Westra Family and Friends (September 17, 2017)
This has been a full week. Last Sunday we went over to Krystal’s apartment for lunch. She made curry and it was really good. Alfonso was there also, and her roommate Talia (who we know). She has a nice apartment. We got to hear about the BYU game that Krystal and Alfonso went to on Saturday. Krystal surprised Alfonso with tickets to the game.
Monday I went on a mountain run up Battle Creek Canyon and then onto the Curley Creek trail toward Brush Mountain. I almost made it to Brush Mountain — I didn’t think I would make it that far. 165 floors, 18,000 steps. Some of the leaves were changing color already.
Tuesday Kim and I and Aaron went to the annual Ward Chili Cook Off. I was able to enjoy the chili. I voted for number 1, but chili number 13 won, which was made by one of the new families in the ward. Our ward takes this competition seriously, and we had about 17 tasty entries to try. I asked the girls sitting across from us what chili I should try next. They both said number 15, so I tried it. I came back and told them I thought chili number 15 wasn’t very good. Then I found out that it was their family recipe, and their Mom had brought it. I told the girls not to tell their Mom my opinion. She was talking to someone else, and didn’t notice.
Wednesday Kim went out with some of her Bunco group to dinner at a Thai restaurant, to celebrate Carolyn’s birthday. Then Thursday evening we met Courtney and Seth at Mi Ranchito in American Fork, and we brought Aaron along also. It was good to catch up with their news and happenings. Seth’s real estate business is doing well, and he is making some sales. Courtney’s pregnancy is going along well - she is coming up on 28 weeks.
Friday we went and picked up Camden and Cayson, and then went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner and games while we were there in Salt Lake. Grandma made us a nice meatloaf and scalloped potatoes dinner, with lots of veggies also. Then Grandpa and the boys played Qwirkle while Grandma and I talked stocks and investments. I showed her a bit more on how to use Robinhood on her phone, and invest that way. And she showed me how to get more helpful info about individual stocks on Fidelity on the computer.
Kim had a successful school week and took some more tests and also completed all of her blood draws and shots. Now she just has a couple more tests and then 5 IVs to do for Unit 4. Then Unit 5 is the last one. Aaron comes home tired from wrestling and weight training each day. He has a girl in the ward that he likes (Sammy) and he walks up to see her here and there. Camden had early morning wrestling most of the past week. Then he had work after school each day, so he has been going to bed early also.
Yesterday Kadan went on a hike to Kannaraville Falls with some friends. It’s a “narrows” hike (slot canyon) where you have to get wet, and the day was not overly warm.
My stoma has been prolapsed and enlarged for the past ten days or so. I called the doctor and they told me it was common and gave me some ideas to try. The nurse said it should retract on it’s own. Well, it didn’t, but just became larger and more swollen and painful. Finally last evening I needed to change the bag and it was huge and we called the doctor again. We sent pictures to him. He said, “Can you meet me at my office in 45 minutes?”. So we had to sacrifice our evening and go to the doctor’s office. We didn’t know how to even fit a new bag on. The doctor got it reduced by manually squeezing it and it was extremely painful. My legs were shaking and my forehead broke out in sweat. Kim held my hand. He couldn’t get it all to retract, but some. We had to move to a two piece bag instead of the one piece bag we had been using.
I can call Monday and get an appointment for the barium enema test to see whether the resection is healed completely. Then we can schedule the surgery. So we are very glad about that. The doctor said to take it easy for the next 48 hours and to be on my back as much as possible, and to ice the stoma and it may retract further. I have gained back all the weight I lost before and after the surgeries, so that’s awesome also. Thanks again family for your prayers and fasting.
Christopher and Kim
P.S. Here are some more pics from California below, and also an update from Kadan at SUU.
The word of the week is impetus: the force that makes something happen or happen more quickly.
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From Kadan below:
Hey yall,
Upon request, I'm sending a "quick note" out to just keep those interested updated on the developments of my life. I'm not doing it because anything particularly exciting is going on at this point in my life, but simply because staying in touch with family is something I still need to work on. (thanks for the advice Grandma)
My roommates are all cool, so I lucked out again there. My professors are mostly cool, with the exception of a couple, but that's life. The courses are more demanding than I was used to at Snow College, but that's to be expected from a larger school and more advanced classes. I have a couple exams this next week that I'm not looking forward to, so hopefully all will go smoothly there.
I haven't joined any clubs yet. There are multiple honors societies that have invited me to join but quite honestly, I'm not sure the extra time commitment is worth it to me right now. I have tried to join a couple clubs, but they are either not operating anymore, or they are incredibly disorganized. (Offroad club, robotics club)
I have however been successful in being more outgoing in some situations and making friends. I've organized several activities and invited quite a few people. For instance, last night I hosted a fire at a cool little spot Derik and I found up the canyon, which turned out really good. Derik and I made brownies and brought them to our neighbors, so we could meet them and scope out our options, if you know what I mean. Our building is 3 floors, and we are on the bottom. The two floors above us are girls apartments. There are some cute girls, but I'm starting to run into this problem where I'm 5 years older than most of the single girls. So that's awkward. There are so many freshmen here. Biggest incoming class by far that SUU has ever had. No major prospects yet.
Fall is coming, which makes me sad, because I haven't gotten my fill of Utah's warm weather yet. There's so many things I want to do still. Krystal and Talia have been begging me to go to Goblin Valley this weekend, which sounds really fun but it's a lot of gas money. I think I'll go anyway. Being thrifty is good, but I have a reputation for being "cheap", and sometimes I let that get in the way of enjoying this time in my life, which I think is important.
I don't think a daily rundown of my week will be very interesting to anyone, as my weekdays are often pretty much the same.
Future updates are likely to be shorter, but honestly it depends on the mood I'm in.
Hope yall are doing well!
Kadan
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