The Closest I've Come

I hesitate writing this post in concern for those out there who are playing with the idea of donating plasma or blood. I don't want to scare them. So, I add a disclaimer to this post. In my many, many, many times of donating plasma, situations - that you will soon read about - of the like have only happened a hand full of times.

Read on.

Each time I plan on donating plasma I take the proper measures beforehand in order to be accepted to donate. That includes drinking enough water and eating the right kinds of food to have enough protein in my system as well as to produce good, useful plasma. There are occasions where I have been declined to donate because I haven't had enough water to drink. There was even one instance where they declined me because I was too hydrated! Imagine that. Anyway, I took the proper measures before going into donate this afternoon. Drank plenty of water (but not too much) and ate a good meal before going. I was accepted!

I always have a little bit of fear, nervousness, or anxiety (take your pick) when my name is called to start the whole process of donating after I've gone through the screening process. This fear, nervousness, or anxiety comes because the person who has the needle only has one chance with me to get it in my arm right, without fishing around for my vein, or I start to get nauseous, lose color in my face, go lightheaded, and start to sweat - in other words, start to pass out.

Today's experience was a little different than the ones I've had in the past where they failed to make contact with my vein on their first attempt. The guy who stuck me got the needle into my vein but how ever he did it was very painful (I don't watch when they stab me). I knew that something wasn't right, but everything ran just fine as the machine began sucking the blood out of me, even though I was still in pain. I tried to brush my anxiety away telling myself that the pain will go away and everything will run smoothly.

I was able to do that as I got caught up in the novel I had brought with me to read. The pain eventually did fade for the most part after a cycle or two had passed. Once I thought I was in the clear I began feeling quite uncomfortable again. I could feel my vein begin to pulse back and forth in my where the arm cuff was inflated tightly around my upper arm. It felt like the ticking of a second-hand on a clock - tick...tick...tick. I did my best to remain calm, but when my whole arm quickly went from a tingling sensation to numbness and I began to feel the onset of nauseousness set in I knew I was in trouble.

Luckily, rather a tender mercy and blessing, there was an phlebotomist chatting with the girl in the bed next to me. I quickly got her attention. As soon as she looked at me she knew something was wrong because my face had gone completely white. The nauseating feeling got worse by the second. First light headedness, to feeling like I was going to throw up, then to a quick rise in my temperature causing me to sweat all over, and then to a tingling sensation in both my arms, legs, and lips. They quickly put a trash can next to me in case I lost the tasty sandwich I had before going into the plasma center. (I plead that I wouldn't!). Then they stopped the machine from drawing blood and started putting blood back into my body. In the process of blood returning to my body, which felt like an eternity, I did my best to deal with my body's reaction. I closed my eyes in an attempt to stop the dizziness and nauseating feeling, but was told I needed to keep them open so they could tell if I fainted. When I opened my eyes I soon found that the room was getting darker and my hearing was fading. I had never experienced this before. Finding it quite alarming I informed the now two phlebotomists that were at my side of my condition. The girl kindly informed me that that is what happens right before you are about to pass out or faint. WHAT!?! The girl quickly turned the speed up on the machine in order to return the blood back to my body faster, while the other phlebotomist put an ice pack under my neck. That ice pack was so blessed!

Slowly but surely and one at a time the symptoms began to disappear. The tingling in my lips, arms, and legs diminished, my temperature began to decrease with aid from the ice pack, color returned to my face, and ever so slowly the nauseating feeling reduced to only a slight lingering. I was so grateful I didn't faint! But that was by far the closest I have ever come to fainting.

When I felt well enough and after drinking 8oz. of water they started the machine up again to finish the last one and a half cycles I had left. Despite the lingering nauseous feeling the rest of the donating process went smoothly. When finished I took my time to stand up and slowly walk to the waiting area to get paid. While waiting to get paid I watched others who were donating nearby. As my eyes crossed over one of the exit doors it swung open and I saw a group of phlebotomist huddled together. Before the door closed I saw through the spaces between their legs somebody lying on the floor. It was quickly apparent that this person had fainted. I walked through those doors to exit and sure enough a girl who had donated for her first time had fainted and was being cared for. As I passed the room she was in and peered in I could tell she was scared as she wiped tears from her eyes. I was grateful that I wasn't her and then I said of prayer for her as I continued to carefully exit the building.

After arriving home I made sure to replenish my body of water and nutrience, but the lingering nauseous feeling continued to stay with me. I could really feel the weakness in my body when only after being at work for an hour I was exhausted and dragging my feet. Continuing to drink lots of water I eventually was reengergized and back to my normal self. What a great feeling that is!

Now even though this is a very descriptive account of what happened to me the worst of it only lasted a short amount of time. I am ok. I didn't die. I hope I didn't scare any of you off!

Additional Photos!

A while ago I said that I would upload the pictures that I didn't post on my blog onto Photobucket for all of you who would like to see additional pictures. I have finally done so. Below is the link to my Photobucket. After opening up the page you will see on the left hand side of the page a list of albums. Those are where you will find the additional pictures. Browse all you want! The most recent albums added are, Utah Adventures and Table Rock.

Photobucket, click here.

For future reference, I have also added a link on the ride hand side of my blog under the category Outside Links. This is the same link as above. Enjoy!

Skipped Right On By

This past year has been a very different year weather wise for Idaho. We had a very cold and very long winter. It felt like it went on forever. Finally there was a break in the winter weather in June where we had one week of spring weather before it jumped right into the summer. I didn't mind that too much because I love summertime!

The summer was short and went by quickly. I was not looking forward to the colder temperatures, but when seeing the color of the leaves changing I began to soften my heart towards fall weather - not too cold and beautiful! But fall has mirrored it's opposite season of spring and has only last a very short amount of time, thus throwing us into the bitter cold of winter weather. Winter for Idaho means snow and freezing temperatures and we have already received our first blanket of snow. I am still in shock and disbelief.

Since I don't see much of the day during the weekends because I'm usually sleeping, this shot of my truck was taken after the first fall of snow after getting off work before coming home. It is now dark when I arrive at work at 7pm and it is dark leaving work at 7am.

Each year I have noticed an increase in my dislike and discomfort of cold weather. (Maybe being stuck in Idaho is a way for the Lord to humble me). I do think that the snow is beautiful! I especially love snow on branches of pine trees or fields of untouched snow. In my own perfect world I would love to have all the seasons, each with their own splendid qualities and attributes, but without the cold. Only in my dreams...

Utah Adventures!

I had the great opportunity to spend five wonderful days in Utah with my family last week. We were able to spend some quality time together before dropping my brother Ben off at the Missionary Training Center where he would embark on his new journey as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in the Guadalajara South, Mexico mission.

The week was full of wonderful and fun adventures. Instead of making one huge long post I have broken up the week highlighting the main and exciting things that we did. Looking back there isn’t one thing that I would change. It was just so great to be with my family and spend such quality time with them. I really needed it and am grateful that my schedule permitted me to spend as much time with them as I did! I love my family!

Boarding the Canyon

Several years ago, when my family still lived in Washington, my older brother DJ took Ben and me out one day to teach us how to long board. We drove down the street to a new housing development that was being created. The pavement was new, clean, and smooth – perfect for long boarding. After a quick set of instructions we were ready to jump on our boards. None of us ever having long boarded the street we were on we weren’t completely familiar with its course. But Ben having ridden his bike on it several times assured us that there was turn with an ever so slight downhill – nothing to be concerned about. With that we hopped on our boards and began the cruise.

After gaining some speed and then making the turn we all realized that the ever so slight downhill was in fact quite the down hill – a hill FAR more advanced for Ben and me to ride on for our very first ride. DJ was trailing behind us and yelled encouraging words to us to keep going and that we could make it. I had the wobbles like crazy and my fear was increasing by the second. Ben was ahead of me and shortly after our decent down the hill he wiped out. When I saw him go down I knew I was a gonner too. I took a hard crash just seconds later. I still have scars from it. I haven’t had much interest in long boarding since then. I always admired the people I would see doing it, but had accepted the fact that it wasn’t my thing and I was perfectly content.

A long board happened to fall into my care by a trail walker friend of mine who joined the army. Knowing that DJ & Adria are really into long boarding and hearing that Ben was bringing his long board to Utah I decided to bring the one I have as well. When my family discovered that I had brought my long board with me we decided to drive to Provo and board down Provo Canyon. I had a bit of anxiety about boarding to begin with, not to mention down a canyon. My mind began envisioning how steep Provo Canyon (even though I had never been there) was and then I began to visualize what my funeral was going to be like. I was scared.

The drive up the canyon only deepened my fear. I couldn’t imagine riding down something that steep. It wasn’t until we reached the starting point of our ride when I realized that the pathway wasn’t as steep as the freeway we drove up to get to that point. Phew! I was still quite nervous though. Adria gave me a few pieces of advice and after a slow ride to begin our way down the canyon DJ stopped me to give me a few more helpful pointers and some encouragement. My confidence in riding was greater and I began to become excited for the ride.


Left: Ben, DJ, & Adria riding the canyon.

Right: Me trailing behind...













Stunning!


Left: Adria & I below Bridal Veil Falls

Right: DJ & Ben below Bridal Veil Falls











Left: DJ working the board!

Right: I got this shot of Adria as I passed her while both riding our long boards









Right: Bridal Veil Falls!
















There were only a couple places in the canyon where I stopped to walk, but other than that the ride was AMAZING! Not only was I able to ride the majority of the canyon, but the pathway was absolutely gorgeous! It was lined with trees that were changing color and the pathway was also littered with fallen leaves that made it really fun to ride through. I learned that Bridal Veil Falls was along this pathway – a place I have heard so much about and have always wanted to visit. It was awesome! Everything about the ride was amazing! DJ, Ben and I had our cameras with us and took pictures of one another and the scenery as we rode down the canyon. It was an absolute blast. When we got done I wanted to go back to the top and do it all over again. My view/opinion of long boarding has thus changed. I love it! I’m bummed that the weather has turned bad preventing me to take any rides myself, but I look forward to when I can get on a long board again and enjoy a nice ride while tuning and improving my proficiency of riding. Thanks DJ & Adria for your pointers and encouragement and for believing in me!

The Four of Us!
(Ben, Rachel, Adria, & DJ)

Wee on the Wii!

When I was a kid my family owned the original Nintendo system. After many years of mastering the original Mario Brothers games and the famous Duck Hunt game my parents bought us kids the Nintendo 64, which challenged our Nintendo playing skills. We eventually mastered those games as well. By that time the three older kids had moved on from playing the Nintendo while Ben was still young and addicted as we once were.

Over the years I have looked back at our Nintendo playing years and realized how addicting the Nintendo really is and how much of a waste of time it was. In college I studied as well as wrote a few reports on the effect of video games on children, which only furthered my resolve to never own a Nintendo system. There was a lot of hype when the Nintendo Wii came out, but it never even once perked my interest in the least degree. I had no desire whatsoever to play or even be associated with the Nintendo Wii.

One of the first things that I did upon arriving at my brother and sister-in-law’s house (DJ & Adria) was play the Nintendo Wii. I must admit that I was not too thrilled or had the desire to play at all. I was looking forward to going to bed somewhat early that night because I had just finished my three-day 12-hour work weekend. I was tired. Four hours later I finally made it to bed. But those four hours were filled with side-aching, tear-streaming laughter as my family played one another in several different games. We got the most laughter while playing against each other in Mario Kart, especially when my parents were playing.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Nintendo Wii, it is different than other Nintendo systems in that it is an active inter-active Nintendo system. Sounds kind of redundant, but all Nintendo games are inter-active. The Wii is more than just plain inter-active. You are actually acting as if you were actually playing those games in real life. For instance, the first game I played was Tennis.















As you can see from the picture my dad and I acted as if we were playing tennis – having to stand up, serve, and swing at the ball like in real life. Other games like these included bowling, baseball, soccer, hoola-hoop, tight rope walking (which was a personal favorite) to name a few. All of these games we physically active games. Even Mario Kart is inter-active as you act like you are driving the go-kart with a steering wheel. Playing the Nintendo Wii was a whole new experience for me as it was completely different than any other Nintendo system I had ever played before. Although I am still set on not ever purchasing one myself, I did thoroughly enjoy playing the Wii with my family.

Getting my mom to participate in activities like this is always a treat. She has become a lot more open and willing to join in these types of activities in recent years which have provided lots of entertainment and great lasting fun memories. As my mom sat down and took one of the steering wheels in her hands to play Mario-Kart against me I took advantage of her ignorance in knowing how to play the game. In addition to explaining to her that Mario-Kart was just like driving, I mentioned that when a jump came in the course you had to jump as well – just using your arms. The following video shows it all…

What this video clip doesn’t show is me being unable to continue to race because I was rolling on the floor in laughter with tears streaming down my face from seeing my mom jump. It also doesn’t show my mom slugging me in the arm when I told her that you really didn’t have to jump to make your go-kart jump. It was hilarious!

We played quite a bit of Wii over the course of the week and each time was so much fun and filled with tons of laughter, but nothing beats that first night when my mom and dad played. That was pure entertainment. Thanks Mom and Dad!! :o)