4 Years, The experience

Warning - Long post, no pictures.

It is crazy what happens in 4 years. On this day, 4 years ago my life literally changed. I was on my LDS mission in Napa California. It was one of our prep days to get stuff ready for the week. My companion and my self spent a lot of time with the spanish missionaries in the area. We had heard about a rope swing that looked out over the entire valley. The view was spectacular. Vineyards with changing colors, fog slowly rolling out, a sense of peace over the entire area. It was awesome.

Now I am a bit of a scardy pants, so I only went on the swing a couple times. After everyone had finished playing on the swing I decided to go on a couple times before we left. The famous last words "One more time", and it really was my last time. As soon as my feet left the ground, the rope went tight and *SNAP*. The next thing I remember, I am gasping for air as my companion and the spanish missionaries run down to me yelling "Don't move!!" I had fallen about 12 feet, while doing a backflip in the air and landing on my upper back/neck bouncing and landing in some mud face down. I laid there in the mud for a long time, as we discussed our options. I knew something wasn't right inside and that we needed to head to the hospital. After some struggle we were able to get me on my back, and then sit up. Meanwhile, everything was going hazy, and had a white haze around everything I was looking at. Before we started our journey, I received a blessing with a lot of strength and power. (I won't share what was actually said because it was extremely personal). We then started our mile hike back to the car.

With taking a lot of medical classes I learned that we did the stupidest thing possible, move someone after an accident. Luckily it was a bit of a chilly morning, so the cold helped numb the pain I was feeling. I had my arms around two of the missionaries while another scouted ahead for the quickest/less steep way back. After slipping a couple times and catching myself on the other two missionaries we finally made it back to the car. On the car ride there my body started to warm up, and with it I felt searing pain all the way up my body/back.

Upon arrival at the hospital, they put me in a wheel chair, gave me a neck brace, and rushed some MRI's and x-rays. I kept getting colder and colder even though the nurses were putting more and more hot blankets on me. I knew then that something was wrong, but I didn't know what. The results of the x-ray said there was no broken bones. Thank you Jesus! My passing out relaxed my muscles so my bones could do their actual job. The MRI came back with less than happy results. I had ruptured my spleen.

Now side story. In my family half of us do not have our spleen's. Now you may ask "well what does a spleen do?" Well I will tell you. It helps filter your blood, and stores different anti-bodies for common colds and what not. So now I can get sick pretty quickly so I take vitamin C pills every day.

So a ruptured spleen. They told me that in order to get everything they were going to have to do an "emergency exploratory splenectomy", code for "cut you open like a fish and clean you out". At this point I was starting to freak out. Surgery. Alone. In California. Eff. I signed the paperwork approving the surgery, and miraculously the operating room had a surgery end a lot sooner than expected, so they were just cleaning it up and going to wheel me in soon. My companion, the spanish missionaries and the bishop of the ward I was in came to the hospital to give me another blessing before I went in for surgery. This blessing promised a quick recovery along with some other things as well. It was a major comfort to me. The last thing I remember before going in for surgery is someone shaving my stomach and using tape to get all the hair off so it wouldn't go into my body.

Flash forward a couple hours, I am coming out of surgery, groggy and in a ton of pain. I make a phone call to my parents telling them I am out of surgery, and recovering. I was cut open from my belly button to my sternum. 23 staples, and a whole lot of internal stitches to keep it closed. The next day, the surgeon came in to see how I was recovering and told me that from the time I fell, to the surgery I had lost 3.5 units of blood. That was a good portion of my blood, and the reason behind my foggy vision, headache and staying cold. They gave me 4 units of blood to bring me back to the level I am supposed to be at.

This started my weeklong visit to the hospital. Admitted on a Monday morning and released Friday afternoon. My mission president gave me permission to talk to my family, so my Dad would call in the morning, my mom in the evening and all of my siblings called as well throughout the week. I was actually lucky that my brother was living in Modesto California then and came up to see me. He came after the effects of the drugs had worn off so I was happy and able to talk clearly. I was actually able to hold my niece, and have some fun with their other two kids as they sat on my hospital bed with me.

That time in the hospital was when I truly came to know my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ the most. I spent a decent amount of time reading and studying, I had a lot of visits from ward members checking in on me, and a surprising outpouring of love from everyone.

On Friday, I was getting ready to be discharged and I was put on a conference call with my Dad, Mission President, and two doctors from Salt Lake and we discussed my mission plans, and whether or not to stay for recovery or go home for recovery. The doctors were stressing that I go home to recover, but since my family has so many with out spleens it is nothing new to my family. We were able to convince them to let me stay, and I did so by recovering within 1 week. That was all it took to return to normal. I spent Saturday sleeping and munching on crackers. Sunday I went to church and we played some games with some members, Monday was p-day so I slept all day, Tuesday was a zone conference so that took all day, wednesday was a couple appointments and then recovering, Thursday was an interview with my surgeon and he took out my staples and gave me the go a head to return to life as normal just don't over do it, friday was the first day of almost full missionary work. 1 week, everyone was calling me Wolverine since I healed so quickly, and with little effects. Every now and then my back gets super tight and sore or a migraine but that is all.

So that is my spleen story. It happened 4 years ago, but every day I see the scar on my stomach and am reminded at how fragile life actually can be. This has completely changed my perspective on life since then. Have fun, enjoy the little things but still do your required work.

A little bit of honesty

Ok. So this year I became aware of the SUU homepage displaying student pictures. Ever since I saw this, I wanted to get on the homepage. It was a part of my own bucket list. Being at the home game this last week I was standing by one of my friends, Tyler Mills. This is his last semester down here and he was telling about different things he wants to accomplish this semester. One was being on the homepage, so we had this picture taken and I submitted it.

We won the game against the number 1 seeded team in our conference, Eastern Washington University. It was the perfect meaning of rooting for the home team the whole game. It was going back and forth. Needless to say, I am happy to be a T-bird!

Fall semester 2012

Ok, So after spending my summer working hard I was glad to head back down to Cedar City. Being on the Executive Council of Ambassadors required  me to come down a day earlier and we basically hung out with some great people. The retreat consisted mostly of tour training since we had a lot of new ambassadors that had not given a tour to people. We did a lot of it on campus so they could get a feel for what was going on and how to make it even better. We spent the next two days up at SUU's cabin basically getting away from the world. No internet, cell phone service. Just each other and our voices. It was so fun.

On the last day of the retreat we got whomever was left at the cabin to release balloons. On these balloons each person wrote their personal goals. As we let them go, 70 balloons floated in the sky showing how we are not alone in this! It was awesome.

I then moved into my apartment. Spending 3 days living out of the bed of a truck in the rain is not my idea of fun. I literally moved everything into my bedroom. I had a pathway to my bed where i crashed for 5 hours. So long. So intense. It was really great to get some rest. Oi vay.

With the start of a new semester it means new classes. With majoring in Sociology I am taking the only two required classes to get the degree. Social Theory and Research Methods and Statistics. Let me just tell you how I feel about those in 2 words. WOOF, and AWESOME. It is a lot of work. Reading about a lot of theorists is hard. I have to re read paragraphs 2 sometimes 4 times to understand it. Research Methods is reading about how to do research. Woof. Long and horrible. But the teachers understand it is difficult to read, so they make it easier. Theory we just have a 2 page paper on each theorist. Methods we are just doing a proposal for a project. I will take that to the bank and cash it any day!

Being the Task Force Coordinator in ambassadors this year has been interesting. I sometimes feel like I do nothing. I don't work in the Welcome Center with the rest of the EC, I am just there. So I try and find things to do to be busy. Well, that is a quick run-down of what I am doing this semester. I was talking with one of my friends earlier today and I did not realize how intense my week is. Weekend manager, homecoming, ambassador reunion, papers to write. It is going to make me crazy before the end of the semester if I am not there yet! Till next time, adieu.

Summer wrap up.

This summer has gone by fast. I have rarely been on the internet this summer from working so much. I had three jobs this summer. One was working for my neighbors costume shop (so fun and great people to work with) and I went back to GooseJumps for another summer. The owners at GooseJumps gave me a promotion as a Team leader. I basically started to do regular team work but also admin stuff. boring. I also had an experience being a counselor for the Governors Honor's Academy at SUU. It was so great. My nephew actually was able to become a participant.

Me, Justin, and Ericka

It was awesome to be able to spend 9 days with some amazing kids. I became really close with my boss. Shaylee and Paula Perry have become such an inspiration, confidant, therapist, friend, and everything else. At least once a week we beverage together. Between running around on an extended golf cart that seats 8 with water jugs, loading food, grabbing Harold, and driving down the middle of the road and around campus the memories will always be there. :) 

Shaylee Parry

Paula Parry

I was also able to take a week off from work and just relax with my family. My whole family. It was really great. I did not get any pictures with my camera, but my siblings did. Playing games, eating, golf, eating, swimming, eating, and boating. One thing is for sure when the Wright's get together there is never a shortage of food.

School started this week, and I will write about that in a little while. No worries, you all can be updated on my life :)

My Recent Experience

This week has been a very intense, crazy and long. It is hard to believe that this Monday really was a Monday. Lets back up a little bit first. About 3 weeks ago we had "How Ya Doin" interviews in ambassadors. I had given the thought of becoming the president of ambassadors previously to that. Quite a few other Ambassadors also told me that they thought I would be a good PA president. So I said in the interview that I would be willing to be put on the ballot to lead this great organization. I was not selected, but I knew that my friend Bailey who was selected would be a great leader as well, and I am almost positive that she could do a better job then me too. She asked me to be on the executive counsel with her. I am so excited that I am going to have the opportunity to give back to this wonderful organization that has really changed my life.

This is from our homecoming parade float. This was about
of the PA's this year

Going along with that, this week we had people from COPLAC (Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges) come to campus. SUU is working on becoming a member of this organization. It started out in the morning with a tour by a great ambassador, Megan. The lady that was here really enjoyed the campus and what was explained to her. There was a panel of different students that came to talk with the lady from COPLAC. Now I always knew I liked SUU and what is going on here. It wasn't until I was being asked about the programs here that I truly understood that I LOVE SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY!!! I did not realize all of the many different things that are offered.
Example: My technical writing professor realized that SUU does not have a new student manual. So for our final project she wanted us to create a new student manual. She has talked with many people here, and during our final we are having many different leaders here at the school judge it. The winning teams manual is going to be selected to be sent to new students. Students are being able to create a project with complete sponsorship of the school. Can you get that experience at BYU, UofU, Utah State, UNLV, UCLA? I highly doubt it.

My time here at SUU is getting me excited for what is to come in my future. SUU truly is preparing me for my future. I am so happy to be able to be apart of the Thunderbird Nation.

Memories
A year ago this week one of my inspirations in my life passed away. My Grandma on my mom's side passed away. But she has left such a strong legacy. I had a job in Provo and so I would come home every weekend and see my Grandma and talk with her. Having her that close to me was such a wonderful blessing. I want to just share some of the things that I miss most about her.

• She always had Schwann's Ice Cream in the freezer. Ice Cream Sandwiches, English Toffee Bars, Chocolate and Strawberry Sundaes.
• She HATED the little pizza place that opened just up the street.
• She always had Totino's Party Pizza in her freezer.
• She had a spunky little attitude
• She loved going to the senior citizen activities and had great stories from going to those.
• The conversations we would have after I mowed her lawn during the summer of 2010
• I KNEW that she loved me unconditionally. Even though I didn't have to write her thank you notes for birthday presents, I did. 
• Seeing the smile on her face.
• Grandma and Grandpa Huffaker were always a source of inspiration. They would mention their mission to Nauvoo and Liberty Jail and the importance of the church in their lives.
• Those precious moments when she was going between here and the afterlife mentioning "I will see you at church"
• Being able to give her the sacrament on her last Sunday.

Today is the anniversary of the funeral for my lovely grandma. The memories from this day constantly come up at random times. As part of the luncheon afterwards, we had a Schwann's Ice Cream truck with all the ice cream we could eat. Now each time I see a Schwann truck I cannot help remembering her. Thank you Grandma for the legacy you have left with us. We will always remember the day that you and Grandpa were reunited. Love you both.

Spring Break
Last week was spring break. it was much needed. I had been non stop for the three works up to it. Having a physiology test the Friday before the break made it much more stressful. I am happy to say that this spring break was exactly what I needed. The Friday night when I got home I played with some nephews that were spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's. It was a lot of fun. Saturday consisted of hanging out with some good friends from my mission, Michael Harbrecht and Dana Bryson. Dana and myself pretended to be engaged at reception. Good times. We then ate at TGIFridays to have some good eats and have enjoyable entertainment. "20 minutes? we'll go somewhere else."........."Put us down for 3" Much of the next week was spent watching netflix, helping mom, and hanging out with friends that I haven't seen in a long time. It was very needed. I went up to the University of Utah for an information session for Occupational Therapy and saw my cousin that had surgery at the hospital up there. It was a wonderful break to say the least.