New Adventures

Today I submitted my application and deposit for a missions trip to Swaziland, Africa with my church here in Salt Lake in February 2012. I am so excited about this opportunity, and really glad to know that I have the support of my family and friends to go.

Africa is a continent that has always been on my heart, specifically the Sub-Saharan part that's been deeply affected by HIV/AIDS. I first learned about AIDS when I was in 7th grade in health class, and that's really what sparked my desire to help the children affected by this disease. Many of these kids don't have a family or any relatives because they've been lost to HIV. Prevention techniques are lacking, and misconceptions about how the disease is spread have caused people to do things entirely the wrong way if they're looking to stop the spread of this highly contagious infection. The effects on a person's health can be minimal or drastic, and without proper medical care and treatment, those whose HIV transitions into full-blown AIDS will die more rapidly than those who have been cared for by doctors or other medical professionals.

But most deeply affected are the children. The ones who didn't ask to have their parents taken away by a disease, the ones who didn't deserve to have an infection passed on from their mother. Not to say that anyone who contracts HIV deserves it, because I don't believe that for one second...but the kids were born into this, they had no say in the matter because the disease took everything they had.

Some of the kids who will be at the Care Point in Swaziland are AIDS orphans who need someone to show them love. Swaziland is a country with the highest infection rate of HIV/AIDS in the world. Approximately 26% of the adult population is infected. In a country where there is little else to set them apart (they're small, surrounded by South Africa, and politically stable with no major safety issues), AIDS is the thing that makes them stand out to a health community. A country should not have to stand out because it is infected with something so deadly.

I am so encouraged knowing that the church I attend supports the care of children in this country, and I'm so excited to have the opportunity to go down with a team and bless the kids at the CarePoint, as well as the "Mages" who staff the Care Point and the discipleship team members who are already working with the children. How amazing it will be to finally get to see how God is working in a place where He's had my heart for a long time.

I love watching God open doors, and then being able to walk through them with the confidence that He has a plan and has been preparing me for these opportunities and adventures as I continue on my journey with Him. I never cease to be amazed by the wonderful love of our amazing God, and how he will work out the plan he's laid out for me in the ways that I least expect him to.

The Night

Me: "What do you think?"

Paul: "It feels like the center of the universe"

...

Later on, I discovered...home.

You'll Find That Life is Still Worthwhile...If You Just Smile!

Adele, Paul, Me, and Maggie

So, yesterday was an amazing day - really crazy, but quite awesome. There is an Indian festival called Holi, which is celebrated by the throwing of colors - in India, this means liquid dyes and colored chalk. In Utah, at the Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork, they celebrated the color festival and invited everyone to come join in the fun! After showering, shampooing multiple times, and washing my face over and over, I still have some chalk that doesn't want to come off! It was a really, really fun experience, and I'm so glad that I went. Actually, I went twice. I left at 9:30am with some freshman friends of mine, and we stayed till the early afternoon. Morgan wasn't able to come in the morning, but she wanted to go - so we went in the evening! The festival lasts two days, and it's really a cultural experience. People were crowd surfing, there was a giant mosh pit, bands playing super loud music (and all the lyrics were "hare krishna" chants...), Indian food, and SO MUCH CHALK! For me, it was good to just spend a couple hours and then head out - after a while, I get anti-social in large crowds. This is definitely an experience I would recommend to anyone who has the opportunity to go to one of these festivals. Do wear clothing that you don't really care if it gets super dirty. We were sliding down mud hills and getting colored from the moment we stepped foot on the temple property.

Things to smile about:

Being covered in chalk
"Life is Beautiful"
Lilu
Carissa's team winning some of their VB games!
Getting strange looks from people in stores (while still covered in chalk)
New movies
Almost done fasting
Italy meetings

Gracefulness continues

Yesterday I had to go back to the hospital for a follow up tilt table test. They were hoping that it would be a boring test, with not much going on and I'd be upright the whole time. This did not happen. The results were better this time though! Instead of passing out in 3 minutes, I passed out in 7. There was no gap in my heartbeat this time, and my heart rate didn't get as low as last time! So these were definite improvements and the doctor was happy with them.

But there are more things to smile about!

Improved tests

Learning to make strange noises

Shakespeare

Sleeping In!

Having the house to myself 

Beautiful Weather

Diagnosis

The fainting saga has likely come to an end, thank goodness. I had an appointment at the Faint and Fall Clinic at the University today, and here's what they said:

1. There are a couple things I can do to increase the amount of time between feeling faint and actually fainting, but they won't alleviate the symptoms.
2. Most cardiologists would have put me on a pacemaker because of my 8-second gap in heartbeat
3. They're putting me on medication.

I'm interested to see if it's going to work - it takes about 4-6 weeks I guess, and then I'll go back to the clinic in 3 months. I just want to be able to go through a week without feeling like I need to sit down or I'm not going to be able to function, which right now, isn't happening. I don't faint every week, but I still get lightheaded/dizzy/faint and the occasional blackout at least every week. So there will probably be more stories to come about how things are working and more dr. visits later on.

Graceful...Part IV

Well, today was another adventure in the realm of my body and fainting. My doctor scheduled me for a Tilt Table Test at the U today. 8am - Morgan and I rolled into the cardiovascular clinic for the test.

Let me tell you, it was an interesting experience! Blood pressure cuff on each arm, sensor on my left wrist, IV in my right arm, gazillions of EKG leads all over the front of me. The IV took a while to get in, and the nurse had to call a woman from "the stick team" to actually get the needle in...ouch!

Then, I'm supposed to lie on this table for 20 minutes (as all this hooking up, needle sticking, and velcroing is happening). Then, a doctor comes in and I'm set up in an almost standing position (still strapped to the table). This is supposed to remove any support from muscles or the skeleton that may affect my heart rate/blood pressure, etc. So my body is left to its own devices - or at least the blood pumping system is.

About 3 minutes into the test I started feeling kinda funky and then my vision went starry and I began to blackout. The doctor and nurse were asking me how I was doing, and when I responded "I can't see" they took me down from the standing position and into lying down again. As I came to, my hearing was really muffled and I couldn't hear very well, but was able to make "grunting" noises in response to the doctor's questions.

They started pumping fluids into my veins to help me recover more quickly - and that did help. A full liter was gone by the time I left the office. The nurse started talking to me about what had happened and said that she'd never had someone pass out so quickly in the test. The doctor said it was DEFINITELY positive for Vasovagal Syncope, and that I actually passed out twice in the passing out. I guess my body started to recover a little from the first episode and then went back down into passing out mode again. The nurse said my heart actually stopped beating for 8 seconds, and she hasn't seen that kind of pause in a while!

How timely this was is interesting. The U is just starting a "Faint and Fall" Clinic in November with an expert in the field of fainting/collapsing/what-have-you. They said they're going to get me an appointment there as soon as it starts up, so that I can talk to a doctor there about what's happening and how to avoid these episodes.

So there you have it - the continuing saga of graceful fainting.

Graceful...the continuing drama

Well, a week after the last post entitled "Graceful" I did not attend my voice lesson due to lightheadedness, I could no longer stand, so my roommate/coworker took me to a local clinic to see a doctor. He wasn't sure what was happening and ordered some blood work to check out my kidney/liver function, thyroid, and iron count. I went in for a follow up appointment a week later, all the tests had come back normal, so now it's time for more tests.

On Wednesday, I had an echocardiogram, and this coming Tuesday morning I will have something called a "Tilt Table Test", which should be interesting. I guess if the Tilt Table comes back positive, he'll diagnose me with something called Vasovagal Syncope, but if it comes back negative, I'll be referred to cardiology and have to monitor my heart for a while or something like that.

Please pray that my doctor would have continued wisdom to identify and remedy the problem in my body.