Spring Break

Since last week was Spring Break, its been a little tough getting going again at school (not as hard as after Winter Break but hard non-the-less). It would have been easier had I not had some pretty awesome adventures. It started off a little rough as it really started on Friday evening after my Pulmonology test. It was not a fun test, 78 questions in 2 hours on a scantron because the new exam software the school paid a fortune for didn't work right. It was a disaster. I did fine on the test but after 40 questions I was really tired of filling in bubbles and turning pages and I had half the test left. I know that I have it easy compared to they way it used to be but COME ON! When was the last time you took a scantron test?

Things picked up from there, I went biking on Saturday morning and had a date later that day in which we flew kites (I love kites, additionally I lost my phone while we were flying kites but we went back later and found it where I was jumping to try and get my kite out of a tree). Monday was a prep day, I cleaned my whole house and then some. I even washed the floors, I knew they were dirty but judging from the water the floors had never been cleaned before. 

Tuesday I went skiing in Flagstaff, which was at the tail end of an incredible storm that left over 50 inches in 4 days. Flagstaff sits at 6,900 ft. (Salt Lake City sits at 4,225 ft.) and is totally worth the 2 and a half hour drive from Phoenix. After the day skiing, I made my way home through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona (I'd never been there, and it was a seriously inexcusable sin not to have been there sooner).

Oak Creek Canyon from the North end

Wednesday was no let up as I had to finish the last bit of cleaning, stop in at school for a book and to print some articles, I took a bike ride, had to pack, and be to the airport at for the Jet Blue red-eye flight from to Boston. It had been a pretty nice day up until the flight. I hate flying and the plane ride from Phoenix to Boston lasts just shy of 5 hours. Since we are in daylight savings that 5 hour flight became an 8 hour swing and I landed at 7 am. 2 hours later I caught the first bus to Dartmouth and finally at noon on Thursday I was with my brother, his wife, my mom, and the newest Amundsen, Carston. Once again it was totally worth the travel.

Spencer, Lisa, and 3 week old Carston

Grandma Jan with baby Carston

Notice my long hair because I no longer have it.

Uncle Chris and Carston, notice the dino PJs

We spent a lot of time doing odd jobs around the house while Carston ate and slept, which was all the time until Saturday. On Saturday we went to Mr. Gs for some sweet shopping (I got a dragon tie-dye!) and then visited Sharon, Vermont and the birthplace of Joseph Smith. It was an awesome experience, especially after Mr. Gs. There was a definite change in feeling when we got to the grounds and as we toured around and talked to the missionaries who were there, that spirit only grew stronger. It was a great strength to my testimony and I was grateful for it.

Monument to the Prophet

 

Final product

Mullet would have been epic

Sunday, the last day of Spring Break, turned out to be the wildest of all. We woke up earlier than we had been, which wasn't all that early for the people who live on the east coast but 830 is really 530 for those of us from the west coast, and I got a fresh haircut for the return (first real cut since last June but don't worry, I've saved the hair in a Ziploc bag). My mother and I were both leaving on the Dartmouth Coach at noon, and, like always, we just made it in time. We usually have a good reason for running the time so close and this was no exception, we didn't want to leave. Also, I'd made it all the time I was there with out getting any of Carston's spit-ups or blow-outs on me but at 1130 I had finished packing and my brother was handing me the little guy so everyone else could get ready. As he is rolling Carston over and handing him down to me, I received one last going away present in the form of not one, but 2 eruptions of spit-up (thank you Carston, I thought  about you almost the whole way home. It would have been the whole way except for what happened on the plane). So great, now I have a good sized spit up on my front but it was too late to change and we had to go. We got to the airport and had to split up to our different airlines, another quick goodbye, and soon the boarding call came to get on the plane to come home. This is where things got really exciting

This was a full flight and there was a call for anyone who was willing to check their bag because there wouldn't be enough room for everyone. I figured I could because I wouldn't be in any real hurry to do anything once I landed. As a consequence I got to be one of the first to board the plane (not really all its cracked up to be if you have an assigned seat and no luggage to put in the overhead bin). So I sat in my seat watching everyone else board, filling every seat but the one beside me until the last passengers got on. All of a sudden I was sitting next to chatty Cathy aka Gene aka sort of an oaf/Glenn Beck look-alike. I'm a  friendly enough guy but I did not want to talk that entire plane ride (its almost 5 hours long). But chat I did, for a long time. We chatted for a while in which I learned a lot about his life, way more than anyone who isn't dating him should know, and then we each had a turn in the bathroom and I tried to sleep a little and not pay attention to him. It worked really well for a while until somewhere over Oklahoma we had a this conversation
Gene: I'm feeling really light headed
Me: Do you want some water?
Gene: Yea
Me: Ok, I'll call the flight attendant.
(Flight Attendant arrives)
Gene: ...............
(BECAUSE GENE IS UNCONSCIOUS!!!!!)

The flight attendant begins to yell for help and tries to yank me out of my seat. It was crazy! I couldn't believe it. So they leaned him over into my vacated seat and he immediately revived. They got him some oxygen and some juice and almonds (turns out he couldn't remember the last time he had anything to eat). Meanwhile I was at the back of the plane telling 2 RNs, the only other medical professionals on board (there was also a dentist who showed up later and a pre-med from ASU who'd "had a lot of experience" in the medical field), what happened and what I thought was going on. So I return to my seat and Gene sucks down some oxygen for a while and then says hes feeling much better and everything is back to normal? Well it was... until about an hour out from Phoenix. I'd been watching Gene the entire time since his syncopal episode. We'd been talking a bunch more because I was worried he was going to die. Turns out he has a lot of Past Medical issues (knee surgery, hypertension, family history of stroke, etc.). After talking to him about it, I knew we were far from being in the clear. So we were so close but I noticed that his color was starting to go again and I asked if he was doing alright. His response was that he was fine but he trailed off and didn't finish the thought

BECAUSE HE PASSED OUT AGAIN!!!!!!!

I was shaking him and pressing the flight attendant button frantically and jumping out of my seat to lay him down. I was sure he was dead this time, especially after talking to him about all the risks he had for stroke and pulmonary embolisms and heart failure. I was sure of it. Well they gave him the whole bench to lay down and I got booted to another seat for the rest of the ride while one of the RNs stayed with him and his oxygen tank. That was a pretty long hour. I was super ready for that plane to land and to get off, but once again Gene got in the way. We had to wait for some EMTs to come on and get him off first so they could evaluate him.

Finally they let everyone get off the plane and I have to go down to baggage claim now (now seemed like a very poor decision on my part). As we are all waiting around to find out what carousel are luggage will be on I see Gene walking over. By himself. I couldn't believe it! After passing out in the plane not once but twice (and I'm pretty sure he told one of the nurses that he was having heart palpitations) they let him walk! I went over to talk to him and see how he was, you know, let him know that someone cares what happens to him. He had a 20 minute drive still ahead of him to get home. I've been watching the obituaries everyday since. I'm not totally convinced he made it home on Sunday night.

And with that Spring Break came to an end.