Little Brothers

 I remember a quote that has been around awhile, can't remember who said it but Nate sent it to me while he was on his mission in a letter. It was something like this: "...God does notice and watch over us but it is usually through another person that He fills our needs..." I have thought back to this many times as I realize what great people Nate and I have been blessed to have in our lives and our need to help others. We are so blessed to have the friends and family that we do and we know that life is so great because of the wonderful people that surround us.  Lately we are especially grateful for our little brothers and some important decisions they have made in their lives.

Matt and Michael are off! Michael left to the Brazil MTC May 11th, while Matt is now waiting in the Provo MTC for his Visa to arrive still, he just arrived in Provo two days ago! We are excited for their next two years and so happy for their decisions to serve. Good luck buddies, we love and miss you!

Darren and his lovely bride Desi got married this week! What a fun time it is for them to be starting out as a married couple. Their sealing and the day all around was Beautiful! And we are excited they are living just down the street from us. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Jaynes!

The Happy Couple

Family Shot

Brothers

Grandma and Nate

Us

Two tickets to Paradise

So, you may have noticed we had a countdown to Thailand up on the blog weeks ago...then it suddenly disappeared.  Well, our trip to Thailand with Natalie's sister Candace and her husband Devin got cancelled because of the political protests and violence going on over there.  We were really bummed out, but were lucky to get a full refund.  Since we already had the time off, Nat and I decided to find another deal and take a trip.  We ended up booking a week long trip at an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic is beautiful.  I've been to Hawaii, and I've gotta say that the D.R. puts up some stiff competition.  The water there is bright aqua blue and crystal clear.  It's green everwhere and you are really in paradise.  Our resort, the Gran Bahia Principe Ambar, was simply amazing.  We had a very nice room, and the pool and beach couldn't have been better.  I think that the hole in the ozone layer must be directly over that island, because the sun gives no mercy to mine and Nat's white skin.  Our first full day at the beach and pool, Natalie got sunburned worse than I have ever seen, which you can see her red lines in our pictures.  I got burned too, though not as bad.  We were much more diligent about putting on sunscreen and staying in the shade during the peak sun hours.

My favorite part of the trip was when we took a day to go on a Jeep Safari- my birthday present from Natalie.  We rode caravan with about 15 other Jeeps and drove through the Dominican jungle and some little towns.  I was glad that we got out of the resort and saw how people really live there.  There was a lot of poverty. Kids running out to wave at you or ask for a dollar.  We saw some amazing things... They took us to an area where pineapples, limes, mangoes, cocoa, coffee, papaya, bananas and other fruits all grow within feet of each other. 

As I said, our resort was all-inclusive... meaning we got to eat and drink as much as we wanted, whenever we wanted.  This is not good for someone that has recently recovered from bowel surgery and is feeling like a million bucks. I have never felt so full for such an extended length of time.  I probably had 50 pina coladas!  Anyways, it was an awesome vacation and a great way to spend my birthday with Natalie.  Where's our next adventure?  Hopefully Sweden :)

Back to reality....

I survived my first full week back at work after my 6 weeks of medical leave.  I was able to finish my time off with a day skiing with my brothers-in-law Matt, Michael, and Nick up at Solitude.  It was AWESOME with lots of fresh snow.  I gotta say It was bittersweet going back to work...On one hand, it will be nice getting a full paycheck, but on the other, I was getting quite comfortable being a stay-at-home husband ha ha.  It hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be though, and I had a very nice welcoming when I went back. 

Natalie and I have been working on little projects of our own.  For starters, we (with the help of my Aunt Julie) officially became upholsters when we re-covered our kitchen chairs.  We are happy to say that we have now retired from this profession.  It was tough!  Natalie gets props because she definitely did the lion's share of the work on this.  Also, Natalie started an herb garden complete with cilantro, basil, and italian parsley.  It's been fun to watch it grow from nothing.  As for me, my project has been getting into shape.  I have been doing the P90X workouts combined with running/walking on the treadmill at the gym at our apartments.  In the past two weeks I've worked out every day except 2.  That is quite the record for me.  And, not to toot my own horn, I have doubled the amount of pullups I can do.... I CAN DO 2!!!  It's the little triumphs that keep us going, right?

It's going to be a busy month getting ready for Darren's wedding, Matt and Michael leaving on their missions, and our trip to Thailand.  I'm also getting signed up for some of my pre-med classes for the summer.


Life is good.  What more can I say?

2 years hitched and loving it!

Well, March 18 marked our 2nd wedding anniversary.  These past 2 years have gone by so fast, but at the same time, it feels like we've been married longer than that... After reading through my past journals, I understand why.  As I've mentioned before, my time off of work to recover from surgery has given me PLENTY of time to think about things.  This past week, I have been reminiscing mine and Natalie's history together.  I dug up my old journals from my parents house, and have been reading them for about the past 3 hours now.  It's funny how you can forget things that happened not so long ago, and it's even more funny some of the things I thought were so important back then ha ha.

I would say our story really began on the Alta High Swim Team during my senior year in 2001 to 2002.  Natalie and I knew each other the year before through life guarding, but really didn't talk much.  One of my favorite memories is riding on a school bus to a swim meet in Richfield.  I don't remember how exactly, but Natalie and I ended up sitting with each other and the "flirting" began ha ha.  Natalie taught me all about the different kinds of roofs and other architectural tidbits she was learning in her interior design class, and I taught her about the human body from my Anatomy class.  I know you're thinking "Nerd Alert!", but hey, it was the start of a great friendship. From there, we started to talk more and more...

Our unofficial first date was the Sweetheart's Dance (which Natalie asked me to).  Our official first date came a few weeks later, and I will never forget her front door opening and Natalie's mom shooting me in the head with a pea-shooter.  The thing I love about our relationship is that it was more of a friendship than anything.  We went on countless dates up until I went on my mission, but we kept things at a "friendly" level.  Natalie and I wrote each other every week during the almost 2 years I was in Sweden on my mission.  The funny thing is that we grew closer during those 2 years away from each other than the time we shared together before I left.  We were both there to support each other in these new stages of life...Natalie in college, and me serving a mission trying to learn another language and culture.

So I was kind of weird when I got home from my mission, which Natalie will definitely agree to.... and anyone else who knows me ha ha. 2 and a half more years of dating went by.... This time we were definitely a couple.   Props to Natalie for being so patient with me.  I wouldn't trade any of our time dating for anything... We truly got to know each other and became each other's best friend.  We got engaged in November 2007 and got married March 18, 2008. 

Married life is great.  It's hard to remember what life was like not being married... Anyways, I am greatful for these past 2 years and am excited for the years to come.  Natalie and I had a great anniversary.  After she got off work, we went to the Salt Lake Temple to do sealings.  Can you think of a better way to remember your wedding day??? To make things even better, we went to The Melting Pot afterwards for an awesome fondue dinner.  It was an awesome day!  Happy anniversary Natalie!!!!

St. Patrick's Day

We celebrated St. Patrick's day in style, as you can see from our awesome pictures.  We had a couple's dinner with Natalie and I, Candace and Devin, Rhett and Erika, and Jordan and Nate at our apartment.  The menu consisted of corned beef, cabbage, green mashed potatoes with green gravy, green jell-o salad, broccoli, green ice water, and apple beer.  After dinner, we finished off the evening with the ancient Irish tradition of hot-tubbing at our apartment complex.  It was a really fun night. Personally, I had never done anything like this on St. Patrick's day so I felt especially privileged.  :)

Happy Birthday Natalie!!

 I thought I better be the one to write this one real quick and brag about my great birthday weekend thanks to my husband because he is the best, really. Nate picked me up from work Thursday and blind folded me as we drove to....what turned out to be the Little America Hotel. 

We spent the next couple of nights just relaxing, swimming, shopping, exercising, eating yummy food and oh yes a surprise birthday dinner Friday night with friends and family at the Olive Garden downtown followed by some swimming at the hotel. Saturday we had dinner with Nate's family and Sunday with my family. We had a great time, thanks everybody!

Waking up the dream....

WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG ONE!!!

Well, it's been over 2 weeks since I had my surgery, and things couldn't be going better!  My incisions are basically healed, and I am off of ALL medications!  I had an appointment with my surgeon last week and he is amazed at how quickly I am recovering.  He said that I should have a good 5 to 10 years without any problems.  I'll take it!! I've accepted the fact that crohn's can't be cured (yet) and I am going to make the most of this time I have been given to be symptom free.  Why didn't I do this sooner???

Besides going a little stir crazy at times, I have been enjoying my time off work while I recover.  I have had a lot of time to reflect on my life and things I want to accomplish in the future.  It's funny the conclusions I have come to.  For those of you that have known me a long time,  I have always wanted to go to medical school and become a doctor of some kind.  Over the past couple of years, I let that dream slip away for many reasons.  First, I became discouraged with the pre-requisites for medical school that I was working on while finishing my business degree.  It was really hard studying subjects that were so different, and I had to give more attention to the business classes since that was for my degree.  Second, I have been on a roller coaster with my health, and started doubting that I could physically handle the stress that comes with being a medical student.  These factors caused me to lose my drive to become a doctor, and I ended up finishing my business degree without continuing the pre reqs for med school.  I decided to put away the dream I've had since I was a kid because it just didn't feel like a possibility, and decided that I would shoot for a masters degree in healthcare administration...

Anywho, I have had a huge awakening this past week.  It started with going to a session at the Draper temple last Tuesday to see my brother-in-law Michael go through for the first time.  It had been quite a while since I had been to the temple, and I had the most wonderful feeling of peace and my mind was cleared of any negative thoughts.  It's funny because it had been a pretty rough day up to that point for reasons I won't get into.  I was feeling pretty down when I got to the temple, and almost immediately those feelings disappeared.  Anyways, something motivated me at the temple that I really need to stop coasting and make some important decisions for my future.  So, the rest of the week I spent a lot of time working on applications for graduate school for my dual degree in healthcare and business administration and studying for the GMAT exam. 

Applications for graduate school are TORTURE.  You have to write essays, get recommendation letters, and pay outrageous application fees.  I have been working on these essays, and have been bothering old bosses and professors to get recommendation letters in before rapidly approaching deadlines.  I had been making great progress, and the thoughts came to me yesterday--- What would it take for me to get to med school at this point?   Do I really want to get my MBA and a masters in Healthcare Administration? Is this really what I want to do for my career?

So, for the heck of it, I emailed the pre-med advisor at the University of Utah to see what my options are.  I got a quick reply that I can either go for a 2nd bachelors degree to complete the pre-requisites, or take the classes as a non-matriculated student. It was still possible, just not the easiest way to get there.  This got the wheels turning in my head, and a little fire of excitement was lit in my mind.  The dream of becoming a doctor was coming back from the dead. 

Now for the really corny part.  Last night, I couldn't sleep... My body is still working to get rid of the prednisone I have been taking the last couple of months.  So, I popped in a DVD of Grey's Anatomy.  Now I know that show is full of silly drama and a lot of the stories are pretty out there and that's not totally what it is like being a doctor, but it INSPIRED me.  I have watched the show from the beginning... I have watched the main characters that started out as interns fresh out of med school, and seen how they've developed into doctors through the years the show has gone on.  And it came to me again last night,  I WANT THAT!!  I want to help people overcome sickness and pain, like the doctors and surgeons have done in my own life.  I want to make a difference in people's lives at the most personal level. 

So, unless something really out of this world happens, that is what I am going to do.  I am going to get back on track with the life and career I always wanted.  I am going to go for my dream.  I know that it is going to be hard and take a lot of time.  It'll be worth it though!! I told Natalie this tonight, and she lit up like a christmas tree.  I think she has been biting her tongue for a long time.... She had mentioned that ever since she's known me I had talked about wanting to become a doctor.  I know that my recent decisions surprised her, but she has been nothing but supportive in the career choices I have made.  She wasn't just hanging around cause she thought I was going to be a doctor ha ha :). The happiness I saw in her eyes when I talked to her about this was just another sign that I am making a good decision.
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Time to get busy!!! Thanks for reading :)

Miracle in progress....

It's funny to sit back and think about how fast things can change. Tonight I read through my thoughts over the past month, and I can't believe how things have turned out with my health situation. A week ago today, I was in the hospital having my first crohn's disease related surgery. Before going to the hospital, my surgeon told me to plan on being in the hospital at least 5 to 7 days. The surgery went so well and my inflammation was so localized that I was able to leave the hospital after being there only 2 nights!

 

Since I've been out of the hospital, I've bee recouperating at our apartment.... This is going to be the case for probably another 2 weeks while I heal from the surgery.   I have been spending most of my time on the couch watching movies, tv shows, and of course the Olympics!  I've also been working on a puzzle, and slowly getting there because I can only sit in a chair like that for so long right now.  It's been really interesting to feel the effects of the surgery and the energy it takes to recover from it.  Activities that were so simple really take it out of me.  The highlights of my days home have been my daily walk to the mailbox and car rides with Natalie to the grocery store or other errands.  I am supposed to push myelf a little futher each day and spend less and less time laying down.  I am eating 6 or 7 small meals a day to help the healing process and have a seemingly endless supply of gatorade, jello, yogurt, and pudding. I am always up for visitors, so don't hesitate to stop by! 

I have probably the best nurse that has ever lived.  I could not have gotten through this without Natalie.  She has put so much effort into making sure that I am comfortable and doing well down to the smallest detail.  For example, She went to the trouble of making individual jello cups like the one in the picture, so that I can just grab them out of the fridge when I need a snack.  She's the cutest!  

Before I forget, I want to thank everyone for their love and prayers that you've shown me through this whole ordeal.  You have no idea how much it has meant to me and helped me get through this. Whether it was a visit to the hospital, a phone call, text message... Thank you for caring!   I have learned there is great healing power through HUGS :)

Sorry if this post is all over the place...it's 2:30 in the morning now ha ha.  So, things are going well except for being a little stir crazy, and a little sore in my belly.  I followed up with my doctor yesterday, and as soon as I finish this round of prednisone, I am going to be MEDICINE FREE as long as I'm not showing any symptoms.  THAT IS A MIRACLE!!!  I haven't been medicine free for about 5 years now.  No pills, no shots, nothing!!! It's going to be so awesome! So let's keep our fingers crossed that this is finally under control and that I will have a good 3 to 5 years being symptom free like the statistics show.   

Thanks for reading!  Until next time...

PS... Congrats to my brother Brandon and wife Loren on the birth of my new nephew Mason today!  I can't wait to see him!!!

Great things...

Nate made it! We're here in his hospital room as he recovers. It's late but I have to express my gratitude, for the support Nate and I continue to receive. We have the best family and friends not to mention great medical staff now too. Thank You all.

Dr Kim -the surgeon drew a diagram of what he did for Nate today (right colectomy, lap ueo cecectomy and oh yes appendectomy while he was at it :).  He was amazed that he was able to still pass food through himself because of how close he was to a blockage. He should feel so much better with this diseased portion of him removed, he'll be a new man. Everything he saw inside was classic Crohn's, and no medications would have made this better. We have much to be thankful for and are excited for this road to recovery!

Nate is a little loopy but doing well coming out of it, we couldn't be happier about the way this worked out.

Good things come to those who wait....

Well, it's finally going to happen.  After trying medication after medication, I am finally going to have surgery in hopes of crushing crohn's disease for a few years or more! 

I was scheduled to meet with a surgeon in 2 weeks, and I got a call from their office saying that I could come in today if I wanted to.  So, I picked up Natalie from work and we went to meet Dr. Kim.  Upon arrival I found out that my GI specialist called Dr. Kim this morning and said that I can't wait 2 more weeks for something to happen and that he has tried all of the drugs in the book on me.  So, Dr. Kim squeezed me in to his busy schedule to see what my best options would be.

He went over my most recent CT scan and actually showed me the pictures.... Normally they just go over what the radiologist found in their report.  Well, he showed me where my small intestine connects to the large intestine, and it is about 3 times the size it should be due to the inflammation Crohn's has caused.  So, he said that I am going to need surgery, the question is when.  Both he and my GI doc felt that the sooner the better. 

Dr. Kim happened to have some free time tomorrow, and said let's do it.  So, tomorrow (thursday) I will be admitted to LDS hospital for surgery at 12:00 noon!  They will be taking out the inflammed portion of my small intestine and connecting it all back together again.  I'll be in the hospital about a week, and then have a few weeks of recovery after that. 

Tonight, I got a blessing from Perry with brothers Darren, Michael, Rhett, and my pa-in-law Bill assisting, with Natalie, Mom, Morgan, Sal, Dezi, and ma-in-law Kristin there to support as well. It was an amazing blessing and it brought me a lot of comfort.  I really feel good about having this operation, and I hope that it will finally bring me some relief from this lame disease.  It's going to be a rough month or so, but I think that it will be worth it. 

So, off I go to the hospital tomorrow.  I'm a little nervous, yes, but mostly relieved.  Natalie and I have been hoping for this after the months of medications and pain we've been through.  It really is a blessing, and I am looking forward to a healthy future.

I'll be sure to keep ya'll posted.  If you're in the neighborhood, feel free to stop by too! I'm not going anywhere :)  Thank you for your prayers and support.  Love you all!

Quotes for the Day--- Natalie Style!

So last night we were going through a box of Natalie's things from elementary school, and came across a lot of Natalie's written works from that age....I haven't laughed that much in quite some time... She's the cutest!  Here is one of the gems from Natalie's past:

"To make a turkey you need to go to a farm, kill the turkey, take out the feathers and cook it for an hour on the stove.  And then put it in the oven and cook it for one hour.  Take it out and cool it for half-a-minute and have a wonderful feast you've had in your whole life. Except the turkey I'm sure didn't want to even have Thanksgiving and I know that you know why the turkey didn't have a good Thanksgiving!  Happy Thanksgiving."

-Natalie Gagon

Happy Valentine's Day!!

In order to prove that I can write about things besides my health, I'm going to write about the awesome Valentine's weekend we had.  

It all started Friday night after work.  One of the perks of my job, is that my health insurance covers massage therapy.  To kick off the weekend, we went to massage envy and had our 1 hour monthly massage.  This was so nice after a long week of work and not feeling so great physically.  After the massage, we went to see the new movie "Valentine's Day" with it seemed like everyone else that lives in Sandy.

Saturday morning, my niece Mckell was baptized and went to Fuddrucker's for lunch afterwards with the fam.  It was great to see my brother-in-law Matt's picture on the wall for completing the Fuddrucker Challenge-- (you have to eat a 1lb. burger, chili cheese fries, a shake or sundae, and a soft drink).  This is something to be respected for completing!!

Natalie was in charge of our activities on Saturday night.  I'm surprised that our smoke alarms didn't go off with the amount of candles that were lit in our apartment that night.  We had an awesome dinner of King Crab Legs, asparagus, salad, and lemon rice.  If you ever want to have a fancy dinner at home that tastes AWESOME, crab legs are definitely the way to go!  After dinner, we let our stomachs recover for a little bit and then we headed to one of the hot tub at our apartment complex. If you ever want to come over and give it a try, let us know.  We LOVE it, and will take any opportunity to use it!

We finished off the night with one of our favorite desserts, chocolate fondue.  As you can see from the picture, we made one with dark and white chocolate, with pineapple, bananas, and cheesecake for dipping.  It was so great.  We are becoming quite the fondue experts, and would be happy to show you our skills anytime :)

Health Care Bites Back....

Well it's after midnight.... I fell asleep for about an hour and woke up in pain. So, I thought I'd get up and write a little blurb and give an update on my health situation and the roller coaster of a day it's been!

Today is the first time I've felt like my health insurance wasn't on my side. As I said in my previous post, I had been waiting to hear when I could start Remicade treatments again at a last attempt to get my crohn's under control before needing some kind of surgery. Well, my doctor's office called to say that my insurance DENIED the pre-authorization to allow me to have the drug. So, if I wanted to have the drug, I would have to fork out the $4,000 plus per treatment and my insurance will cover nothing. Since piles of money aren't flying out of my you-know-where, Remicade is not an option without insurance coverage. The insurance company denied the authorization because I had been on the treatment before and I stopped the treatment because it was not working as effective. So, in a way, I guess I can't blame them for denying it according to my history. Why should they have to pay all this money for something that stopped working for me in the past already? I'm torn because I work for the insurance company.... I have seen this happen on many, many occasions and it is their way of trying not to waste premium dollars to help keep premium costs lower for members and have more available to pay claims that are medically necessary. So, I guess I have to give them kudos for that. On the other hand, who is more aware of my medical history and condition? The insurance company or my doctor? Anyways, I'm torn.... My insurance suggested that I try Humira, which is similar to remicade. I would give myself a shot every couple of weeks. My doctor has talked to me about that drug in the past, and he didn't think it would work well for me given my history.

Ironically, I had scheduled myself off for the afternoon expecting the Remicade to be approved and that I would get in for my first treatment today. I found out I wasn't approved for the treatment early this morning and planned on just staying at work for the rest of my shift. The doctor's office was supposed to call me back later in the day with the next steps I should take... Then, PAIN STRUCK. I got this terrible pain in my abdomen that shot into my back.... It felt like there were these little elves with little knives poking me all over inside. (I don't know why I chose elves.... maybe trolls or smurfs would work just as well) I was already disappointed that I couldn't get my treatment, and this added pain made thinking clearly almost impossible. I decided to go home for the day since I had it scheduled off already. I spent the afternoon with a heating pad on my stomach waiting for the doctor to call, and I would tell them what was going on. The doc's assistant called and said that my doctor is going to appeal the denial because he feels Remicade is really my best shot right now. I am to continue taking prednisone (which I have nicknamed "The devil's drug") at a smaller dose and iron supplements to fight my recent diagnosis of anemia. I told the assistant I was having pretty bad pain, and she said she'd talk to the doctor and call me back with further instructions.

5:00 rolls around (when the doc's office closes) and I still haven't heard anything. My pain subsides enough so I can do some Valentine's day shopping, and then I was to meet Natalie at her work to go visit her friend Stacy that had a baby today. Things didn't work out to go see Stacy, and my pain started to come back again. I decided to call the doc's answering service and page the on- call doctor.

I spoke with a Dr. Sossenheimer (one of my doc's partners) who pulled up my medical history. I told him that my remicade treatment had been denied, and after looking over my recent CT scans, he thinks it would be a good idea to talk to a general surgeon since I'm obviously not responding to medications. He went over the risks of getting Lymphoma if I continue treatment with these immuno-suppressive drugs, and that I might not be able to wait for my insurance company to review my doctor's appeal for remicade. He says if I'm in that much pain, that I could go to the ER and have a small intestine resection surgery tonight! He even told me the name of the surgeon on call.... He said my other option was to get some pain meds and wait until talking to my GI doctor in the morning. I told him that the pain meds would be fine for now, and that I'd rather talk with my doctor first than have emergency surgery tonight.

So, that's where I stand right now...Pretty frustrating, but getting somewhere slowly I guess. I really think I'm ready to have surgery and take a break from these medications for awhile. We'll see what the doc has to say tomorrow.

Life in the fast lane... almost 2 years and counting!

Ok, so I still can't sleep.... I'm going to continue my rant of the day.

I have been an avid journal writer since I was in the 9th grade. When I started keeping a journal, I wrote almost every single day up until the end of my mission. After my mission, I let things get in the way and got lazy.... now I'm lucky if I write once every few months. So, this is going to become my new journal of sorts....

Here's an update on what's been going on since Natalie posted that I graduated... She failed to mention that she also graduated in December 2008 with her bachelors degree in Speech Pathology and Communicative disorders. So, we're both college grads :) Since graduating, we've both been working and are applying to graduate school. Natalie hopes to get a masters in speech therapy, and I'm shooting for a master's in healthcare administration...Although there's still a little part of me that wants to dive into med school, but we'll see what the future brings.

While we're figuring out some big things for the future, we've both been working and enjoying not being in school. Natalie was working as a speech pathology aide at Intermountain Medical Center, and recently started a new position as an administrative secretary in the Heart and Lung Clinic at Intermountain medical Center. I've been working at Regence BlueCross BlueShield for almost 3 years now. I'm looking for something a little more challenging and where I can put my degree to use. So, if you know anyone that is looking for a motivated, hard-working college grad, send them my way!!!

We spent the first year and a half of our married life living in our little box of an apartment in Sugarhouse. I could never have survived there without Natalie's creativity and turning that little place into quite a nice home for us newlyweds. We had great times being so close to the shops in Sugarhouse and enjoying being so close to downtown Salt Lake City. We have so many great memories, and I am so glad that was our first place. It was especially fun serving as nursery leaders in our little ward. It will be great to tell our kids how we couldn't walk around our bed because it filled the room, and how we had to get dressed in the living room because our clothes wouldn't fit in the very small bedroom closet. And who could forget the convenience of the bathroom. You could give yourself a bath without even getting off the toilet! :)

To save a little money, In October 2009 we decided to pack up our little apartment and move in with my parents and little brother Darren in Draper. It was fun being so close with family and we couldn't have asked for better landlords than my parents :)

Since then, we decided to leave the nest again and get another apartment in Cottonwood Heights. This place is a PALACE compared to our little apartment in Sugarhouse. We feel like kings with our dishwasher, washer and dryer, and oh yes, even a garbage disposal! Our clothes fit in the closet too!

So, we are having fun. We are excited for the changes coming in our family... my brother Brandon and his wife Loren will be having a baby any time now, Natalie's brothers Matt and Michael are off to serve missions in Brazil in May, and my brother Darren and his bride-to-be Dezi will be getting married in May! We have so much to be thankful for, even with the recent trials with my heath. We are still being blessed in so many ways.

Anyways, You really are a trooper if you made it through this... Thanks for reading! Until next time....

My Story with Crohn's Disease

Well, I've been looking for things to do with my recently acquired insomnia. Natalie reminded me that her friend Paige created this blog for us. I thought this might be a way for me to fill some of those sleepless hours....So here goes....

I thought I'd start my first post with why I am not able to sleep in the first place.... I've been taking medications to fight a flare-up I have been having with crohn's disease. For those of you who don't know, I was diagnosed with Crohn's on my mission in Sweden in Spring 2005. If you don't know what Crohn's disease is, it is an autoimmune disease that attacks the digestive system with ulcerations and fistulas that can develop anywhere from your mouth on down. There's no cure, but it can be managed with medication and surgery as a last resort. NOT FUN!!!

It was really weird how it all started. All of a sudden, I just started losing weight without even trying... Then other symptoms started... an almost constant fever, sharp abdominal pain, loss of appetite, diarrhea, even more weight loss, and even a weird eye infection. With the help of a dear Swedish person, I was able to work through the cracks of socialized health care and find a doctor that was with it enough to come to my diagnosis. After a colonoscopy that showed some pretty major inflammation in my large intestine, I was hospitalized in Malmo, Sweden. I went for a week without food, being fed nutrients through an IV to give my digestive system a rest and allow the prednisone and antibiotics to do their magic and let me heal.

I came home from Sweden taking a few different medications waiting to get into a specialist in the States. I weighed almost 50 pounds less than when I had left on my mission. It turns out I have one of the worst forms of Crohn's disease, where I can develop fistulas where growths connect from my intestines to other organs or make new openings in the skin. I started to develop these fistulas, and my doctor immediately placed me on the IV therapy treatment Remicade.

I would receive Remicade infusions every 8 weeks, and this worked a miracle for the next 3 and a half years. I was virtually symptom free and I was enjoying being in remission. After some time, I started to develop the same symptoms that I had above. My doctor increased my IV infusions to every 6 weeks. I had a colonoscopy and it showed mild inflammation had returned.

In January 2009, I started seeing a different gastroenterologist to get another opinion on how I might get Crohn's under control.... I started a new drug called Cimzia, where I get a shot in my belly once every 4 weeks. It really worked wonders like Remicade the first few treatments, but to my dismay, I started to feel the nasty symptoms coming back.

Since then, I have been trying out different drugs to try and get things under control. These past couple of months have been especially difficult. I have lost about 25 pounds total in that time frame. I have experienced the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. I was hospitalized with dehydration and pancreatitis due to another medicine that I tried. I have made 2 visits to the ER as well. IT'S BEEN CRAZY!! During my last meeting with my doctor, I have learned that it is now coming down to surgery to remove the inflammed parts of my intestine. My doctor wants me to give Remicade one last try since it worked so well for me before. He tells me I have about a 40% chance of it working, but risks of having a reaction are greater when going back to it. It's been quite the emotional roller coaster I must say.

I hope that this post wasn't too negative. Along the way, I have had such great support from my friends and family. I couldn't have gotten through this without Natalie. She has done so much for me to keep me comfortable and happy both physically and mentally. She's my guardian angel! So, I'm waiting to have my "first" remicade treatment sometime this week. I should know within a couple of weeks whether or not it's going to work for me. We'll keep ya'll posted!! :)