A few weeks before the surgery, I was laying in bed after hitting snooze on my alarm clock and I went to pull my left arm from being under my pillow to at my side. In the process, I heard a very loud crack and my shoulder started hurting extremely bad. I eventually worked my arm down to be at my side and ran downstairs to tell my dad. We called the surgeon, who booked us in for an appointment at 1pm. I decided to try and nap while I waited (one thing I've learned through all this is to get all the sleep I possibly can) and laid down on the couch. I dozed for a while, and I noticed that the more comfortable I was, the less my shoulder hurt and the more I could move it. Finally, it was almost back to normal, except for some residual pain. I decided to go to the doctor anyway to see what happened.
When we got there, I got an x-ray done again and we found that there was a chunk of bone that had lifted up from the head of the joint and was catching, like a tab. He said more than likely it was going to catch a lot, but once I get the surgery he'd smooth it out and it would be fine. He also said there were some chunks that were floating around and were getting caught. The reason it worked itself out after I napped was that I relaxed and it was able to work itself out when the muscles calmed down. Dad and I were satisfied with the response, thanked him for seeing me so quickly (it was really nice of him), and went on our way. Between that day and the surgery, that happened quite a few more times, but I was able to relax enough to unlock it myself and didn't need to go back to the surgeon.
The day of the surgery I got very little sleep. This was the first surgery I had in an adult hospital, and I wasn't going to be able to stay overnight, so I was terrified. We had to get up very early to check in (we got there for 6:30am or something) and get my day surgery bed, so by the time we left I'd only slept a couple of hours. In the morning, Mom, Dad, and I rolled into the Peter Laugheed hospital and went to the check-in area. I remember we sat there and giggled about random things until we got called, which we usually do when we're nervous. Finally I got checked in and got to go upstairs to the waiting bed. I could only have one visitor at a time, which was stupid because the waiting period of the surgery could be forever, and no one wants to be healthy sitting in a hospital bed with one visitor standing awkwardly over you (we didn't have a chair for a while). Kyle and Josh got there pretty soon into my day, and they all rotated in seeing me, making it extremely hard for me to play pokemon on my DS. Not that I'm complaining.
I ended up laying in the bed waiting for surgery until 3:30pm. I guess he was late with another surgery. I actually ended up having a nap during my wait, which was nice. When it was finally time to go in, they took my glasses and wheeled me into the other waiting area (I got to stay in my bed the entire time, woot) where I got to wait for another half hour or more. This part had the added bonus of me only seeing blur for the whole time, causing me to sit there and stare into space (or at someone, with no glasses I couldn't tell the difference). Finally, my shoulder surgery came over and chatted with me a little, telling me how nice of a surgery it was going to be, and asking how my day is going and such. The he signed my shoulder (to make sure he didn't cut open the wrong one) and left me alone again. Then the anesthesiologist came by and asked me if I have anything he should know about, like a removable face or something like that, and then left again. Finally it was time!
You always get a nurse that's the one who takes care of you during the surgery, and calms your nerves and stuff. The nurse let me walk from this point, which was nice. I got to the operation room, which was cold as heck! I asked the nurse why it was so cold and she asked if I would prefer the surgeon sweating on me, which was a good point. She introduced me to the other nurse in there, and we all joked around for a bit before I got in the chair. Then I sat down on the "table" which was a chair about four centimeters wide (or six inches... close enough) and started getting strapped in. The blood pressure cuff went on, and I started getting the anesthetic drugs put through the IV. And then I was out!
Once again, if you're squeemish, don't read this part. They made two small incisions, one on the front of my left shoulder, and one on the back. They stuck a camera and a vacuum and a drill like thing in, and then got rid of all the bone that was floating around. Then they smoothed out the joint and sewed me up by putting a stitch inside the incision, leaving no thread on the outside.
When I woke up, I was in a sitting position on the bed with a massive sling around my neck and my left arm strapped tightly in. To be honest, it scared the crap out of me. I didn't expect it to be that big! But I guess I should have expected that from the Slingmaster 2000. There was a nurse beside me, and I asked her if it was okay if I had a nap. She chuckled and said of course and continued on her work. Then my shoulder surgeon walked up. I could barely see him because I didn't have my glasses on, but I recognized his hilarious doo-rag. He asked me how I was feeling, and then said those dreaded words: "It didn't go well." He wouldn't tell me why exactly, and just said to focus on recovery. Then he went running off.
They rolled me back to the day surgery area. I remember hearing "oh, there she is" and seeing Kyle leaning against the wall waving at me as I rolled by. Then they all crowded around me in the tiny room (which was very against the rules, those rebels) and chatted a bit until I got tired and wanted a nap. When I woke up, people were usually there, which was really nice. Then I got to go home! Getting ready to leave is one of the worst parts. If you disagree, try putting on a tight tank top with a completely immobile arm that's strapped to your side. It's not fun! The car ride is difficult too. Mom, Dad, Josh and I got in the Jeep, with me and Josh in the back. I was quiet most of the way home with a blanket cuddled around me, until I started feeling very sick. We got to the street that my house was on before I told them I needed to throw up when we got home (I was very good at controlling my stomach at that point), and Dad started pulling over until I was like 'no, at home!' So we got home and I hustled in.... and immediately felt better. At least I got in the house in record time.
We were all a little down about the surgery not going well (even though we didn't know why at that point), but we were pleased that I had gotten through it with my left arm still attached. It was time to start the process of healing... again.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Thursday, November 24, 2011
I'm A Little Worried About Your Guarding, Because I Don't Think You're Smart Enough To Close Your Mouth When You Jump In
I went into my second semester of that year in a really good place. I was now dating a really great guy, Josh, and my classes were extremely interesting. I'd also made a friend in three of my classes, Ian, and had my other good friend, Mike, in another. I had my surgery planned for reading week, and was hoping it would turn out well.
Josh and I progressed in our relationship extremely quickly. I was shocked at how easy it was to talk about my health problems with him, because he really seemed to understand and sympathize with me. We almost immediately began seeing each other daily, and told each other we loved each other in only two weeks. Leading up to February, we even started talking about moving in together. He'd lived in Vancouver previously, and so he was ready to leave his parents house again. I'd never lived without my parents, and I knew that it was way too soon, but everything seemed right, so it was looking like a good idea.
One day I had to get an MRI on my shoulder, the MRI that would show my orthopedic surgeon exactly what he was going to have to deal with when he went in there. Dad drove me to the hospital and went in to wait with me. This MRI was a lot different; I needed to have dye in the joint so he could see exactly what was going to show up. So we went it, and I changed into the hospital clothes and answers the zillions of questions to the MRI technician guy. Then I went into the room where they were to insert the dye. I really had no idea what was going to happen here, and am happy I didn't, because otherwise I'd have freaked out beforehand. I laid down on the table, and the put a bunch of sterilizer over my left shoulder. The doctor who got to deal with inserting the dye came in. He was a pretty nice guy, very funny, which is always nice. They put the freezing into my shoulder first, which involved a massive needle going into my shoulder, and local anesthetic being put in. If you've ever gotten a needle put in your arm, it was kind of like that, but the needle was about a foot long and you couldn't look anywhere without seeing it. After that, we started up the xray machine that would show him where the needle was the entire time. I decided to stare at the room and chat with the man, so I only got to see tools when the guy lifted them high up (which did happen a couple of times). I did get to see a few images of my shoulder with a giant needle going into the joint, which I considered making my Christmas card, but other than that it just looked like there was a huge hole in my shoulder that he was shoving needles in and out of, like a bunch of straws into a really thin glass. My shoulder got filled up with dye, and it really did hurt. Keep in mind, I still had raw bone in this shoulder, and there was needles bumping against it and foreign liquid caressing it. Anyway, once that was over, we had to wait a little while, and then got the MRI. On the way home, I told Dad that Josh and I were thinking of moving out, expecting a bit of anger. Dad told me I just needed to think things through, and that he wouldn't be mad at me and loved me no matter what. Best dad ever.
The MRI ended up showing a little tab on my bone, which could get caught and lock ever so often, and also a big bit of bone hovering around the joint, which would cause pain and a fun clicking noise. The last thing I asked the doctor in the appointment before the surgery was "Can you give me the pictures from inside the joint?"
School was going great at this time! I had told my teachers that I would be away for a little while, and they all really understood and were willing to help in any way I needed. Ian and Mike both were very willing to help me with anything I missed or didn't understand while I was gone, which was really nice of them. They're both VERY good people.
Work wasn't going so well at this time. I was a Shift Leader at this time, and another Shift Leader decided to start telling everyone that because of my health problems, I couldn't save anyone and was unreliable. This was a ridiculous statement; I've always been very careful about how much I can do, and if for some reason my health was bad enough to make saving someone difficult, I would ask someone to cover for me. However, word got around and I looked like an unreliable idiot. I ended up pulling the Shift Leader into the First Aid room and told him there was obviously some problem, and that if he felt that he should confirm it with me instead of telling everyone else about it. I asked what he was concerned about and shot all the issues down. However, he enjoyed being a massive drama queen and continued to spread the lie. This got me very upset, as I really liked working there. I was a good lifeguard, and it hurt me to think that people thought otherwise. Since then, I've vowed to not work in a place that was primarily women and catty men, as it seems to cause problems, and I'm an easy target. Being a computer scientist, this is going to be a pretty easy vow to keep, kind of like vowing to breathe. The place I work in now is amazing, full of supportive and fun people (all men!) and I don't really ever want to leave. Anyway, I digress. I had my leave time planned with my boss for when I was going to get surgery. I wanted to be back pretty soon, as soon as I could, because I did like it, and I needed the money. Everything was working out quite well.
I went into the start of reading week feeling very confident that things would turn out like they should. I felt like I'd have enough bad luck, and it was about time things went my way.
Josh and I progressed in our relationship extremely quickly. I was shocked at how easy it was to talk about my health problems with him, because he really seemed to understand and sympathize with me. We almost immediately began seeing each other daily, and told each other we loved each other in only two weeks. Leading up to February, we even started talking about moving in together. He'd lived in Vancouver previously, and so he was ready to leave his parents house again. I'd never lived without my parents, and I knew that it was way too soon, but everything seemed right, so it was looking like a good idea.
One day I had to get an MRI on my shoulder, the MRI that would show my orthopedic surgeon exactly what he was going to have to deal with when he went in there. Dad drove me to the hospital and went in to wait with me. This MRI was a lot different; I needed to have dye in the joint so he could see exactly what was going to show up. So we went it, and I changed into the hospital clothes and answers the zillions of questions to the MRI technician guy. Then I went into the room where they were to insert the dye. I really had no idea what was going to happen here, and am happy I didn't, because otherwise I'd have freaked out beforehand. I laid down on the table, and the put a bunch of sterilizer over my left shoulder. The doctor who got to deal with inserting the dye came in. He was a pretty nice guy, very funny, which is always nice. They put the freezing into my shoulder first, which involved a massive needle going into my shoulder, and local anesthetic being put in. If you've ever gotten a needle put in your arm, it was kind of like that, but the needle was about a foot long and you couldn't look anywhere without seeing it. After that, we started up the xray machine that would show him where the needle was the entire time. I decided to stare at the room and chat with the man, so I only got to see tools when the guy lifted them high up (which did happen a couple of times). I did get to see a few images of my shoulder with a giant needle going into the joint, which I considered making my Christmas card, but other than that it just looked like there was a huge hole in my shoulder that he was shoving needles in and out of, like a bunch of straws into a really thin glass. My shoulder got filled up with dye, and it really did hurt. Keep in mind, I still had raw bone in this shoulder, and there was needles bumping against it and foreign liquid caressing it. Anyway, once that was over, we had to wait a little while, and then got the MRI. On the way home, I told Dad that Josh and I were thinking of moving out, expecting a bit of anger. Dad told me I just needed to think things through, and that he wouldn't be mad at me and loved me no matter what. Best dad ever.
The MRI ended up showing a little tab on my bone, which could get caught and lock ever so often, and also a big bit of bone hovering around the joint, which would cause pain and a fun clicking noise. The last thing I asked the doctor in the appointment before the surgery was "Can you give me the pictures from inside the joint?"
School was going great at this time! I had told my teachers that I would be away for a little while, and they all really understood and were willing to help in any way I needed. Ian and Mike both were very willing to help me with anything I missed or didn't understand while I was gone, which was really nice of them. They're both VERY good people.
Work wasn't going so well at this time. I was a Shift Leader at this time, and another Shift Leader decided to start telling everyone that because of my health problems, I couldn't save anyone and was unreliable. This was a ridiculous statement; I've always been very careful about how much I can do, and if for some reason my health was bad enough to make saving someone difficult, I would ask someone to cover for me. However, word got around and I looked like an unreliable idiot. I ended up pulling the Shift Leader into the First Aid room and told him there was obviously some problem, and that if he felt that he should confirm it with me instead of telling everyone else about it. I asked what he was concerned about and shot all the issues down. However, he enjoyed being a massive drama queen and continued to spread the lie. This got me very upset, as I really liked working there. I was a good lifeguard, and it hurt me to think that people thought otherwise. Since then, I've vowed to not work in a place that was primarily women and catty men, as it seems to cause problems, and I'm an easy target. Being a computer scientist, this is going to be a pretty easy vow to keep, kind of like vowing to breathe. The place I work in now is amazing, full of supportive and fun people (all men!) and I don't really ever want to leave. Anyway, I digress. I had my leave time planned with my boss for when I was going to get surgery. I wanted to be back pretty soon, as soon as I could, because I did like it, and I needed the money. Everything was working out quite well.
I went into the start of reading week feeling very confident that things would turn out like they should. I felt like I'd have enough bad luck, and it was about time things went my way.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
I'm Sorry, I'm Busy Being A Vampire
I'm going to quickly switch back to my education, specifically in the start of the second year of engineering. I had tried to get into Mechanical Engineering (to make cars), Civil Engineering (to make buildings), or Train Engineering (because trains are important too guys). I didn't get into them. Instead, I got into Software Engineering. At the time, I was pretty upset by it. Even though it was high on my list of concentrations to go in, I had spent the first few years of my life wanting to make cars or buildings. However, once I got going on Software Engineering in my second year, I found I actually really liked it. Software Engineering got to take classes with people in Computer and Electrical Engineering, so I was in classes with Mike, another one of my good friends, and another guy who I hung out with sometimes. There were a couple of classes that I had to take because of Engineering that I really didn't want to, such as Differential Equations. Seriously, what software engineer ever has to know differential equations? Since that class, I've never even had to use math.
It was around this time that my boyfriend of the time started being kinda mean to engineers. He kept saying that everyone was in it solely to get the iron ring at the end, and you could do any engineer's job with any different degree (ie. Chem degree instead of a chemical engineer, architect instead of a civil engineer, etc.) This is pretty wrong, otherwise they wouldn't have an engineering degree. However, with software engineering, there is an equivalent degree in computer science. He was taking an equivalent class to what I was taking at one point, and he was learning a lot more theory and things that I actually wanted to know compared to what I was learning. I decided to look into it, and I found that there were a lot more classes in computer science that were applicable to software engineering, such as computability. I started asking a bunch of professors in both engineering's software engineering and computer science's software engineering. Basically, the best response I got from the head of engg's software engineering as a reason to not switch is "but you won't get your ring." I was annoyed, and so I switched. Best decision I ever made, and one of the best things that came out of that relationship. After I did that, my interest went higher and higher, and my grades went up accordingly.
In my second year, I found out I had to get my wisdom teeth out. It seemed like a good time, since I was having a lull in health issues, so we agreed. I got my teeth x-ray sent to this guy by market mall (he was crazy as a bat) and we went to see him. We told him all about my health problems, and he was all like 'oh yeah, no problem, this will go fine, I'm crazy' and stuff, so we felt good about it. We scheduled it for reading week of my second year, and I was all ready to go. Two days before reading week, I got a phone call. It was the nurse in the guy's office, telling me that I needed to go for an appointment with the anesthetic guy before my surgery. This was Thursday, and my surgery date was on Monday, so I was like 'well, can I get into an appointment tomorrow?' and she said 'no.' This got me so mad. I said it was ridiculous, that was the only time I could go get it because I had to work over the summer, so I couldn't get it for another year, and this was stupid. She's was like 'whatevs, sorry, bye' and that was it. I called my parents in a rage. Then I called the guy's office back and told them it was extremely unprofessional, if they wanted me to go for an appointment with the guy they should have called ages ago after I had the appointment with the surgeon, and they were obviously just frightened of my health problems and so didn't want to do it. I told them again they were unprofessional and asked them to send my xrays back to my dentist, because I would never let this surgeon touch me, and I planned on telling not only my dentist but everyone I know about this stupid situation. It was so stupid. So then I found this other place in the south of the city I live in (I'm in the north) who wouldn't even need to see me before the surgery, I just had to tell them about my health problems on the site and they would know. It was great, I had a date booked for right after school (because I could actually do it then). I went to an appointment with my rheumatologist and told her about it. She told me I couldn't get it. I asked why. She said that if I get oral surgery while on the infusions, I could get the bone disease in my jaw. I was super upset, so she called the surgeon for me and told him. He then told her that he was planning on giving me a steroid after, a steroid called Decadron, the one that gave me the bone disease in the first place! She basically said 'like hell, stay away from her!' and my appointment was cancelled.
Around this same time, I stopped getting my infusions. My rheumatologist looked at my bone density tests and MRI's and decided that the bone disease had stopped killing more bone, and some maybe even grew back a little bit! But we were at a point where it wouldn't help anymore, so there was no reason to get it anymore. At that time, I was no longer getting kidney stones quite so much, so that was awesome! I was quite happy to not have to get two blood tests and an IV every month, so that was great.
In 2009, I went back to my rheumatologist, and I got an MRI of my shoulders, just to check up on things. It still hurt in that weird, pinchy way, but I wasn't concerned because it'd been doing it for a year and I was kind of used to it by now. However, when I went into her office and we looked at my MRI results, she started reading it and said "oh no. This isn't good. This isn't good at all." It turned out that the feeling of pinching in my shoulder was actually the feeling of a collapsed joint. The dead bone and some cartilage around it had burst apart, leaving a super raw point in my shoulder exposed. I needed to get it fixed. I was pretty upset by this, because I had had a good run of a few years with no health problems. I got a referral to a shoulder surgeon, and a "that sucks, sorry!" in the nicest way possible (she really is a great rheumatologist). I got in my car in the parkade and called my parents, and then my boyfriend, bawling my eyes out. I remember a car waiting behind me in the parkade, and I didn't notice for a while, so he just patiently waited for me to leave. After a few minutes, I shut my car off because I wasn't going to drive while on the phone and crying like an idiot (that seems a little distracted driving-y), and he got all mad and drove off angrily. I was very upset.
Shortly after this, in the summer between my third and fourth year, my boyfriend broke up with me. I'm very ashamed that I'm not the one who terminated the relationship, but oh well. He told me that for the entire past year, he didn't love me, he was just sticking around because he didn't want to hurt me. I was really upset. I had just spent a month helping him get through a cold or something, and then pneumonia because he didn't go to the doctor when it got really bad, and he didn't even care. Another reason he broke up with me was that, and I quote, 'how can I know that you're a good girlfriend if I've never had another girlfriend? I need to date someone else to know if you're actually good or not.' So yeah. A very long story short, this chapter of my life is closed. For now. I've learned that things in life are never quite what they seem, and this entire relationship is one of those situations. But once again, more on that later.
A few months after this, I ended up meeting a guy at work at Cardel and we started dating.
It was around this time that my boyfriend of the time started being kinda mean to engineers. He kept saying that everyone was in it solely to get the iron ring at the end, and you could do any engineer's job with any different degree (ie. Chem degree instead of a chemical engineer, architect instead of a civil engineer, etc.) This is pretty wrong, otherwise they wouldn't have an engineering degree. However, with software engineering, there is an equivalent degree in computer science. He was taking an equivalent class to what I was taking at one point, and he was learning a lot more theory and things that I actually wanted to know compared to what I was learning. I decided to look into it, and I found that there were a lot more classes in computer science that were applicable to software engineering, such as computability. I started asking a bunch of professors in both engineering's software engineering and computer science's software engineering. Basically, the best response I got from the head of engg's software engineering as a reason to not switch is "but you won't get your ring." I was annoyed, and so I switched. Best decision I ever made, and one of the best things that came out of that relationship. After I did that, my interest went higher and higher, and my grades went up accordingly.
In my second year, I found out I had to get my wisdom teeth out. It seemed like a good time, since I was having a lull in health issues, so we agreed. I got my teeth x-ray sent to this guy by market mall (he was crazy as a bat) and we went to see him. We told him all about my health problems, and he was all like 'oh yeah, no problem, this will go fine, I'm crazy' and stuff, so we felt good about it. We scheduled it for reading week of my second year, and I was all ready to go. Two days before reading week, I got a phone call. It was the nurse in the guy's office, telling me that I needed to go for an appointment with the anesthetic guy before my surgery. This was Thursday, and my surgery date was on Monday, so I was like 'well, can I get into an appointment tomorrow?' and she said 'no.' This got me so mad. I said it was ridiculous, that was the only time I could go get it because I had to work over the summer, so I couldn't get it for another year, and this was stupid. She's was like 'whatevs, sorry, bye' and that was it. I called my parents in a rage. Then I called the guy's office back and told them it was extremely unprofessional, if they wanted me to go for an appointment with the guy they should have called ages ago after I had the appointment with the surgeon, and they were obviously just frightened of my health problems and so didn't want to do it. I told them again they were unprofessional and asked them to send my xrays back to my dentist, because I would never let this surgeon touch me, and I planned on telling not only my dentist but everyone I know about this stupid situation. It was so stupid. So then I found this other place in the south of the city I live in (I'm in the north) who wouldn't even need to see me before the surgery, I just had to tell them about my health problems on the site and they would know. It was great, I had a date booked for right after school (because I could actually do it then). I went to an appointment with my rheumatologist and told her about it. She told me I couldn't get it. I asked why. She said that if I get oral surgery while on the infusions, I could get the bone disease in my jaw. I was super upset, so she called the surgeon for me and told him. He then told her that he was planning on giving me a steroid after, a steroid called Decadron, the one that gave me the bone disease in the first place! She basically said 'like hell, stay away from her!' and my appointment was cancelled.
Around this same time, I stopped getting my infusions. My rheumatologist looked at my bone density tests and MRI's and decided that the bone disease had stopped killing more bone, and some maybe even grew back a little bit! But we were at a point where it wouldn't help anymore, so there was no reason to get it anymore. At that time, I was no longer getting kidney stones quite so much, so that was awesome! I was quite happy to not have to get two blood tests and an IV every month, so that was great.
In 2009, I went back to my rheumatologist, and I got an MRI of my shoulders, just to check up on things. It still hurt in that weird, pinchy way, but I wasn't concerned because it'd been doing it for a year and I was kind of used to it by now. However, when I went into her office and we looked at my MRI results, she started reading it and said "oh no. This isn't good. This isn't good at all." It turned out that the feeling of pinching in my shoulder was actually the feeling of a collapsed joint. The dead bone and some cartilage around it had burst apart, leaving a super raw point in my shoulder exposed. I needed to get it fixed. I was pretty upset by this, because I had had a good run of a few years with no health problems. I got a referral to a shoulder surgeon, and a "that sucks, sorry!" in the nicest way possible (she really is a great rheumatologist). I got in my car in the parkade and called my parents, and then my boyfriend, bawling my eyes out. I remember a car waiting behind me in the parkade, and I didn't notice for a while, so he just patiently waited for me to leave. After a few minutes, I shut my car off because I wasn't going to drive while on the phone and crying like an idiot (that seems a little distracted driving-y), and he got all mad and drove off angrily. I was very upset.
Shortly after this, in the summer between my third and fourth year, my boyfriend broke up with me. I'm very ashamed that I'm not the one who terminated the relationship, but oh well. He told me that for the entire past year, he didn't love me, he was just sticking around because he didn't want to hurt me. I was really upset. I had just spent a month helping him get through a cold or something, and then pneumonia because he didn't go to the doctor when it got really bad, and he didn't even care. Another reason he broke up with me was that, and I quote, 'how can I know that you're a good girlfriend if I've never had another girlfriend? I need to date someone else to know if you're actually good or not.' So yeah. A very long story short, this chapter of my life is closed. For now. I've learned that things in life are never quite what they seem, and this entire relationship is one of those situations. But once again, more on that later.
A few months after this, I ended up meeting a guy at work at Cardel and we started dating.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Don't Play Human Foosball Unless You Don't Mind A Soccer Ball In The Face
I'm going to skip ahead in the story to the start of University. This isn't because nothing happened, just that nothing massive happened that pertains to the story, so there's no need to tell you guys about it. From this point, the story will be on fast forward a bit because of the lull in my health problems. I'll get through this part as quickly as possible so I can get back to the fun stuff!
Halfway through the summer was an engineering open house. It solidified in my mind that I was doing the right thing for school. Partway through the day we played human Foosball, which is where a bunch of people hold onto long poles and face the same way as the people on the Foosball table. Then they throw a soccer ball in the middle of it. They put me in the very middle, and I was looking down at the ball right when someone kicked it up and into my nose. It bled for two hours. It was hilarious.
The first day of University was called UofC 101. The basic idea of it is that you run around the uni going to all these fake classes practising for the real thing. I was put in a group with this girl that I'd met a few weeks before at an engineering open house thing. I spent some time too with some friends from my lifeguarding job. It was weird for me because I was almost the oldest, a full year older than everyone else in my year.
When I got home from the first day of UofC 101, I got a phone call from my boyfriend at the time. Things happened a while ago that I couldn't remember (my psychologist has told me I was experiencing dissociation at the time) and we broke up. It was difficult for me because I couldn't remember doing it, so I had to just accept the fact that it had happened and was my fault. I never tried to pass the blame off, because I hate when people do that. Our relationship ended at the point of one year and eight months, and my family and I were alone again suddenly in the health problems. I still had my headache. I decided to not go to the rest of UofC 101.
After a few days I was pretty ready to get over the whole ordeal and move on with my life. If there's anything health problems have taught me, it's how to deal with things and put them behind me. The guy was still calling and asking me questions about what had happened, which bothered me because I didn't know any of the answers. I wanted him to stop so I could move on and focus on school.
School was awesome! I'd waited since grade 8 to be in University, and it didn't disappoint me. I had six classes, which is a very heavy course load. One thing I want to stress about this: it wasn't necessarily hard, it was just a lot of work. The people who drop out probably aren't dropping out because they don't understand the material, they're dropping because they haven't or didn't want to keep up with the course load. The first year, I did pretty good with sticking to it. I had to get my infusions still, once a month, and I had to fit it around my classes, which got a little difficult. I was at a good point with the pain though, and so luckily that didn't get in the way too much.
I had a few friends in this time. I found out that Mike, the guy from Chinook (my 27 year old friend) was in engineering too so we hung out every so often. I got a few friends in my block in engg, one girl and a bunch of guy friends (I've always got along way better with guys). I found that I didn't really like how some of the people in engg acted towards engineering. Some were being very competitive about it, which is ridiculous; you're not going to make it out being the only engineer, so you may as well try to take as many of your friends with you. The friends I made were people who where all for helping each other, which was great. One major thing that happened to me in this year was I started playing World of Warcraft. From now on, I'll refer to this game as WoW.
At the end of the first year, I was hanging out with one guy a lot in particular, because he was pretty down to earth compared to a lot of other people in my block. He introduced me to one of his friends, and the friend and I really clicked. He was in number theory or something. We started dating at the end of the first year of university, on May 7, 2007.
About in the middle of his and my relationship, my left shoulder started hurting. It felt like I was getting pinched in the shoulder joint, and would sting. I noticed it most while I was lifeguarding, but thought nothing of it other than a pulled muscle. I went to the doctor for it, who said we could do an MRI, and I denied. In my opinion there was enough wrong with me.
Halfway through the summer was an engineering open house. It solidified in my mind that I was doing the right thing for school. Partway through the day we played human Foosball, which is where a bunch of people hold onto long poles and face the same way as the people on the Foosball table. Then they throw a soccer ball in the middle of it. They put me in the very middle, and I was looking down at the ball right when someone kicked it up and into my nose. It bled for two hours. It was hilarious.
The first day of University was called UofC 101. The basic idea of it is that you run around the uni going to all these fake classes practising for the real thing. I was put in a group with this girl that I'd met a few weeks before at an engineering open house thing. I spent some time too with some friends from my lifeguarding job. It was weird for me because I was almost the oldest, a full year older than everyone else in my year.
When I got home from the first day of UofC 101, I got a phone call from my boyfriend at the time. Things happened a while ago that I couldn't remember (my psychologist has told me I was experiencing dissociation at the time) and we broke up. It was difficult for me because I couldn't remember doing it, so I had to just accept the fact that it had happened and was my fault. I never tried to pass the blame off, because I hate when people do that. Our relationship ended at the point of one year and eight months, and my family and I were alone again suddenly in the health problems. I still had my headache. I decided to not go to the rest of UofC 101.
After a few days I was pretty ready to get over the whole ordeal and move on with my life. If there's anything health problems have taught me, it's how to deal with things and put them behind me. The guy was still calling and asking me questions about what had happened, which bothered me because I didn't know any of the answers. I wanted him to stop so I could move on and focus on school.
School was awesome! I'd waited since grade 8 to be in University, and it didn't disappoint me. I had six classes, which is a very heavy course load. One thing I want to stress about this: it wasn't necessarily hard, it was just a lot of work. The people who drop out probably aren't dropping out because they don't understand the material, they're dropping because they haven't or didn't want to keep up with the course load. The first year, I did pretty good with sticking to it. I had to get my infusions still, once a month, and I had to fit it around my classes, which got a little difficult. I was at a good point with the pain though, and so luckily that didn't get in the way too much.
I had a few friends in this time. I found out that Mike, the guy from Chinook (my 27 year old friend) was in engineering too so we hung out every so often. I got a few friends in my block in engg, one girl and a bunch of guy friends (I've always got along way better with guys). I found that I didn't really like how some of the people in engg acted towards engineering. Some were being very competitive about it, which is ridiculous; you're not going to make it out being the only engineer, so you may as well try to take as many of your friends with you. The friends I made were people who where all for helping each other, which was great. One major thing that happened to me in this year was I started playing World of Warcraft. From now on, I'll refer to this game as WoW.
At the end of the first year, I was hanging out with one guy a lot in particular, because he was pretty down to earth compared to a lot of other people in my block. He introduced me to one of his friends, and the friend and I really clicked. He was in number theory or something. We started dating at the end of the first year of university, on May 7, 2007.
About in the middle of his and my relationship, my left shoulder started hurting. It felt like I was getting pinched in the shoulder joint, and would sting. I noticed it most while I was lifeguarding, but thought nothing of it other than a pulled muscle. I went to the doctor for it, who said we could do an MRI, and I denied. In my opinion there was enough wrong with me.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Well You Shouldn't Have Become A Teacher, But Unfortunately You Are
My year of Chinook had a couple of significant occurrences. One thing that is really important is that I turned 18. I was dating the same guy, so he was 19 at that point. He was a huge drinker, and so I ended up going out with him and drinking every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I was a lightweight, and was making a buttload of cash, so I could easily afford it. Our main stomping grounds was the old Cowboys. It's gone now (which makes me feel ridiculously old) after closing, reopening, and then closing again, so if you ever decide to take a tour of Kelli's life in Calgary, you'll have to skip that part. I liked the ability to dress up and look cute, because it made me feel like everything that happened to me didn't matter and I was fitting in like everyone else.
Around the same time, I found myself losing my thought a lot. By this I mean I would start driving home, would kind of space out, and then would come back a couple minutes later headed for Edmonton. This happened a few times, and I'm still not sure why it happened, but oh well. I didn't tell many people because I didn't want to freak anyone out. I actually mentioned it to my boyfriend of the time, who told me not to tell him about it because he didn't want to know. That was kind of a bad call (hindsight is 20/20). This problem will come back later, so sit tight!
Another thing that happened was I moved far enough away from my surgery that I was able to get a piercing! One day, Mom was like 'let's get your nose pierced!' and I was like 'ummmmm' and she was like 'yeahhhh!' so we got in the car and went. I was a little worried about it, because it's not every day you have a sharp metal rod punchered through your face (hopefully). So we went into the shop in Kensington that looked super sterile, and jumped up on the bed to get it done. Mom held my hand so I didn't start bawling, and she told me to shut my eyes. She punched it through and it barely hurt at all, I guess because I had had and was having enough pain to minimize all other pain. My eyes started watering like mad however, almost like I got punched in the nose. It looked great though! So we went home all happy. That was on January 7, 2006. I remember the date because it was mine and my boyfriend's one year anniversary, and I didn't tell him I got it. He didn't notice until we were going up an elevator somewhere that night and was like 'whoa! What is that!' It was awesome.
The second semester of Chinook started shortly after this. I was in Math 31 and Physics 30. I was worried about Physics 30 because I'd taken Physics 20 two years prior through a workbook only. I, by chance, was in this class with the girl that had the chest tumour, and also with a guy who I'd started calling my 27 year old friend (I'm pretty sure he was 27 at the time), both of whom were in my Chem 30 class the previous semester. The girl and I went up to the teacher shortly into the first week to tell her about our health problems because we would be away often, either from pain or from appointments. She asked us what we wanted to do after, and we told her (engineer for me, something for the girl, maybe nursing?). She gave us both a funny look, and then said 'you know, some people in life just can't do what they want to through no fault of their own'. We both went 'um. Okay.' It was so upsetting! She had no right to say it. We both decided to start hating her (because we were teenage girls).
Leading up to the end of the last semester at Chinook, Kyle and I discussed possibly getting tattoos together. We had gotten quite close as a result of my health problems, and we wanted a way to symbolize it. We chose the Red Cross because we had taken all of our lifeguarding courses. We decided to do it, so we booked it, and on the fateful day Mom, Kyle and I got in the jeep and drove down to the Smilin' Buddha, a reputable tattoo shop in Marda Loop. I got mine on the back of my neck, about a centimeter down from my scar, and Kyle got his on his left pec, right over his heart. I had gotten freezing from the nurses from my infusions, so I couldn't even feel it. They turned out great! We got them covered and went to get some beers at the Regal Beagle. A couple of days later, I was lifeguarding during lessons. A teacher decided they weren't going to teach that day (douche), so we needed a lifeguard to teach for them. Somehow, I was the lucky guard. I was worried about my tattoo, but wore my wet suit so I thought it would be okay (that makes no sense). Later that day, my family told me my tattoo faded terribly. I realized I'd have to get it redone. I went in a couple of weeks later, and he redid the entire tattoo for no extra cost. I had no freezing on, however, so I got to feel the whole thing. Though it was over my spine, it actually wasn't that bad. To quote my mom, "It's not brain surgery." It looked great after, and it's held it's colour beautifully, even now, 5 years later.
Sometime around now, I got my acceptance letter for early acceptance to the University of Calgary for Engineering in the mail. I was ecstatic! So was my family. They actually called me at work when the letter came in the mail. Kyle opened it and read me the whole thing, and the four of us were screaming and jumping up and down. It was awesome! I actually got in based on Extenuating Circumstances (or something... it was 5 years ago, give me a break). I had to get two letters from teachers (one teacher form Chinook and one from my high school) saying that they thought I would do well in University despite my health problems. I was pretty proud when I got in because I did it despite all my problems, and I saw it kind of as a middle finger to how my life had been so far. It was great!
Around the same time, I found myself losing my thought a lot. By this I mean I would start driving home, would kind of space out, and then would come back a couple minutes later headed for Edmonton. This happened a few times, and I'm still not sure why it happened, but oh well. I didn't tell many people because I didn't want to freak anyone out. I actually mentioned it to my boyfriend of the time, who told me not to tell him about it because he didn't want to know. That was kind of a bad call (hindsight is 20/20). This problem will come back later, so sit tight!
Another thing that happened was I moved far enough away from my surgery that I was able to get a piercing! One day, Mom was like 'let's get your nose pierced!' and I was like 'ummmmm' and she was like 'yeahhhh!' so we got in the car and went. I was a little worried about it, because it's not every day you have a sharp metal rod punchered through your face (hopefully). So we went into the shop in Kensington that looked super sterile, and jumped up on the bed to get it done. Mom held my hand so I didn't start bawling, and she told me to shut my eyes. She punched it through and it barely hurt at all, I guess because I had had and was having enough pain to minimize all other pain. My eyes started watering like mad however, almost like I got punched in the nose. It looked great though! So we went home all happy. That was on January 7, 2006. I remember the date because it was mine and my boyfriend's one year anniversary, and I didn't tell him I got it. He didn't notice until we were going up an elevator somewhere that night and was like 'whoa! What is that!' It was awesome.
The second semester of Chinook started shortly after this. I was in Math 31 and Physics 30. I was worried about Physics 30 because I'd taken Physics 20 two years prior through a workbook only. I, by chance, was in this class with the girl that had the chest tumour, and also with a guy who I'd started calling my 27 year old friend (I'm pretty sure he was 27 at the time), both of whom were in my Chem 30 class the previous semester. The girl and I went up to the teacher shortly into the first week to tell her about our health problems because we would be away often, either from pain or from appointments. She asked us what we wanted to do after, and we told her (engineer for me, something for the girl, maybe nursing?). She gave us both a funny look, and then said 'you know, some people in life just can't do what they want to through no fault of their own'. We both went 'um. Okay.' It was so upsetting! She had no right to say it. We both decided to start hating her (because we were teenage girls).
Leading up to the end of the last semester at Chinook, Kyle and I discussed possibly getting tattoos together. We had gotten quite close as a result of my health problems, and we wanted a way to symbolize it. We chose the Red Cross because we had taken all of our lifeguarding courses. We decided to do it, so we booked it, and on the fateful day Mom, Kyle and I got in the jeep and drove down to the Smilin' Buddha, a reputable tattoo shop in Marda Loop. I got mine on the back of my neck, about a centimeter down from my scar, and Kyle got his on his left pec, right over his heart. I had gotten freezing from the nurses from my infusions, so I couldn't even feel it. They turned out great! We got them covered and went to get some beers at the Regal Beagle. A couple of days later, I was lifeguarding during lessons. A teacher decided they weren't going to teach that day (douche), so we needed a lifeguard to teach for them. Somehow, I was the lucky guard. I was worried about my tattoo, but wore my wet suit so I thought it would be okay (that makes no sense). Later that day, my family told me my tattoo faded terribly. I realized I'd have to get it redone. I went in a couple of weeks later, and he redid the entire tattoo for no extra cost. I had no freezing on, however, so I got to feel the whole thing. Though it was over my spine, it actually wasn't that bad. To quote my mom, "It's not brain surgery." It looked great after, and it's held it's colour beautifully, even now, 5 years later.
Sometime around now, I got my acceptance letter for early acceptance to the University of Calgary for Engineering in the mail. I was ecstatic! So was my family. They actually called me at work when the letter came in the mail. Kyle opened it and read me the whole thing, and the four of us were screaming and jumping up and down. It was awesome! I actually got in based on Extenuating Circumstances (or something... it was 5 years ago, give me a break). I had to get two letters from teachers (one teacher form Chinook and one from my high school) saying that they thought I would do well in University despite my health problems. I was pretty proud when I got in because I did it despite all my problems, and I saw it kind of as a middle finger to how my life had been so far. It was great!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Looks Like You're Going To Have To Pick Up The Fork
That summer was pretty uneventful. In fact, the timeline here speeds up a little. I went through a few years of relatively good health (well, if you can call it good health), but a few crucial things happened in this time.
As I said, the summer went by without much happening. At least, nothing that sticks out in my memory. I went to some friend's houses a couple of times, but that was all. My main worry was school. I had to finish off Physics 30 and Math 31 in order to get into University, and I decided to also take Math 30 online to boost my grade, and Chem 30 again because I wasn't pleased with how I'd done on the diploma when I took it previously. I had a couple of options: I could go back to Queen E (my high school) and take a 13th year, or go to Chinook college. I took the Chinook route, because I never wanted to be in that school again.
When September rolled around, I was bumped from my receptionist job at Metro Ford because my boyfriend was back in school and needed to work at the desk again. I took this opportunity to move to the Parts department as the Parts Girl. Basically I was setting up for inventory, and also helping the shipper/receiver that was there. I got to wear a metro shirt that was about a league too big for me, and I was supposed to wear steel toed boots (as I found out when I dropped an F-350 rotor on my foot), but I opted to switch from my normal heels to running shoes instead.
I was working in the Parts department part time, so I decided to take only one class at chinook that first term. I took Chem 30. I don't remember all too much about this class, except that there was a girl in it that had gotten a tumour in her chest taken out. I wasn't doing that well in it because I was more concerned about working, and my energy level from my hip surgery hadn't come back yet. I ended up raising my mark by ten percent, so that was a pretty good achievement.
One thing I should mention about this time. Around when I started school, I started getting pains in my abdomen every so often. It was confusing, but I figured it was because I was pigging out like I'd never seen junk food before. Until one day I realized that actually, I was getting kidney stones. I was still getting infusions at this time, and I had to take a bunch of calcium and vitamin D because of it. For some reason, my body decided it hated me and didn't want to put calcium in my bones. Instead, it wanted to inflict the most pain possible on me.
One night it got really bad. Up to this point I had just waited it out, because it was painful but not as bad as other pain I'd gone through (or was going through). However, Mom and I decided that I should go to emerg to try to get help passing this thing, as per the instructions from my rheumatologist. While I was in emerg waiting to be put into a bed, I passed the stupid thing. Have you ever seen a kidney stone? They're tiny! The size of them definitely does not make you feel triumph over passing them. They actually make you feel like you're a giant wuss. So, once I passed it, Mom and I discussed going home, even though we'd gotten a bed. One doctor came in and insisted doing an exam, which we refused (considering how the exam when when my bones were hurting), and we demanded to be allowed to go home. We won.
From then on, I got a ton of kidney stones. I worked with kidney stones, I went to Chinook with kidney stones, and so on and so on. It was great times (it really wasn't great times). I got so good at passing them that I could just pop a Tylenol 3 and just deal with it. Some other stuff happened with this, but to be honest, I'm not super comfortable talking about it, so it's getting cut out. I'll maybe put it in if I get to make this into a book.
Another great thing that happened around this time was that I found out about my low blood pressure. When you have low blood pressure, you body all of a sudden decides its going to feel like it has no muscles and is going to try to shut down. I had the pleasure of having this happen while I was driving. Good times! I was told that, to deal with this, I was going to have to eat things like chips more often. Num num num.
As I said, the summer went by without much happening. At least, nothing that sticks out in my memory. I went to some friend's houses a couple of times, but that was all. My main worry was school. I had to finish off Physics 30 and Math 31 in order to get into University, and I decided to also take Math 30 online to boost my grade, and Chem 30 again because I wasn't pleased with how I'd done on the diploma when I took it previously. I had a couple of options: I could go back to Queen E (my high school) and take a 13th year, or go to Chinook college. I took the Chinook route, because I never wanted to be in that school again.
When September rolled around, I was bumped from my receptionist job at Metro Ford because my boyfriend was back in school and needed to work at the desk again. I took this opportunity to move to the Parts department as the Parts Girl. Basically I was setting up for inventory, and also helping the shipper/receiver that was there. I got to wear a metro shirt that was about a league too big for me, and I was supposed to wear steel toed boots (as I found out when I dropped an F-350 rotor on my foot), but I opted to switch from my normal heels to running shoes instead.
I was working in the Parts department part time, so I decided to take only one class at chinook that first term. I took Chem 30. I don't remember all too much about this class, except that there was a girl in it that had gotten a tumour in her chest taken out. I wasn't doing that well in it because I was more concerned about working, and my energy level from my hip surgery hadn't come back yet. I ended up raising my mark by ten percent, so that was a pretty good achievement.
One thing I should mention about this time. Around when I started school, I started getting pains in my abdomen every so often. It was confusing, but I figured it was because I was pigging out like I'd never seen junk food before. Until one day I realized that actually, I was getting kidney stones. I was still getting infusions at this time, and I had to take a bunch of calcium and vitamin D because of it. For some reason, my body decided it hated me and didn't want to put calcium in my bones. Instead, it wanted to inflict the most pain possible on me.
One night it got really bad. Up to this point I had just waited it out, because it was painful but not as bad as other pain I'd gone through (or was going through). However, Mom and I decided that I should go to emerg to try to get help passing this thing, as per the instructions from my rheumatologist. While I was in emerg waiting to be put into a bed, I passed the stupid thing. Have you ever seen a kidney stone? They're tiny! The size of them definitely does not make you feel triumph over passing them. They actually make you feel like you're a giant wuss. So, once I passed it, Mom and I discussed going home, even though we'd gotten a bed. One doctor came in and insisted doing an exam, which we refused (considering how the exam when when my bones were hurting), and we demanded to be allowed to go home. We won.
From then on, I got a ton of kidney stones. I worked with kidney stones, I went to Chinook with kidney stones, and so on and so on. It was great times (it really wasn't great times). I got so good at passing them that I could just pop a Tylenol 3 and just deal with it. Some other stuff happened with this, but to be honest, I'm not super comfortable talking about it, so it's getting cut out. I'll maybe put it in if I get to make this into a book.
Another great thing that happened around this time was that I found out about my low blood pressure. When you have low blood pressure, you body all of a sudden decides its going to feel like it has no muscles and is going to try to shut down. I had the pleasure of having this happen while I was driving. Good times! I was told that, to deal with this, I was going to have to eat things like chips more often. Num num num.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Why Are You Following Me?
A few days after I got off my crutches, I got to graduate. The Jubilee was under construction, so we got to graduate in the gym of the University. Our whole graduation (ceremony, reception, aftergrad party) was on the same day. I wore a blue dress with a jacket over it I think, and these really cute flip flops that had a little bow on them (flats, because I wasn't allowed to wear heels yet). I was looking like a weird upper body builder who forgot she had legs, because my arms were ripped and my legs were tiny stick legs, so I didn't really care what I looked like. I hated high school anyway at this point, and didn't mind that I was probably never going to see any of the people again, so this wasn't special for me at all.
We got to the University, and we went through all the "oh my god, we're pretending to be friends, lets take a thousand pictures that we'll never look at again because we're pretending we like each other" thing. We went through this pretty quickly, and I went back to hanging out with my parents and grandparents. A little while into getting there, we got to go downstairs and get our gowns on, and then got a few more pictures of that. Click click click.
Finally, we got to get all lined up to go into the gym. I got to stand at the front of all the people, even though my last name starts with an N, because I was going to leave right away after. We decided I probably wouldn't be able to sit there for the whole 3 hours without pain or discomfort, so we decided that was the best option. We walked in, and I sat down in the chair beside my dad (he was there for me to hang onto while walking to and from the stage). They went through a couple of speeches, and then the first round of diplomas were given out, which included me. Dad walked me up, then went around the back to the other side of the stage. The guy read out my name, and I walked over to shake the people's hand and get it. The picture of this is actually really funny, our principle had to lean down really far to reach my hand (because I'm only about 2 feet tall), and my face is white like a sheet because I'm already getting dizzy. Then I walked to the end of the stage and down the stairs, where Dad was waiting. We walked down the aisle and out the back door, giggling because we got to leave early. Then we turned around, and saw that the next person had followed us! I was like "what are you doing! You're supposed to go sit down!" and he was like "Oh!" and ran back into the gym. It was hilarious.
So then we handed the gown back in and met up with my mom and grandparents, and we went to Boston Pizza. We had a niiiice lunch while all my classmates sat in the warm, stuffy gym listening to boring speeches. Then we went back to my house and got ready for the reception. Once I got dressed up, we took a couple of pictures in the living room, and then all went out back for a beer.
I had on a blue dress that hooked up in the back (so I wouldn't trip on it while I walked backwards, apparently), and black gloves, and a rhinestoned top hat. I also had on a bunch of jewelry that used to be my great nana's. I brought my Mom, my Dad, Kyle, Kyle's girlfriend at the time, and my boyfriend. Our goal was to fill up 90% of the table (succeeded!) Se we all had a beer together, and then all jumped in the jeep (someone else had to have driven...maybe we took Garth the van? Oh well) and went to the Telus Convention Centre. I don't remember much about when we got there...probably because it was so uneventful. For some reason when we went in, we all went in a big line and walked around the room, as if no one had ever seen us before. Then we stood there for a couple minutes, extremely awkwardly, and then all sat down at our tables. While we ate our terrible meal, a "slideshow" went up on the screen, which was literally just our pictures out of order to a lame song, and it was on repeat. It sucked. I hope the guys who made it didn't get a job making slideshows. After the meal, my boyfriend told me that he'd brought rum, so we drank some of that. Then we danced for about three songs, and we went home.
After that, my boyfriend and I got ready for the aftergrad. This literally involved a change of clothes, and another beer. Then Dad drove us to the aftergrad. I was still 17 so my 18 year old boyfriend got a wristband and I did not. We danced a bit and hung out with some people (his friend, who's now a cop, was also there, feeding beer to his 17 year old girlfriend through their mouths...it's as gross as it sounds). Then, one of my friends who know the owner got me a band, so I had one beer, and then danced the night away.
That was the last time I saw most of the people from high school. I went back only one day, to pick up my yearbook, and I snuck in and out so I wouldn't see anyone.
We got to the University, and we went through all the "oh my god, we're pretending to be friends, lets take a thousand pictures that we'll never look at again because we're pretending we like each other" thing. We went through this pretty quickly, and I went back to hanging out with my parents and grandparents. A little while into getting there, we got to go downstairs and get our gowns on, and then got a few more pictures of that. Click click click.
Finally, we got to get all lined up to go into the gym. I got to stand at the front of all the people, even though my last name starts with an N, because I was going to leave right away after. We decided I probably wouldn't be able to sit there for the whole 3 hours without pain or discomfort, so we decided that was the best option. We walked in, and I sat down in the chair beside my dad (he was there for me to hang onto while walking to and from the stage). They went through a couple of speeches, and then the first round of diplomas were given out, which included me. Dad walked me up, then went around the back to the other side of the stage. The guy read out my name, and I walked over to shake the people's hand and get it. The picture of this is actually really funny, our principle had to lean down really far to reach my hand (because I'm only about 2 feet tall), and my face is white like a sheet because I'm already getting dizzy. Then I walked to the end of the stage and down the stairs, where Dad was waiting. We walked down the aisle and out the back door, giggling because we got to leave early. Then we turned around, and saw that the next person had followed us! I was like "what are you doing! You're supposed to go sit down!" and he was like "Oh!" and ran back into the gym. It was hilarious.
So then we handed the gown back in and met up with my mom and grandparents, and we went to Boston Pizza. We had a niiiice lunch while all my classmates sat in the warm, stuffy gym listening to boring speeches. Then we went back to my house and got ready for the reception. Once I got dressed up, we took a couple of pictures in the living room, and then all went out back for a beer.
I had on a blue dress that hooked up in the back (so I wouldn't trip on it while I walked backwards, apparently), and black gloves, and a rhinestoned top hat. I also had on a bunch of jewelry that used to be my great nana's. I brought my Mom, my Dad, Kyle, Kyle's girlfriend at the time, and my boyfriend. Our goal was to fill up 90% of the table (succeeded!) Se we all had a beer together, and then all jumped in the jeep (someone else had to have driven...maybe we took Garth the van? Oh well) and went to the Telus Convention Centre. I don't remember much about when we got there...probably because it was so uneventful. For some reason when we went in, we all went in a big line and walked around the room, as if no one had ever seen us before. Then we stood there for a couple minutes, extremely awkwardly, and then all sat down at our tables. While we ate our terrible meal, a "slideshow" went up on the screen, which was literally just our pictures out of order to a lame song, and it was on repeat. It sucked. I hope the guys who made it didn't get a job making slideshows. After the meal, my boyfriend told me that he'd brought rum, so we drank some of that. Then we danced for about three songs, and we went home.
After that, my boyfriend and I got ready for the aftergrad. This literally involved a change of clothes, and another beer. Then Dad drove us to the aftergrad. I was still 17 so my 18 year old boyfriend got a wristband and I did not. We danced a bit and hung out with some people (his friend, who's now a cop, was also there, feeding beer to his 17 year old girlfriend through their mouths...it's as gross as it sounds). Then, one of my friends who know the owner got me a band, so I had one beer, and then danced the night away.
That was the last time I saw most of the people from high school. I went back only one day, to pick up my yearbook, and I snuck in and out so I wouldn't see anyone.
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