A Fortunate Self-Diagnosis

Reader's Digest version: Amy was tired. I got appendicitis. They put three holes in my stomach. They gave me jello. I am feeling a lot better. Amy danced. We are both sleeping again.

Thursday capped off a crazy week for me and Amy. She had been hard at work preparing for her folk dance performances of Christmas Around the World and pulled an all-nighter to finish a paper, beyond studying for tests in other classes and practicing with her tap dance group. I was doing what I could to help her have time to sleep.

My semester load has been easier, but this week I have been writing a few papers as well, and putting in a lot of hours at work helping with the newspaper’s Christmas contest. On Thursday I worked from 8 to 3, went to class until 5:30, then attended a service project with Beta Alpha Psi (accounting club) until 9.

Sometime during the evening my stomach started to hurt, presumably because I hadn’t eaten dinner. By the time Amy got home from dance rehearsal, the pain was still there, and I couldn’t sleep. The burning, concentrated aching behind my belly button felt pretty abnormal so I went online to check symptoms, thinking it could be either an ulcer or maybe food poisoning.

I wasn’t in any great pain, but I felt like I needed to get it checked out sooner than later. Hesitantly, I woke up Amy just after 1 AM and asked her to take me over to the emergency room, for lack of any other options. It was a hard decision, because I definitely didn’t feel sick enough to be going to the hospital.

Checking in at the emergency room, I felt even sillier telling them that I thought I might have appendicitis, considering the pain wasn’t localized on the right side of my abdomen like it normally would be. The doctor seemed skeptical as well, but decided to do a CAT scan to be sure. Things only started to feel serious when they put in my IV and I went unconscious for a few seconds and started to get nauseous.

We waited awhile for the CAT scan results, and I fully expected to hear that it was nothing but indigestion. But the doctor confirmed that I had a few stones obstructing my appendix and that it needed to come out. Because we caught it early, non-invasive laparoscopic surgery, where they make three small incisions under the navel, was still an option. We would just have to wait a few hours for the surgeon.

They moved me up to my own room on the sixth floor, where Amy waited with me until I went in for surgery just after 7. I don’t remember anything except moving onto an operating table, breathing on an oxygen mask, then waking up some time later shaking really bad. I guess when they removed my appendix, it was more inflamed than they initially thought. They moved me back upstairs to spend the day recuperating.

Amy was still able to make it to most of her classes on Friday, and she came to visit me after the surgery and just before her show that night. I was able to start eating liquids and soft foods right away, and I haven’t felt nauseous at all afterwards. Surprisingly, walking around relieves a lot of abdominal pressure and I am already feeling great, even without a lot of pain medication. I went to Amy’s Christmas Around the World performance last night—she did awesome and I was able to enjoy the show without too much discomfort. We are lucky to have identified the problem before it ruptured, and it actually came at a pretty fortunate time, instead of during finals or the holidays. Amy is now catching up on her sleep!

Colorado-Bound

Well I thought we should post a quick update to let everyone know that our plans for after graduation in April are starting to take shape. This week I called to accept an offer for a summer internship at McGladrey & Pullen, a public accounting firm located in downtown Denver. It marks the end of a lot of recruiting events that I am glad to be done with, and it means we'll be moving out to Colorado sometime in middle to late May. I am really excited about the people I'll be working with, and this firm is really good about letting you balance work with other life priorities, a luxury not usually afforded in the "Big 4" accounting environment. I'll be doing audit work on middle market clients, typically private companies or smaller publically-traded companies in the greater Denver area.

I'm also in the process of applying to the Masters of Accounting program at Colorado State University, with the only thing lacking being the GMAT exam that I'll take in a few weeks. I would start the program after my internship this summer, go to school for two semesters and be done by June 2010. Ideally, the internship would lead to a full-time job offer after I'm done with school.

Amy and I didn't carve any pumpkins for I think the third year in a row, but we did go to our friends' party dressed up as The Sunmaid Raisin Lady and BYU Quarterback Max Hall. We made lots and lots of Mom's pumpkin chocolate-chip and Bruce's famous chocolate-chip and butterscotch cookies and delivered them to our friends close by. We are really excited about the future additions to each of our families, congratulations Jon & Nicole and Cody & Jamie!

Small Service

Today I held the door open for a blind man and talked to him briefly as I registered to vote. Finding small ways to serve others is easy, try it!!

Homecoming Parade

I am part of the Folk Dance Ensemble at BYU this semester and had the priviledge of dancing during the Homecoming Parade this weekend! Our team did a choreography to Cotton Eyed Joe and an Indian/Bollywood/Bhangara dance that was performed by all 5 teams together. The route was a little less than 2 miles and we danced the entire time! I was exhausted by the end, but I love to perform so I enjoyed every minute of it. The crowd loved it and I had strangers telling me we were the best part of the parade! This was the first time I'd actually gone to BYU's Homecoming Parade and had a blast being in it! Today my legs and feet are a bit sore, but it was definitely worth it. Thanks Jeff for sitting in the cold and taking pictures! (I am in the team wearing red... in the back corner)

Back to the Future!!

You may have already seen this before, but in case you've wondered what your yearbook picture would look like if you had graduated from high school in a different year between 1950 and 2000, here's a fun little website: http://www.yearbookyourself.com. I personally think I should have graduated in '76 or '88, what awesome hair. Amy is, not surprisingly, cute in any decade.

Tag, You're it!

Jessica tagged me in her post to come up with 7 things I'd never say, and 7 things Jeff would never say. It took a lot more brain power than expected... we had a lot of laughs. I hope you have a laugh too!

7 things I’d never say:

1. I’m in the mood to listen to country!
2. Let’s go to the pet store.
3. Dancing is not my thing.
4. Please pass the pickles. (neither would Jeff)
5. Hellboy is my favorite movie.
6. Jeff, can I watch PTI with you? (Pardon the Interruption on ESPN)
7. Please, let me make the tossed salad!

7 things Jeff would never say:

1. Let’s skip the BYU football game today.
2. Anyone have a piece of gum?
3. Do you have any smaller shoe sizes?
4. Let’s go dancing!!
5. Full screen is better than wide screen.
6. I hate my iPod.
7. I hope the Red Sox win the World Series!

Karren, Stef, and Nicole... tag, you're it!

What We Did On Our Summer Vacation

I think a quick update is in order considering we haven't made blogging our #1 priority this summer. We've been using our time off from school to work and discuss some seemingly ominous life decisions. After our spring classes were over mid-June, Ernst & Young flew me out to Irvine for their Summer Leadership Program. Essentially all of the conferences I participated in this summer were opportunities to get to know different public accounting firms and meet professionals from the practice.

So, starting with McGladrey, E&Y, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, I am being recruited for something for the first time in my life! Is this what it feels like to be a football player? If only derivative contracts and equity consolidation were as exciting as the flee-flicker pass or the triple option. The Deloitte National Leadership Conference that I attended in Scottsdale was like a professional EFY with lots of free food and soda. We went to a dude ranch and did some service in the downtown Phoenix area in between sessions.

The day after I got back from Arizona, we flew to California for a week to visit my family. While there, we braved the heat of Six Flags Magic Mountain and each of its 13 roller coasters. And even a heavy case of nausea couldn't keep us away from In-N-Out on the way home! We also hit the beach, saw an Angels game, did dinner with some friends, and went to Boomers, where Amy's record against me in miniature golf was upped to 3-0. It was a quick week, but we were glad to spend some time with my sister Stef and her family that live in Arkansas.

Away from the ocean and over the Rockies, we visited Amy's family for a week as well. While in Colorado, I was invited to lunch with two partners from Deloitte's Denver audit practice, and was able to visit their local office and the offices of McGladrey which are, coincidentally, located in the same office building downtown. On Thursday we drove up to Estes Park and up over Trail Ridge Road (the highest paved road in the nation), including an unexpected but beautiful jaunt around the back side of Rocky Mountain National Park to get home! We also enjoyed playing with the kids and bumming out at the pool a little bit.

Well, we've been back in Provo this month trying to make some dough. Last weekend we went camping with our ward up in Mapleton Canyon, a good excuse to buy a new tent and break out our new sleeping bags. It turns out that if you wear a yellow t-shirt, the bugs and crawlers will think you are all the rage! Boy, do I love nature. I saw the Dark Knight twice (once with Amy and once in IMAX). And let's see, you could say I'm pretty enthused for football season. GO COUGARS! That's our concise summer travelogue. Thanks for reading!