Surgery

I had major surgery today. After years of being afflicted with a deviated septum, this summer I took some steps to do some thing about it.

My father-in-law recommended a surgeon he went to medical school with at the university of Utah. He ordered a sleep study which was an interesting experience.

The sleep study was both the best and worst night’s sleep I have ever had. It was the best in that I slept all through the night without periodically waking p throughout the night as has been my wont for about as long as I can remember. It was the worst night’s sleep because all the wires and connection points were very uncomfortable. I don’t think I ever made it to REM sleep, but felt it was all worth it because my Dr. diagnosed me as having mild sleep apnea and recommended that I lose weight and do some other things that help me overcome this affliction.

Well, today, August 11th, was the third time in my life I underwent major surgery.

Tina and I showed up at the appointed time at the outpatient center. Shortly after checking in, I was called back where I underwent preop stuff. They took my weight, blood pressure, hooked me up to an IV, and had me change into some hospital clothes.

We then sat around for a long time waiting for the anesthesiologist to come in and work her magic. She did, and I was out like a light. I woke up five minutes later in the recovery room. Well, it seemed like five minutes because general anethstesia completely knocks you out.

I had some trouble breathing when I was waking up. The nureses had to remind me to keep breathing. I guess I did’t feel the need because I was hooked up to an oxygen mask that pretty much did it for me. But, I decided that I wanted to go home, so I complied with the nurses’ request to breathe. Breathing on your own always seems to be a good idea.

For a while it seemed like I was going to throw up. I swallowed a bunch of blood which is never a good idea. But, thankfully I did not puke. Just felt like it. So, they gave me some more drugs.

After that, I went to another recovery room where I sat for a while until I could stand up. Then they wheeled me out to the car and the Tina took me home. I spent the rest of the evening just hanging out and enjoying the benefits of concentrated opiates.

I slept with my shirt off because I was not supposed to put anything over my head for a while.

So all in all, things are going well. I am glad to have my wife, my health, the gospel and a good job.

Bad news for the Rusch family

On Tuesday, we were asked to go to the airport to pick up Chris's brothers. We had bought some new work-out clothes on Monday night, after going to see the new Harry Potter movie (which is great, by the way), and we were excited to go work out with the new duds. We dropped off Nathan in Sandy, where he was helping one of his friends for a job. Then, we went to Cabella's with Matt. (By the way, I got the GREATEST hiking shoes there. I love them!) From Cabella's, we were going to get on the freeway, and the gas light went on, so we decided to yield to the semi that was also getting on the freeway, and then try to go straight for some gas. Well, the semi decided that he wanted to be in our lane too, and sideswiped us! The entire windshield (which JUST got replaced) and side window and door were scraped up and shattered. I could not even exit from my door; I had to get to Chris's to get out of the car. Thankfully, no one was hurt. We just found out that our car was totaled. We will go clean it out, and look for a new one. Anyway, it was a bad day for the Rusch family. Oh, and the next weekend, my bike was stolen. Wonderful insult to injury!
This is the day after Chris's surgery. It is not nearly as bad as he looked yesterday!

Down South

Once again, we had another great weekend in Southern Utah. We stayed at the Value Inn in Cedar City, which was a great hotel. (especially when compared to the Motel 6 in Green River!)
On our way down, I called Mom and asked her if Bryce Canyon was worth visiting. She said that if we weren't going to Bryce Canyon, we may as well turn around! I have to agree! If you have the chance to go to Bryce Canyon, DO IT! It is amazing! Before we went to Bryce, we saw Cedar Breaks, which was also amazing and just a warm up of Bryce. Here are some photos of it:



We dropped our car off at the visitor's center, then took a shuttle to what is called "Bryce Point." We took a long hike through some trail loops to "Sunset Point", and it seemed like every time we turned the corner, the view was incredible. At Sunset Point, we got back on the shuttle and picked up our car. This was a very handy way of seeing the park. Of course, these pictures don't really actually capture it, but here they are:






This is me being really excited to be almost done with the hike!

After a day of hiking that completely wore us out, we thought it would be good to go see Henry V at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. We got some discount student $10 tickets, and enjoyed the play a lot. It kind of made us laugh to go, because we were still in our nasty hiking clothes, and other people had dressed up for it.

On Saturday, we went to the St. George temple. After a session there, we went to Zion's National Park, where we drove through to see the gorgeous scenery, and bought some souvenirs.

Once we got done seeing Zion's, I looked at the map as the self-appointed navigator, and said that we could either go out of our way to take the highway, or we could take a "short cut" back to Cedar City. We opted for the "short cut," which ended up being a long cut. After a little while, it turned into a dirt road. We had to do a little four-wheeling in the Honda Civic. We had to ford two streams (ok, very small streams, but still . . .) On the way through our crazy journey, we ran into some cows and took a picture of them:
After we got done on our adventure, the car looked like this:
I told Chris that I would want to kill him if he had led me on such an escapade, but he was a really good sport and thought that it was a lot of fun and kind of an adventure.
So, we learned many things from our vacation:
1. If you have the option of taking a highway that is a little out of the way, or a short cut, take the highway.
2. Wherever you are, there you are. So be there. A very deep thought from Chris.
3. National Parks are a great reminder of the many beauties that we have been given.

Red lands

This weekend, we took an adventure trip to Southern Utah, and stayed in Green River. We went to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. On Friday, we took a hike to Delicate Arch (way too late in my opinion--it would have been so much better if we had gone earlier!) and on Saturday, enjoyed Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands. We loved looking at all the red rocks and admiring the beauties of nature. But we are glad that we don't live there, because it is BLASTED HOT in Moab!Us in front of Delicate Arch-- we decided that we didn't need to look great on this day, which we were WAY glad about later!

At Canyonlands-- I really think that a picture does not do it justice!
I was really proud of my photography skills on this one--also Canyonlands.

Stick a fork in me, cuz I am done!

The good news of the day is that I finished my endorsement for gifted and talented education! I got my practicum done, and, as soon as my grades get posted on BYU, I will be able to get the endorsement AND a lane change! I am so excited! I don't have to go to class any more, and I get more money! Yippee!

No more naps!!!

As of this morning I am opposed to naps in any way, shape, or form. They mess with my sleep patterns and the temporary pay off of sleeping for a couple of hours is not worth the bad night's sleep and feeling crappy the next morning.

Tina can attest that this morning I was really slow and groggy. I will feel better once I go to the gym.

Speaking of the GYM, Carter showed me a great computer program that is going to make the gym much more enjoyable. Handbrake is a DVD ripping program that allows the user to rip DVDs into an iTunes and Video iPod compatible format. Yesterday, I went through our collection, loading videos on the iPod would like to watch while torturing myself on the elliptical. Actually, I would not call it torture. The movies will help pass the time and make something I already enjoy even better.

Chris out.

Exercise and Sundry

Tina and are back in Provo. We love our family and being able to spend time with them. Last week was great and I can't wait to get together with them again. I also love being home. Be it ever so humble or, in our case, small, there is quite nothing like being in your own home with all its' familiar things and the one you love.

Last Tuesday, Tina and I started working out. This has been building for some time as I have been walking and riding the bike to work and progressively has grown more and more concerned about what we eat. Tina's dad, who happens to be a retired surgeon, talked to us at length about the benefits of being fit and healthy eating.

So, we have made some changes. We renewed our membership at 24 Hour Fitness(tm) and are cutting out junk food. Also, I am doing the 10,000 steps a day walking program. I have been doing it for about a week and have averaged well above 10,000 for everyday with the exception of Sunday because we went to Church and then drove back to Utah.

I think Tina and I are the luckiest people in the world. We have great families which love and appreciate both of us and they are just a lot of fun and great to be around too.