Back in Arizona

We finally made the trip back to Arizona last week. Our computer is broken, so I have to use the one in our apartment complex office. Sorry no pictures this time. Zac is just back to work at the hospital and I am still trying to get my energy back from the hospital stay. I'v been reading a lot of books, watching a lot of movies, and talking on the phone... a lot!! Other than that I do all I can to avoid the heat.

Upcoming events I am looking forward to:

1. Improv show with Zac Saturday night
2. BBQ with friends tonight
3. My birthday
4. Throwing a shower for my friend, Sharon
5. Going to Utah to visit Zac's family
6. Going to Idaho for a family reunion with my family
7. Of course, the 4th of July (one of my favorite holidays) I love everything about it, the bbq, swimming, the fireworks, wearing red, white and blue, all of it.

So that's the update from the Freestone's.

I'm Alive...Literally!

I haven't posted in a while because I've been held hostage in the hospital for the last 8 days. What started as a vacation for Zac and I down in California ended up being an extended stay at the Mission Viejo Hospital. Who knew that the hospital I was born in 26 years ago would be the same hospital I thought I was going to die in last week!

It all started Friday night, June 6th, when Zac and I spent a long six hours in the waiting room of the ER due to severe stomach and back pain. As the pain worsened it made it difficult to breath. By the time we got through triage and made it to a room, they immediately began to run a series of tests including blood tests, urine sample, cat scan, EKG, and ultrasound. The results of the the testing showed that I was experiencing Hyperstimulation, a very rare side effect of the fertility treatment I was undergoing. This caused fluid to build up in my abdominal cavity causing severe pain throughout my organs. Three separate times they had to make an incision in my lower abdomen and drain the fluid through a catheter totally over 10 liters of fluid. Pain medicine quickly became my best friend and I can see how one can become addicted!

I had a few scary episodes including passing out in the middle of the night while going to the bathroom causing me to fall and hit my head. Luckily Zac was sleeping in the room and heard a loud thud. I was rushed for an emergency MRI to rule out any internal bleeding of my brain. Thankfully everything was okay. I stopped breathing and started sweating profusely a few times when the pain got too bad, scaring Zac half to death.

I was going downhill pretty fast by Sunday, so Monday morning I was moved to the cardiac ICU so they could keep a closer eye on me and try to keep my blood count stabilized. I was attached to several different monitors making me feel more clausterphobic than I already felt. I think a counted seven- an oxygen canula in my nose, a blood pressure cuff, a pulse oximeter, an EKG monitor, a foley (bladder) catheter, automated compression stockings and an IV. It made for quite the sight! I was in the ICU through Friday with lots of ups and downs, and by Friday night I was sent to the first floor with hopes of being discharged the next day. After being chewed out by my roommate for eating a bag of chips at 9:30 and my vibrating leg compressors making too much noise, I was sent to a more welcoming roommate who watched Dora the Explorer in spanish all night while answering phone calls from her family as if it were 1:00 in the afternoon! It made for a long night.

Luckily they were able to discharge me on Saturday afternoon with lots of medications. Unfortunately, none of them included pain medication and Extra strength Tylenol isn't quite doing the trick. I went through withdrawals on Saturday and Sunday from not having the immediate relief that my intravenous pain meds provided. Thinking I was going to be making a swift return to the hospital that night, I received a blessing from the guys in my family and it's now Monday night and I am at my sisters relaxing. The doctors said it'll be a couple weeks until I am back to my normal health, but I am just so grateful to be out of the hopsital! I managed to gain 30 pounds in about 5 days from all of the fluid build-up. I am slowly getting rid of it thanks to frequent urinations.

It was so nice to be in California when this all happened so that my family was able to visit a lot. My mom came and sat with me everyday and my sister, Sarah, came almost everyday. By Wednesday I was feeling so dirty from not being able to shower, that my mom and Sarah came and shaved my legs and washed my hair for me. It felt so good to be somewhat clean again!

I am so much appreciating the change in scenery even if it is just at my parent's house. I had had it with the hospital food and being surrounded by such sick people made me depressed, but grateful for my health that I take for granted everyday. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful doctors and medicine that makes it possible for us to recover from the physical ailments that we experience. We are heading back to Arizona sometime this week. We are waiting for me to feel well enough to make the drive back.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

These are so delicious. They are good as bars too. I served them warm out of the oven with vanilla ice cream, whip cream and hot fudge.

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 & 1/4 cup flour
2 cups oats
1 -12oz. bag chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate, Guittards brand)

1. Beat together butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer on high speed for about 30 seconds.
2. Add sugars, baking powder and soda. Beat until comobined.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.
4. Beat in flour slowly until combined. Stir in rolled oats and chocolate chips.
5. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet in rounded balls (or in a 9x13 pan as cookie bars)
6. Bake @ 375 for about 10 minutes for cookies and about 20-30 minutes for bars. Keep checking bars until the top starts to turn golden brown. They will still look kind of doughy, but they set up pretty fast. Not good if you over-bake them. DRY!

Hope you like them as much as we do.

Sorry no picture, they were gone before I thought to take one.

He's Back!

I forgot what is was like to have a husband for a while. Zac just finished his last final this past friday and is loving life. He's been doing all the things he's been wanting to do, but not had the time to actually enjoy now that summer is here.
He actually gets to eat breakfast with me, sleep in and read books. I am not sure what he is doing in this picture, but it captures his happiness I guess.



He brought me home these flowers to thank me for being so supportive of him all year. I cried.



This is him magnifying his calling. He was in charge of making the prizes for a ward Elder's Quorum activity. He came up with this idea all on his own.



The final product.



He's off to his first day of his internship. He got a position doing research in an Emergency Room at a hospital in Phoenix. He was pretty excited he got to wear scrubs to work. No more ties Walgreens!!!



Last night we watched the first Indiana Jones in preparation for the new one coming out this Thursday. We searched all around for the old ones and had no luck. Zac thought to call our firends to see if they had the collection. I was secretly hoping they didn't so we didn't have to watch them all, but sure enough they did. So that's what we did last night. Zac was too into the movie to look at the camera. He loves sitting on the couch with a cookie in hand and a slurpee by his side with not a worry in the world. I love seeing him so carefree.



I am so grateful for all the hard work he put in this past year. It makes me happy to know how willling he is to sacrifice in order to pursue his dreams and support our future family. It also makes me happy to know we have three months to party!!

Dog Attack

Believe it or not, but I was attacked by a dog tonight. I decided to go on a nice leisurely walk around my neighborhood after work since I don't do hikes anymore due to my rattlesnake encounter. I thought there could be no harm or danger involved so long as I stay on the well-travelled sidewalk. WRONG!!!

I was about two minutes from home when I approach a young couple walking their two dogs. They happen to be my neighbors across the stairwell in fact. Let me preface this story by first tellig you they are the kind of people who treat their dogs like they are their own children. They walk them like fifty times a day, for all I know they cook them steaks for dinner and bath them daily. They really are a little nutty about their dogs. Sorry, just a small side note.

Anyways, as I am passing this couple walking their "children", one dog decides to get furocious and jumps up at me. It gets a piece of my arm and bites down in one quick swoop. "Did this really just happen to me?" I ask. "Do dogs on leashes really just jump up and bite an innocent walker's arm totally unprovoked?" Apparantly they do. I was a little in shock, especially when I looked down at my arm and saw the battle wounds. There was blood. This stupid dog broke the skin. My first words to the dog's owner were, "I can't get rabies right now, I am trying to get pregnant. Does your dog have rabies?" It just came out and I didn't really have time to think how lame that sounded. She reassured me the dogs were vaccinated and had nothing to worry about.

I quickly called Zac, sobbing at this point, and told him what happened. Lets just say I may have over-reacted a little according to some people, but I was a little startled and shocked all at the same time. We ended up calling animal control to have them investigate the scene. Was this dog really vaccinated for rabies or were they just telling us so we didn't worry? We shall find out within ten days. The animal control is going to perform a ten day quarantine to evaluate the dogs behavior and test him for rabies. Chances are I am rabie-free, but who knows, how many people run into rattlesnakes hiking? I seem to be having bad luck with animals these days.

Deep down inside I think this dog attack had something to do with the way I may have treated some of my childhood dogs growing up. Call it what you want, but I didn't really love petting my dogs, touching them, sometimes feeding them, walking them or bathing them. Ironic thing is the dog that bit me tonight was a cocker spaniel and that was the first kind of dog I ended up giving away because I neglected it so bad. I put a curse on myself I'm afraid.



Ok, so this photo probably shows off my hairy arms more than the actual bite marks, but I thought you might appreciate a visual. I know, I know, it doesn't really look like anything, but it is, and it really hurt. So my much anticipated relaxing night of reading a book on the couch turned into one filled with filling out a dog attack report and worrying I might have rabies. Ay-ay-ay-ay!

Coutndown

We made a paper chain to countdown the days Zac has left of his first year of medical school. We started it a week ago with 18 days left and we are now down to only 10 days. These next 10 days are going to be really stressful as he prepares for and takes his finals. I appreciate him so much and all his hard work. I can't wait until he is done and we can hang out at night together. He won't feel stressed out about studying and we can just enjoy each other's company. I AM SO EXCITED to have my husband back, at least for 3 months. We are heading to Califronia right after he is done for a week. We haven't been on a road trip in a long time. It should be a lot of fun to enjoy some nice weather and visit family.

The Bethanator

One of my best friends, Beth came out to visit this past week. It was so fun to see her.


Here is the cake I made for Beth's visit to Arizona. I hope this is a more pleasant picture to look at than the rattlesnake. I have always called her "The Bethonator" for no real reason at all other than it just stuck one day.


Of course we had to make a trip to the mall. We made two trips actually. Beth is a great mall buddy because she never pressures me to hurry and make any rash decisions. She is good at entertaining herself while I take my dandy time.


Yahtzee is one of our favorite games we use to play when we were roommates back in the day at BYU. No one can play Yahtzee for as long as we can with out getting bored. The tissue in Beth's nose is because she had a cold and her nose was dripping nonstop.


I look a little annoyed because I am annoyed. I had lost eight games out of nine. I always win when Zac and I play, so I wasn't use to so many upsets. The saddest part about it is that I was seriously getting frustrated.

The few days she was here were so fun. I love having friends come to visit. Thanks Beth for coming to hang out with me.