these things anyway. What is this? Paris? So, we stopped in the circle of death because the car in front of us stopped for someone crossing the street. We were stopped for about 10 seconds and just as I took my foot off the break....WHAMM-O! Apparently the girl who hit me was looking down another street and didn't notice we were stopped.
Luckily everybody was OK. Xander cried for minute because it scared him. The crappy part is that I was in the Mercedes at the time. It ended up at the shop for about 3 weeks. The shop did a good job, but we had to take it back like 3 times because they kept missing small things and leaving important parts of the car unplugged, like the radio antenna. If you need body repairs in Provo, Utah there are better places to get them done than University Collision. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the damage. Progressive was the company that was processing the claim and they did a fantastic job. The end.
B-Dogg, Susie, introducing Nate-O
It's been a while fo sho! We got a nice visit from some of our best friends from Cali. We got introduced to Nate Do-O-Double-G for the first time and he definitely lives up to the pics we've seen. He's a good lookin', healthy fella. Just like his parentals. B represented on RockBand and showed us how it's done. Susie could be the next American idol. And we'll lend them Jakson to be their bassist and throw Xander on the drums. It's always great to see old friends. Especially when they're Brandon and Susie!
Time to roll out!
We have officially listed our home for sale! If you know anybody that's looking for a nice home in the Provo area send them our way! We love our neighborhood, but it's time to move on. We only planned on being there for a few years. Since I work in Lehi and Erika works in SLC we thought we'd move a bit farther north. Since we're buying new gold rims for some guy in Saudi Arabia we want to try and cut back on gas usage. We won't be going too far though. We're planning right now on moving to the Lehi/American Fork area. We have an offer on a home in AF right now so hopefully that will work out. If not there's other fish in the sea. We figure it's a lot harder to sell right now than to buy! You can checkout the listing of our home on UtahRealEstate.com or BlueRoof.com.
Rock out when you clock out!
I've added a little Guitar Hero 3 tribute to the music section. I wasn't sure what to change the music to since valentines is over. I added a few of my fav songs from Guitar Hero 3. I'm not saying I'm good at this game because I'm not...yet. I just don;t have time to play games. Jakson can kick my butt. Xander probably can too. I'll have to practice up a little bit and show those suckas who the king is! Bigg Poppa gonna represent! I'm gonna take these kids to school, the school of ROCK! I gotta teach 'em a thing or 2 about shreddin' a guitar. I might even bite the head off of a bat. You're right, I would never do anything like that. Ozzie didn't even mean to. He didn't think it was a real bat or something. Maybe he just said that later in life because he realized how disgusting that really was. You've got to have I dark soul, I'll tell you what! Anyway, enjoy the Guitar hero songs and don't forget to make any requests!
iPhone tricks
The iPhone is probably the coolest phone I have owned so far and I have owned some pretty sweet phones! Apple has made it so intuitive and easy to use that it's amazing what you can do with it. I have a couple tips that I haven't seen
anywhere else. These are both for using the keyboard and come in very
handy when writing text messages or emails. The first is double-
tapping the space bar at the end of a sentence to automatically insert
a period and a space to start a new sentence. The second, which is
even cooler, is inserting your cursor inside of a previously typed
word. It's great for fixing spelling errors that you missed while
typing. Instead of just tapping next to the beginning or end of a
word, if you hold down your tap a magnifying glass pops up and you can
drag the cursor to any spot in text message, email, or anywhere you
use the keyboard! You may already know this, but if not it's really
cool. Give it a try! If you have any tips you want to share feel free to reply. I'm always up for new tips!
Sent from my iPhone
Grow old with me, the best is yet to be!
I'm happy to report that Valentines was much better this year. We exchanged gifts on Thursday night. Unfortunately Erika had to work late that night so it didn't leave time for much...Enough said ;) So we celebrated Valentines on Saturday. We got a babysitter and went out just the two of us. That was a feat in and of itself. The boys usually tag along, but no this time! We started with a romantic dinner at the Chef's Table. It was pretty tasty and very romantic. Although one thing that was a little awkward was the old couple sitting next to us. They were literally right there. We could have talked with them had it not been for the window between us. It was like watching a silent movie. We were sitting with them and could see their whole night, but couldn't hear a word they were saying. erika loves a chance to dress up and be fancy so we had a good time.
After that we hit the mall for a little bit to get ERika a new watch. She's been looking for a while and wanted something that looked more like jewelry than a watch. We hit up the watch store where Brian works and Erika found one that she likes. Of course Brian had to hook us up so we were all happy. Mission accomplished.
After the mall we went to a comedy club iwth my bro and his wife and my parentals. It's not their usual cup of tea and I didn't expect my moms and pops to be there, but my brother can talk my dad into anything. The show was put on by Shawn Dee the hypno hick. I haven't been to a hypnotist show in quite awhile so it was a lot of fun. Who doesn't like watching people make complete fools of themselves?!? Especially when one of the hypnotees (what do you call a hypnotized person?) is a girl wearing a dress with a big slit up the side. We got more than a hypnotist show! Overall it was a great fun date.
I chose the title of this post because it's so true! Every year when I look back on the previous year things only seem to get better. It's probably because of Erika. She would let things get worse. She keeps me in check and does a good job taking care of our little family! The best is truly yet to be!
Cupid's got me in a chokehold!
The more the merrier!
I added the seeqpod player to the tunes section on the left hand side. It doesn't auto-start so you now have the option to hear the music I like or not! It also allows me to let you listen to a playlist rather than just one song. Use the controls on the left to browse through the music. Right now it's just a Timbo list, but I'll update it sometime (which means it could be a long time)! Now the Gonzalez Family Blog is bumpin' and crunkin' so we won't be munkyin'!
They Might Be Giants
Being a 49ers fan I haven't had a lot to cheer about the last few years, er decade. Being an American (Contrary to popular belief) I like to root for the underdog. So this weekend when I took the Gonzalez Family to the Worley's house for the SuperBowl we had a good ol' time! Jakson and Xander ran around all night with Bay, Corah, Mariah, Dillon, Brooke and Ashlynn. It was a rowdy group of tots, but they left the big kids alone while we watched the Giants defense pick apart the greatly favored Pats.
It would have been cool to see a team go completely undefeated, but ever better is to see a seasonal mediocre team ironically beat a team that should have easily won the game. You have to give it to the Giants. I was rooting for them all the way, but never expected the finish that was SuperBowl 42.
Even if you're not a fan of either of the teams it's always a great time to hang with friends, eat some good grub, and laugh it up. Even Nate and Jamie showed up with the Raider man. The SuperBowl was a great spectacle to behold and we even made some new friends in the process. That, my peeps, is what life is all about!
Mixin it up
The Gonzalez Family Blog got it's first request! Thanks Jami! A little Warren G and Nate Dogg. Also, I haven't been posting as much because my Computer decided it didn't want to connect to the internet. It turns out that one of the windows updates disable the networking controller so it took me a day or two to figure out what was happening. I've got a pretty good handle on basic computer stuff, but I'm not too technical. Luckily the Gonzalez Family Blog will be updated again! Keep sending song requests!
Crank it up!
You've probably noticed that I added some music to the Gonzalez Family blog. I hope you like it! Let me tell you where this comes from. I'll let you all in a little known interest of mine. You see, I've always wanted to be able to spin tracks like the best DJ's so I high light on the weekends as a DJ in the clubs around town. And by clubs around town I mean the Gonzalez Family club, aka home on the computer. Erika laughs at me for wanting to get down on the turntables, but I don't mind. I know it's silly, but I think it's fun. Since I don't have any REAL turntables, or anywhere to play DJ for that matter, I'm going to play DJ on our blog! I decided to go old school to start. I'll be playing Dj around here so I'll try to change it up at least once a week or so. I'll keep it family-friendly as well. I have been known to listen to music that most God-fearing folk would consider questionable, but hey, it's hard to not get your head bobbin' to a good beat! If anyone has any requests let me know! I do enjoy most types of music and I have an enormous collection (thanks, B!) so I can play whatever anybody likes! The Gonzalez Family blog is bumpin'!
In time of test, Family is best!
Wow, after thinking about everything my family has been through this last year I get teary-eyed thinking about the wonderful friends and family that I am blessed with. There were times when I think this was harder on Erika than me. She took over daddy duties for a long time in addition to all the mommy duties she had. I have a wonderful mom who helped out a lot with the kids. Erika has a wonderful mom who flew out here to help out. Erikas dad and Beverly were there to help whenever we needed with whatever we needed. I can't even begin to name all the people praying for us and supporting us and calling on the phone and bringing things by the house to help make our lives easier. We had so much help and support that we owe so much to those who love us. I just want this to be a public thank you to everyone to let you all know how much we, me especially, appreciate all of you!
Erika, Jakson and Xander did more for me than I could imagine. You wouldn't think that a 5-year old boy could be much help, but Jakson was so considerate of me and the pain I was in and was ALWAYS there with a hug letting me know that he loves me. He would bring me drinks when I couldn't get out of bed and bring me blankets when I was cold. With a simple "I love you, Dad. I hope you feel better." my spirits were lifted. Xander was always there to bring a smile to my face. Such a sweet boy he wouldn't always know what to say, but was always kissing whatever body part he could reach, be it my hand, foot, or cheek. Both boys were always careful to not touch my stomach. The understanding they had of something they know nothing about was amazing. And of course Erika is the one that made it all happen. A sweeter person I have never known. They say that men are likely to marry someone who is like their mother. Erika reminds me of my mother in so many ways. The way she cares for others and her sweet, tender heart that can never say no. It's not easy to play nurse to a sick husband I'm sure, but Erika did it with a love and care and patience that only she could. Thank you.
Groans about Crohn's
Once I got into surgery it only took the surgeon an hour to operate this time. He reconnected my small intestine, put it back inside of me and stapled me up. A little easier than the first operation. So, over the next few days I recovered in the nice new hospital. Erika liked this hospital a little better because the room I stayed in had a couch for her to sleep on rather than a very uncomfortable chair.
Although it was still considered a major surgery it was much easier than the first. I was up and walking the day after surgery and was anxious to get out of the hospital. I could go to the bathroom on my own. No catheter for the fireman. And best of all, no more colostomy bag! Or, I guess technically it was an ileostomy bag....Anyway I was feeling good and excited to recover. The 3rd day at the hospital saw a slower recovery than I hoped, but I was on solid foods and out of there by Friday...I think. It may have been Saturday. Anyway it was a shorter stay than the first. I slowly recovered over the next month and things were going great until a few days before new years.
It was a Thursday and we went to a friends house for a party. My stomach was hurting a little bit, but I didn't think anything of it. An hour after we got there my stomach was still hurting so I figured it was from being hungry. I ate some pizza and chips and dips, but nothin' doin'. I tried going to the bathroom, but the pain kept getting worse. I had erika take me home after I threw up in the parking lot. I thought that if I took a bath and rested all night I'd be fine. The bath was nice, but I didn't sleep at all. My stomach was in pain and got worse throughout the night without letting up at all. At 8am I called my surgeon because I was starting to worry. He thought that it might just be a flu bug going around that had similar symptoms. He prescribed pepto-bismol and to call back the next day if things didn't get better.
About 6pm on Friday Erika took me to the emergency room because I could move at all. We waited for a few hours before we could see a Doc. Once the Doc got to us he hooked me up with my best friend morphine and I started feeling much better. I had to get some x-rays and blood tests done to see what was going on. The Doctor found a thickening in my small intestine
which was causing a partial blockage. He didn't know exactly what was causing it so they admitted me to the hospital so my GI Doc could come and take a look.
We had to wait until 3:30am to finally get a room. I didn't mind too much because I was passed out most of that time on morphine. Poor Erika had to sit in the chair and wait. Her only entertainment being the crazy lady overdosed on drugs.
Over the next few days the Doctors ran more tests and decided to scope me on Monday. We were hoping to get out of there by that night because we didn't want to spend new year's in the hospital. The Doctor finally got a chance to scope me, from to top and the bottom, on Monday afternoon. He found 2 small ulcers at the beginning of my small intestine and at the end. He said there didn't seem to be anything in between so that was good. There were a number of things that could actually be causing the uclers and thickening - stress, post-surgery complications, infections, crohn's disease....At the mention of crohn's disease my heart almost stopped. Crohn's is basically the same thing as ulcerative colitis except it affects your small intestine rather than your large. The Doctor took some biopsies and would have the results in a few days.
Meanwhile I was put on antibiotics and acid-controlling drugs to help me heal. My stomach was still a little tender, but I was feeling fine. With some anxious prodding and pleading the Doctor at the hospital I was able to be discharged that night. Even though it was new year's eve I wasn't up to do anything too exciting so we ended up going to my parents house and hanging out there. It was nice and easy-going with no stress.
The next week I met with my GI Doc and my surgeon. Both of them looked at the biopsy results and said that they weren't worried about Crohn's as being the cause of my pain. What a relief that was! They kept me on antibiotics and I started to feel good again.
Since then I have been feeling great. No relapses. I do have to be careful about what I eat and go easy on lots of things that I love, but it's worth it. Erika makes sure I don't get crazy and eat tomatoes! Anyway, that's my ordeal up to this point. 2 steps forward and one step back is what I've been told so I expect some setbacks over the next few months. I can handle it with my family and friends at my side. The help we received throughout this whole thing was incredible!
Happy to be out of the hospital again!
Blurry shot of the staples, kinda looks like jabba the hut's eyes
I was pretty swollen after the surgery
I like to make up stories and tell people I got stabbed playing superhero at night :)
Half the man I used to be
So I go to see my surgeon again and he answers the million questions that Erika and I have about the surgery and life after and how it's going to affect us. After the first surgery I would have to have a colostomy bag (poop bag) to give my newly created pouch insides time to heal. I didn't care. At this point I was anxious to have surgery. That's how bad it was. So we scheduled the surgery for the next week.
October 22nd was the day of no return. Erika and I went to Cottonwood hospital at 5:30am. I got naked....for a minute, then i put on a hospital gown that shows your butt. The nurse hooked me up to an IV. We waited, watched a dumb little movie. The nurse came back and showed me how to use the pain button. then they wheeled me up to the operating room where my surgeon talked to me for a few minutes. Then, my best friend, the anesthesiologist came and put me out.
After a four surgery I was wheeled into the recovery room where I gradually came to. The surgeon let me know that everything went perfectly. The rest of that Monday was pretty easy. I slept most of the day and was on so much pain killer that I didn't really feel anything. At this point I also had a colostomy bag and a catheter in my yoohoo so I didn't have to get out of bed to use the bathroom.
For the next 5 days the nurses and my wonderful Erika took care of me. I was stuck in bed for the first 3 days, but I eventually got up and started moving around. Apparently the more you can get up and about the quicker you'll recover. I didn't get jello until day 4. Living off an IV sucks. For the most part the nurses were pretty nice and did a good job caring for me, but there were a couple Helgas that I could have done without.
Finally day 5 rolled around and I was starting to feel OK. I was moving around and they put me on solid foods. NASTY solid foods, but solid nonetheless. The nurse came and showed me how to change my colostomy bag and how to take care of my stoma. I wasn't looking forward to it, but it had to be done. For those who don't know a stoma is the part of my small intestine that the surgeon pulled through my stomach so all of my waste exited there (except I still peed normally). It exited into my colostomy bag. Once the nurses and Doctors deemed me fit to go home and made sure that I had the proper knowledge to take care of myself I was discharged. This was Saturday morning. If I had stayed any longer I would have been transferred to the new hospital in Murray since cottonwood was closing down. I was one of the last patients there!
The first 2 weeks out of the hospital were rough. I had no energy, my whole body felt like I got trampled by wildebeests and I had to wear a colostomy bag. A colostomy bag needs to be changed every 2-3 days depending on the type of bag you wear. I preferred the designer Hollister bags. Just kidding. The first few times I had to change it and touch and clean the guts that were sticking out of me took a little getting used to. I just about fainted those first go rounds, but I managed to keep my composure and complete the task at hand. Believe me, it takes a LOT to get me down!
One of the hardest things about changing my bags was that I had to time it when my stoma wasn't active. When things don't exit where they're supposed to they just go when they want to. No more sensations of having to go # 2. I never knew when I was going to start pooping (so to speak) or farting for that matter. My stoma just did as it pleased. The challenge hear was not embarrassment. If you know me then you know what I'm talking about. No, the challenge was that my stoma would start oozing and excreting stuff, pooping, right after i cleaned it or while i was in the process making me have to clean again. It was a bit frustrating, but I eventually got the hang of things.
The last few weeks before surgery number 2 weren't great, but I was already feeling much better than before I had surgery. The bag made some everyday things difficult (and every night things, too if you catch my drift), but it was something I could have gotten used to if I had to. Lucky for me I didn't have to. Plus, it was kind of fun to gross out my nieces, nephews and sisters with it! I tried to keep some humor in my life. Keeping my spirits up was sometimes hard to do. Surgery # 2 would reverse my stoma and everything would be internal and I would poop the same way everyone else does again.
After a few visits to the surgeon he determine that everything was healing wonderfully. Being young and otherwise healthy I had an advantage to recovering quicker. We got surgery number 2 scheduled at the new Murray hospital for November 27th and I showed up early in the morning again. Once again I am out of time so I will have to continue the saga tomorrow.
Pre-surgery - waiting for the nurse - feelin' goooood
Post-Surgery - contrary to what you may think I don't ALWAYS look good
Back at home - If you're wondering, yes, that is where my poopies went! Luckily, Erika cleaned and changed it for me....SIKE! I'm a big boy, i took care of myself.
Front view of my stoma. How many people can say they've played with their own guts? You can also see the other 3 scars from the surgery. They make a compass. You can barely see the southern one.
Side view - my belly is sticking it's tongue out!
Life is a crapshoot
I an attempt to enlighten everyone who has questions about my health I've decided to put up a few posts that will give everyone a quick overview. Lots of you know that I have been sick for the last three years. This last year was especially bad as I ended up going through 2 surgeries. Here's a quick breakdown of what happened. About 3 years ago I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis which is basically an inflammation of the colon with ulcers and junk inside. Unfortunately it's a disease that is uncurable. If you know anyone who has this disease then you'll know it's about as fun as sliding down a sandpaper slide with no pants on. Actually, the Doc described this disease to me as having a large intestine (colon) that somebosy has rubbed with sandpaper. So that analogy is actually quite literal. It's a bloody, energy-robbing mess....20 times a day. The good news was that the symptoms could be treated and most people can live with this for their entire lives without being too affected by it. So, at this point I was just hoping I could get some drugs and life would be good again.
My gastrointestinal doctor put me on a drug called Asacol first thing. My symptoms started to go away immediately. I felt pretty good for about 6 months and I was only going to the bathroom about 3-4 times a day (complared to 15-20). About that time things started to decline. This time the Doc gave me Colazal. This helped a little bit, but not much so the Doc put me back on Asacol again so I was taking both drugs. Things improved a bit more, but after a few months things went downhill again. For some reason my body just did not want to respond to the drugs anymore. After 100's of blood tests and multiple colonoscopy's (yeah, cameras in places cameras shouldn't be) the Doc was sure of my ulcerative colitis and could only perform these tests to make sure I was going to keel over.
So, now the Doc puts me on Prednasone which is used to treat all kinds of stuff. I got better, but had all kinds of side effects - headaches, acne, oily skin, shortness of breath. But those were all better than dealing with the disease itself. Since Prednasone is a steroid it can only be used for short periods of time so I was back to the Asacol after a few months. This time the Asacol really didn't do much of anything except empty my wallet. $200-$300/month for drugs is more than anybody wants to pay. The Asacol worked just well enough to make life tolerable, relatively speaking. So, really this disease was taking control of my life. One plus though, I can tell you where the nearest bathroom is anywhere in Utah county!
The next year or so was up-and-down. Up being the days where I had some control over my bowels and down being the days when my bowels had control of me. Having diarrhea for 3 years straight and going to the bathroom 15 times a day will take it's toll on anybody. There's no worse feeling than being stuck with no control. Driving in the car was a dreaded task that I avoided if at all possible. At this point in when I started losing so much blood in my stool that I had to start getting blood transfusions. In the olden day I would have just bled to death very slowly so you can imagine how thankful I am that I live in a time when medicine and technology is top notch.
The next 8 months saw multiple blood transfusions which each one coming a bit sooner than the last. The Asacol was pretty much doing squat at this point and we started looking into other treatments. we tried all kinds of stuff from natural herbal healing and aromatherapy massages to Xango juice and Kangen water. I've never been one to believe that any of these things would grant the miracle that so many swear by....and I was right. Some of it was tasty and some of it felt good, but my health stayed the same.
My doc dedided to put me on a medication called Remicade. I had read a lot about it and talked to my Doctor about it a few times. He was reluctant to put meon it because it is a last resort and there's no going back to anything else once you start treatment. The treatments for Remicade were 1st treatment, 2 weeks later you get treatment number 2, 6 weeks later treatment number 3 and then every 8 weeks after that for ongoing treatment. At $6000 a pop this was not a cheap treatment, but after talking with Erika we decided that if would make me better then it would be worth every penny. Luckily our insurance would help out and make it bearable.
So I started Remicade. It's an intravenous medication and takes about 2 hours per dose. After the first dose (and a blood transfusion the next day) i was starting to feel like things might get better. 2 weeks later I went in for dose number 2. I didn't notice much of a difference, but the Doctors said it could take a month for my body to respond. After a few weeks there was no improvbement. When I went in for dose #3 I had lost a lot of faith in how well Remicade was going to work and figured that this dose would make or break the deal. If my health didn't start improving soon then it was time for more drastic measures. The only thing that could completely get rid of my disease would be to physically take it out of my body, infected body organ included.
Since Remicade did not help at all my Doctor sent me to see a surgeon. At this point going under the knife was my only hope at getting rid of this infernal pestering in my bowels and hope to have a normal life again.
So, IN A NUTSHELL that's the story of my life for the last 3 years. My condition was much more severe than what we hoped it would be and my body didn't respond to treatment like we had hoped, but in October 2007 when I met with my surgeon I gained a renewed hope. At this point I'm honestly sick of writing about it so I will write about my actual surgeries another time. Perhaps tomorrow. for now, here's a few before and after pics to see how much weight I've lost! You can click on the images to view larger pics.
October 2007 and October 2006
This diet was killing me!
I'm Mexican, not Ethiopian...really!The time you think you're missing, misses you, too!
Being at work isn't a bad thing. Most of the time it's good. But there are always those days that just seem to drag on and never end. Today is one of those days. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been bad. It's certainly better than a kick in the nuts, but it's always hard to be somewhere when you're miles away in your mind. Luckily tomorrow is Friday and I get off early. I enjoy my long weekends and look forward to relaxing a bit. Oh....yeah....who relaxes on weekends? Like there's nothing else to do. We're actually thinking about selling our house and there's a few minor things we, I mean, I need to fix to make it presentable. At least it's nothing major (just some caulking and painting really), but it still takes time away from laying on the couch with a bag of goods and letting my mind dwindle to a state of near-unconsciousness while the TV drones on between a medley of sports, cartoons and old movies. If you catch me drooling please be kind enough to wipe it from my face. Thanks.
Chillin' like a villian
Last weekend Donny and Cami came over with their fam. We grabbed some outback and hung out at the house for some good old-fashioned fun made new. We had a good time watching Erika and Cami duke it out. Erika is normally not one to engage in fisticuffs, but she can get pretty mean when she wants to. Then just for more kicks we let the kids go mano a mano as well. Bay and Xan are the funniest to watch because they really get into it, but Mariah and Cora did a good job representing the double X's. Here's a few pics from the night.
Chillin' on the couch with my baby
Cami cheesin' it before gettin' worked
The boys playin' a little good old american baseballBay learning to hit homers from the pro
Don't you wish your boss was cool like mine?
Joe can cook!
Kids say the darnedest things
I don’t know what it is about Jakson, but he is always saying something to make everyone laugh. Jakson and Xander are both little comedians. The difference is that Xander tries to be funny and Jakson just simply is funny. It’s always random, too. The other day as I’m driving home from Grandma Susie’s house Jakson says, “Hey Dad, the other day I tried to fart and all it did is make my pants warm.” How could I help, but not laugh? Just one of the many insightful thoughts coming from Jakson or Xander. Maybe we should keep a list of these deep insights for later. Jakson and Xander are still so innocent that the truths they profess seem so much more comical. You can always count a kid for the truth!
