6/14/14 The Donation

Wow!!!!! What a week it has been!!!! Starting on Monday I received 2 shots of Neupogen everyday. The Neupogen causes your body to hyper produce white blood cells and stem cells and then release them into your blood stream.  Monday and Tuesday went fine and I felt very little by way of side effects tot he medicine.  On Wednesday morning at about 2 am I woke up with stabbing pain in my hips and back, it hurt so bad that I didn't get anymore sleep that night, and the next few days were definitely not my favorite.  Wednesday night they prescribed me some Hydrocodone to help with the pain, and that did make things better.... but then I had to deal with the side effects of the pain killers :) 

Anyway, Thursday rolled around and we jumped a flight to San Diego California!!!! The flight was jam packed and the mix of motion sickness, neupogen pain, and pain killer nausea made it for the longest hour and a half of my life!!! hahahahaha But we survived :) Amelia was absolutely amazing and did everything for me all weekend and took care of me at every turn and I owe her everything!!!

Amelia and I on the plane

When we landed in San Diego we were picked up in very nice car and taken to the Hilton in La Jolla!!!! IT WAS REALLY NICE!!!!! and the most convenient part is that it's next door to Scripps Hospital where I did my donation. 

Friday morning started bright and early!!! We got to the hospital and they had to run some blood tests and give me my last two shots of neupogen before we could start the actual Stem Cell collection process.  At about 9:30 they brought me into a room and hooked me up to two huge IV's, one in each arm, they then hooked me up to a machine that draws my blood out, separates it into all its different elements, collects the stem cells in a bag, and then puts what is left back in me through the other arm...... The order was to process 22 liters of blood, the average male has anywhere between 4-5 liters of blood, so that means they had to cycle my entire blood supply through the machine 4 or 5 times, which is pretty crazy when you think about it :) 


All Hooked up!!!

The Dream Team

Sleeping away the hours

Three hours later, the whole donation was done and there was a beautiful bag of creamy tomato soup that they told me was full of my stem cells.  I signed the bag guaranteeing that they were my stem cells, and they were on their way to wherever in the world they're going!!!

Through all of this process I have had some amazing people at my side helping me through all of it!!! My wife Amelia has been my greatest and best support helping me through every step and putting up with me even when I was whiny. The awesome staff at Scripps Hospital who helped me through every step of the donation process especially nurse Stacy who was there the whole day of the donation.  The Amazing organization of DKMS and all they did and do to match donors and recipients all over the world and save lives every single day!! Especially my Donation Coordinator Hannah De Simone, who helped me through every step.  And finally my cousin Stephen Griener and my  father in law Lee Kolts for being the immovable beacons of faith hope and love that inspired me to go through with such an amazing experience.

T-Shirt given to me by DKMS

I really hope one day I'll be able to meet the young man that I donated too, but more that anything I hope that this little sacrifice can bring peace and healing to his life and to his family!!!!

6/9/14 Getting Ready

Wow, its been a while since I last posted... So lets do a quick update!!!!!  This last weekend was pretty dang awesome!!!  Amelia and I had the chance to celebrate our 2 year anniversary.  Though our anniversary isn't technically till this Saturday we had to move it for reasons which I will explain in a little bit.... Anyway, we got to go spend the whole weekend in an extremely nice one bedroom cabin at the Cabins at Bear River Lodge.  It was spectacular!!! the view was breath taking and the cabins were beautifully decorated and furnished... needless to say it was one awesome weekend!!!  I can't believe that Amelia and I have been married now for two years!!! It seems like just yesterday that we were at our first BYU football game together on the day we met....

 

And now, 2 years later, we are even crazier in love!!!!!

 

 

I am so lucky to have someone as crazy amazing as Amelia to be with me for forever!!! I love her more than I could ever explain.

 

 

Now, for the reason why we had to celebrate our anniversary a week early..... On Friday, June 13th 2014 I will be at Scripps hospital in La Jolla California donating Peripheral Stem Cells to a young boy of 18 who is suffering from AML (a form of Leukemia).  I started my first of four rounds of a chemical called Filgrastim.  Filgrastim stimulates your bone marrow into producing elevated amounts of stem cells and releasing them into your blood stream.... I will have an injection everyday for the next 3 days leading up to the appointment and then on Friday they will hook me up to basically a dialysis machine on steroids that will syphon the stem cells out of my blood and return my blood back to my body.  After that they will send my stem cells off to wherever this young man lives so that he can have the transplant, and hopefully my stem cells can repair his immune system to the point that his body can beat the leukemia!!

 

This opportunity that I've been given is one in a million!!! There are not words to express how happy I am that I could share part of myself that may help someone beat such a terrible disease!!!!

 

 

5/25/14 Relaxing Weekend

Well, its Sunday on Memorial Day weekend and I can't tell you how awesome the past couple of days have been!!! It all started on Friday, we loaded up the car and headed north towards Salt Lake!!! Of course we stopped at Culver's in Lehi to get some burgers and custard..... for all you folks out there, Culver's is a fast food chain that originated in the Mid-West and now has three locations in Utah.... if you ever get a chance they have some of the best ice-cream/custard that exists and they have really good fried cheese curds!!!! Check it out!!!

Anyway, after some delicious dinner we headed to KSL Broadcasting headquarters at the Triad Center in Salt Lake to pick up my four tickets to the Shakespeare festival that I won on KSL news radio.... we're so stoked to go see some plays this summer!!!! 

After that we headed to the Rocky Mountain Raceway to watch the Friday night drag race!!!! Our Pass of All Passes got us in free, and it was super cool to watch!!! They had cars that ranged from early 60's chevy's to Pro Dragsters and everything in between all racing and it was super cool to watch!!!!  When the race was over we went to Amelia's parents house to stay for the rest of the weekend.  They are at the cabin in Wisconsin for the summer so we have the whole house to ourselves!!

Saturday morning we slept in and enjoyed ourselves and then we went and weeded and sprayed weeds and got the yard all looking nice.  Then we went and met my parents at China Star in Bountiful for a late lunch/dinner.  It was way fun going on a little double date with my parents and getting to talk to them for a while.  After dinner we went to see the new X-Men: Days of Future past.... IT WAS GREAT!!!! I loved it!!! In fact we liked it so much that we came home and watched both X-Men II and X-Men III :) it was pretty fun!!!

Anyway, the point is, its super nice to just have a real relaxing, not super planned, weekend.  We've done a ton of watching movies, and sitting on the couch, and playing words with friends, and mostly just relaxing the whole time, and its been so dang nice!!!!

5/19/14 Flood Night

WOW!!!! What a night!!!! at about 10:30 p.m. our basement neighbors came running to our front door saying that their house had flooded again!!!!! And apparently this time it was way worse..... and believe me, it was!!!!! when we got in the house there was about 4 inches of standing water through the entire basement!!!!! After contacting our landlord and 24 hr Flood Response we began moving things out of their basement...... so... about three hours later at 1:30ish we finally had all of their furniture and big things out of the house and the flood people were there ready to extract the water.

Thankfully Mike and Anna live close and they let us crash at Mike's parents place so the few hours of sleep we did get we weren't having to try and sleep through fans and water extractors!!!! Let me tell you something.... when your head finally hits pillow around 2:30 am and the alarm clock goes off at around 5:30 am...... it makes you feel like the walking dead!!!! hahahah lets just say it was a very long day at work, and hopefully Amelia and I can catch up on some well needed sleep tonight, for tomorrow!!!

Anyway, life is good!!! Things keep truckin along and we roll pretty well with the punches!!! Speaking of rolling with the punches.... I really love this clip!!! just thought I'd share!!!!

5/17/14 Part 2

Well straight from the lake to the frying pan!!!! When I went to Wisconsin last year with Amelia and her family they took me to a Friday night fish fry at a supper club....... now for all of you westerners like myself who have no idea what a supper club is lets let wiki help us out. 

Anyway on Fridays its tradition from the supper clubs to do an all you can eat fish fry..... and boy oh boy it was delicious.  Anyway, growing up I can only remember one time where we didn't cook fish in our traditional, put the whole thing in tin foil with some lemon and then throw it on the grill, but now you could say I have grown a "finer tooth" for fish :)  My Dad taught me how to use a fillet knife (here is an awesome instructional video too (start at about 5:47))

 and my amazing wife Amelia got me a really nice one for Christmas, so I filleted up my three rainbows and I made a made a batter that I found the recipe for on-line. 

Rainbow Trout Fillets

Beautiful 18in Rainbow Pre-Fillet

6 very nice fillets seasoned with lemon pepper

The fish turned out really good, but the batter was terrible!!! The recipe called for way to much baking soda and it left a burning after taste in your mouth!!!! DANG!!! I tried so hard!!! Oh well!!! The fish still tasted good.... after you peeled the batter off!!!

Brown Sugar Pineapple, Homemade Fries, and Battered Trout!!

Anyway, Mike and Anna were awesome and we all went over to their house for a fish fry and grilled pineapple.  The fries were awesome, the pineapple was to die for, the fish were alright (once the battering was gone) and the smores were spectacular...... not the mention the company was phenomenal!!!  Anyway, all in all it was a pretty great day!!!

5/17/14 FISHING!!!!!!!!

Well, its been a long time coming!!!! I finally got my first spring fishing trip in!!!!! Growing up, the only place we ever fished before about June was at East Canyon Reservoir... besides that we basically just waited till all the snow was off in the mountains and we'd head for places like the Uintas and Currant Creek.  Anyway, Amelia has to work every third Saturday at her new job and so that leaves me open on those days till around 2:00pm.  So I decided it was time for me get some fishing in!!!!

I couldn't decide where I should try, and after thinking of a few different places I decided I'd try Deer Creek Reservoir.  I jumped on-line and tried a few different places to see if I could find a could fishing report and I found this on Sportsman's Warehouses' website.... Short, simple, to the point.


So, I took Sportsman's advice, I got myself some Garlic Green Sparkle Power Bait at Wal-Mart and headed up to Deer Creek.  I got there at 6:00 am and got my bait in the water. 

Deer Creek Reservoir. Near Heber, Utah

 The first red star (closest too the road) was where I turned off and the second red star (closest to the water) was where I fished.

Prime Fishing Spot, Deer Creek Reservoir

Within twenty minutes I had my first fish and from then on it was one after another!!! By eight o' clock I had caught 8 rainbows all pretty good size and I kept the three biggest.

Three Awesome Rainbow Trout!!!! These guys put up a good fight!!!

Anyway, I had an amazing morning fishing and I enjoyed every last second of it!!! I now have a new fishing spot and I can't wait to take Amelia up there.

Later this afternoon, I think we're going to have a little fish fry!!!! :) I can't wait!!!!

5/6/2014 Books, Goals and much more

Amelia is awesome!!!!  Seriously though, it blows me away what she can accomplish!!! She will get an idea (like creating a book review blog) and then she usually takes a while to think about it before she acts.  And then, all of a sudden she just decides to do it and WHAM!!!!! Within a day she has a professional grade blog, that she had to figure out how to write HTML code, contract image hosting, and all kinds of stuff.  And she does it all on her own!!! She is going to accomplish things in this life that no one is going to think possible!!! She will lay waste to any and every obstacle that gets in her way, and she do it with a focused brow and a smile in her eyes!!! p.s. here is the blog, you should all check it out!!! www.foundinthefiction.blogspot.com

Amelia's new passion about her book blog has got me thinking a lot about how much I used to read and how much I love the world of fiction.  Ever since I went on my mission I have found extremely little time to read especially like the way I used too.  There were many summer/weekend days that I spent the entire day in my room or on the couch just reading away.  I remember when I was about 11 I bought a reclining camping chair and I set it up in my room.  I would spend hours in my camping chair reading everything from Brian Jaques magical world of "Redwall" to Dan Brown's suspense filled "The  Da Vinci Code".  I can remember reading books like "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in one sitting..... seriously... one sitting!!!  I can remember having to reach to non-fiction books in elementary school because I had read so many of our school library's books.  I remember laying in bed at night while my Dad read me books like Walt Morey's "Run Far, Run Fast" and Wilson Rawls' "Where the Red Fern Grows".  Other night's I can remember my Mom reading hilarious books like Judy Blume's "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" and Louis Sachar's "Sideways Stories from Wayside School"

With memories like these, it really makes me wonder.... what the heck happened?!?!?!?!?! I can spend hours and hours watching 7 seasons of a show on Netflix and not even blink an eye, but I can't remember the last time I read an entire physical book, just for fun.... I listen to books on tape while I work every day and these provide enjoyment, entertainment, and distraction from the daunting tasks of manual labor, but its just not the same as reading a good old hard copy of a book.... in fact if you ask Amelia, she says listening to a book on tape doesn't even count :)

So, I think one of my goals this summer is to spend my time way more productively than I have been..... I need to read more, I need to write more, I need to accomplish more, and for heaven's sake, I really really really need to workout more :) hahahahaha

that being said, I think its time I post some summer goals!!!!!!

Goals For Summer 2014 i.e. 5/6/14 - 9/2/14 (the first day of fall semester):

                              -Weigh under 230lbs
                                     -Work out at least 3 days if not 5 a week

                              -Read at least 4 hard copy books
                              -Restore a Rocking Chair for Amelia
                              -..... others to come, but at least these so far :)

Anyway, a bunch of random thoughts today, but there it is!!!

Bone Marrow Donation 3/ Car Update

So DKMS contacted me again yesterday and let me know that they would still like me to donate PBSC so we're still on!!!! By the looks of things it will probably be sometime in early June.  I'm pretty excited and I'm glad that they still accepted me to participate with the other method.

Life is pretty crazy, and pretty fun!!! These past couple of week I've been working back at the county and its pretty early in the morning when I start, but its way nice to be done early in the afternoon.  The best is on fridays when we get done around 12:30 and it makes it easy to go get some errands run or even have some good time relaxing!!!!  Today I actually finished up at work and I headed to the car shop where they were working on the Grand Am... we finally got it all fixed up and running so that it could pass safety and admissions and then I took it down to the DMV and got our new license plates..... its nice to have that all done and out of the way even though it put a huge dent in our wallets :) but such is the life of owning an old car.... especially one that has over 285,000 miles!!! but it was super nice of grandma and grandpa Simpson to give it to us , and hopefully now that it has passed safety emissions it will last for a while!!!!

Bone Marrow 2

Well, I'm sitting in the hospital cafeteria right now.....  I just finished my big round of tests this morning to check everything and I guess the doctors have determined that I wouldn't be a good match for a direct bone marrow harvest and they are recommending that I do a PBSC donation instead... I guess they wanted the maximum possible amount of bone marrow and that can entail 8-9 access sites with up to 300 bone taps to retrieve that much bone marrow, and with my weight it makes it more difficult to access the pelvic bone so they have recommended that I do the PBSC instead.  So, now they have to contact the patients doctor and transplant team to see if stem cells work for them and if they do then we can move forward, but if not I guess they are going to have to find a different donor. 

I guess its pretty rare for them to want a different donor, but its still a possibility.  It kind of hurts being told I'm too overweight to help out in the way they wanted... I've never been a skinny guy, but I know that in the past few years my weight has gotten quite out of hand... it hasn't seriously effected my lifestyle or anything like that yet, but today is one of the first times I've really felt limited in what I can do because of my weight.  Its pretty disappointing to me that I let it get this out of hand and I definitely think its time to get back on track!!!

I'm not really sure how I am going to go about doing this but its definitely time to start... I don't want to ever be told I can't do something because of my size ever again!!! Unless, of course, its the kiddy ride at lagoon :)

Bone Marrow Donation 1

              I guess it’s about time I put up a post about what’s going on.   Back in November 2013 a bone marrow donor organization called DKMS was visiting BYU campus and they had a little table set up outside the Wilk… all they were doing was asking people to sign up to be bone marrow donors.  It was really easy, they just swab your cheek and take down your name and info and that’s it. They told everyone that less than 1% of all those who sign up to be donors are ever matched to actually be a donor. After what Stephen had gone through and what my father-in-law Lee Kolts is going through, I decided that if anyone on the face of planet needed to sign up it was me!!! When I signed up I was definitely willing, I just never thought I’d actually be selected.

                Well, back in march I got a call from the organization telling me that my DNA sample was a possible match for a then 17 now 18 year old male with a form of leukemia.  They asked if I was still willing to do further blood testing to see if I would be the best possible match and I said that I would be happy to.  After processing my blood samples I was confirmed as the best possible match and they then asked if I was willing to be the donor and have the young man proceed with the necessary chemotherapy to perform the transplant…. I told them that I would be happy to and that is why I’m writing this from about 30,000ft in the air on my way to Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, CA to have a full physical performed to make sure I’m healthy enough for the donation and for a chance to meet the harvest team that will perform the bone marrow harvest.

                Apparently there are two different methods to donating bone marrow.  The first and now days most common is that of a stem cell harvest or PBSC donation. This method involves the donor taking shots of a medicine called filgrastim that causes the body to over produce and release the stem cells into the blood stream. On the harvest day they simply hook you up to a dialysis machine that removes you r stem cells from your blood and then returns your blood to your body.  The second method called a bone marrow harvest involves a surgery where they make a small incision in your lower back and then using a large gauge needle they actually puncture your pelvic bone and extract your bone marrow.  The doctors for the young man that I I was matched to have decided that the second method is the best approach for him… so that is what I get to prepare for.

                At this physical they are going to go over the procedure more in depth with me and also do a full physical including an EKG and I few other tests to make sure that I am a fit donor.  Another cool thing that they are going to do is called an autologous blood donation…. That basically means that I am going to donate blood to myself… while at this appointment they will take somewhere from 1 to 2 units of my own blood so that when they do the actual procedure they can replenish my blood supply with my own blood instead of someone else’s .  I thought that was pretty cool!!!

What a Week!!!!!!!

Wow, the past week has been pretty insane!!!  Its absolutely crazy what can happen in only 7 days!!!  Lets see, for starters it was the last few days of finals...... lets just say there is a reason why everyone hates finals week.... it definitely is the worst week of the entire semester!!!  But enough about that lets just viemos, vimos, vencemos (a little Portuguese twist on classic Julius Caesar).....

The second big thing that happened last week was that I started back at the Utah County Parks Department.  I really like this job, its manual labor, but its not insanely hard and I get to be outside and some of the parks are absolutely beautiful!!! Here are some views at what I get to see everyday....


Nunn's Park, Provo Canyon

Spanish Fork River Park, Spanish Fork Canyon

Vivian Park, Provo Canyon



         And the third and of course biggest thing is that AMELIA GRADUATED!!!!!!!!! Now I get to spend the next few lines praising my absolutely amazing and unequalled wife!!! Oh, and p.s. she really is the most amazing ever!!!! You will never meet anyone as awesome as her!!!  Anyway, Amelia graduated with a four year degree back in December (which was after only 3 and a half years, and that included a stint in double majoring with a teaching degree which she decided not to go with), so basically she finished what takes most people 4-5 years to do in barely over three!!!  Amelia is someone who can (and will) do absolutely anything she can put her mind to!!!  Amelia has shown me that there is nothing on this planet that we can't achieve!!! Anyway, this beautiful woman just had her opportunity to walk and be recognized and it was so cool to be a part of something so awesome!!!

Official BYU Grad: "The World Is Our Campus"

The Most Beautiful Graduate Ever!!!

  To sum things up.... keep your eyes on this girl because she's going places..... I'm just stoked to have the opportunity to bask in her light as she shines!!!

One Down

Whew!!!! Friday night and I'm one test down and one plus a paper to go!!!! Its been a pretty crazy past few days!!! We had our reading day, which are days without class so that we can prep for finals... Reading days are always nice cause its kind of the calm before the storm, it gives you a chance to get all your stuff organized and plan out how you're going to attack your finals. 

During reading days this semester, one of the things on my to do list was to take the Grand Am in for safety and emissions inspection..... unfortunately it failed.... it passed emissions fine, but it failed safety..... to the tune of about $400 of repairs..... man being short on money can be hard sometimes!!!!! So we had to go get new temp tags and hope in the next two weeks that we can scrounge up the dough to fix up the car!!!

On a way happier and way more fun note, I already finished one of my finals!!! It was the final for my 270 computer programming class.  I think it went really really well, all of my programs worked out just fine, now we just gotta hope and see how I did on the multiple choice questions too.  I'm kinda stoked for this semester, because last semester I didn't have the best grades in the world and I landed myself on academic warning.... my overall GPA is still pretty good (at least I think so) but one bad semester lands you on warning regardless what your overall is.... Anyway, I'm excited because I think I'm gonna get a pretty good GPA this semester, not a 4.0 or anything, but better than warning, that's for sure.

Tonight was really fun too!!  Amelia and I colored eggs for Easter!!!! It was awesome!!! I love Easter Eggs.... mostly because I LOVE DEVILED EGGS!!!! Seriously, I think I could eat an entire platter of deviled eggs everyday of the week!! Needless to say, I'm lovin' it!!!!

I'm back

Its been quite a while since I last posted.  Life gets pretty dang hectic sometimes, and its always hard trying to keep things organized to the point so that you can do things like breath and relax and oh yeah blog :) hahahaha

Anyway, life is going well!!! Its coming to the end of another semester, which means finals time again.  You never do remember how hectic finals can be until you're back up on top them.  Today was the last day of classes and I had a final project (BYU Jeopardy Game I programmed its pretty cool, message me if you want to try it out), a midterm, and a paper all due... needless to say, it was a long day :) But Amelia is amazing and as soon as I got home tonight she took me to Pizza Pie café (which is a great little place when you want a lot of food and you like pizza) it was a really nice pick-me-up after a long day!!

Right now I have three finals to gear up for.  My dynamics final, my computer programming file and a four page paper for my history of jazz class.  As far as finals go this is actually a pretty good semester I really only have one super intense final (dynamics) the others are still finals but they won't be super bad.

I'm pretty excited because next week I'll be done with school and I'll start my job at the Utah County Parks Department again. Working full time can be long and sometimes it's hard work, but I really like the fact that I start early, end early, and when I'm done I can punch out and I have no worries for the rest of the day.  I'm super excited for summer!!!!!!!!

This weekend should be pretty cool too! My parents are awesome and this Saturday they're going to  come down and visit with all their yard tools and we're going to do some serious yard renovations.... our yard is going to look awesome when we're done with it!!! I'll be sure and post some before and after pics.

Anyway, boring update, but I think I'm going to start using this more as kind of like a journal, and to share cool things or thoughts I have about stuff.

Till next time!!