Sitting Is Killing You

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

My Two Cents

Although I think they are going to extremes a bit with this infographic here. I think they are mis interpreting the data to some degree. I mean, hypothetically you could do research and ask everyone that has had or is currently dealing with cancer if they eat chocolate. I’m pretty sure a REALLY high percentage will say yes. So then with that data you could very easily deduce that chocolate causes cancer.

Realistically I feel it is overly obvious that sitting less will be good for our body, but the whole, “Each extra hour of watching TV = 11% higher death risk.” is a bit extreme. This is assuming that we are going to die because of health reasons. More-so that we will die from heart complications. In reality there are countless ways to die, the majority of which most likely have nothing at all to do with a person sitting. We are all actually increasing our likely hood to die just by waking up in the morning and living another day. Each and everyday we get closer and closer to the day we die. Death is not something anyone is able to stop from happening. So it shouldn’t be about how can we prevent death, but rather how can we embrace the time we are allotted, and use that time in positive ways to make us better people. I feel as long as we spend our life helping other people, and loving instead of hating then it doesn’t really matter how long we live. Death is but a stepping stone to the next phase of our eternal existence.

Really I posted this infographic because, I thought it was creatively executed, and the information is fairly interesting. I think it is also quite motivating, and I definitely agree that we are better off standing and moving as opposed to sitting.

Stand Up!

Finding Normal

Tuesday night we got a call from our pediatrician who after looking at the results of both the ultrasound and her blood work made the decision to have us take Hannah to Dell Children’s Hospital right away. I quickly grabbed her and carried her to the car. She was crying and was filled with fear and telling me she didn’t want to go. Heather was some what quiet about what the doctor had told her on the phone. This left me overwhelmed and seemingly traveling blindly through a tunnel of doubt.

And there was a kid, with a head full of doubt. So I scream til I die or the last of those bad thoughts are finally out

I met up with Heather an hour or so later. We still didn’t have many answers and they were still taking blood, xrays, and an ultrasound before making any decisions on how to move forward. Time seemed to flow differently in that small room in the hospital. I tried distracting myself with my cell phone and the internet. Soon they informed us that they needed to stick a needle into her hip to see what the fluid looked like. Depending on that would decide the next steps. So they rushed her back and put her to sleep. Heather and I waited patiently in the waiting room. They quickly sent someone out to let us know that the fluid was infected and full of puss. So they had to then make a small incision and flush the infected fluid and then clean out the hip joint.

Soon after we met back up with Hannah as she was waking up out of her short surgery. Then they moved us into a more permanent room on the 3rd floor of the hospital. Once in the room we decided that Heather should head on home and I would stay with Hannah in the hospital. So later that night I met 2-3 doctors who gave me a little bit of information each time. The next morning our room was filled with a team of 7 doctors and medical students. I felt like I was on an episode of Scrubs, only there wasn’t much comedy. They still were waiting on results of tests and monitoring Hannah. They still didn’t have much of an idea of how it happened or what it exactly was. They were calling it Septic Arthritis of the Hip. Which essentially means that their is an infection in her joint and the joint in this case is her hip. They didn’t know what was causing the infection, so they just make an educated guess based on her history and that it was caused by a bacteria. They just don’t know what bacteria it is. So they have to make another guess on which medication to give her. The only way to know if it is working is by how well Hannah progresses and reacts. Luckily so far the medication is seeming to work and slowly she has been able to regain complete movement in her hip. Since the infection is in her hip, it is a very long term cycle of medications. It could be anywhere from 1 week to 6 weeks, but they are guessing that it will take 3 weeks. So they had to place a PICC line to allow us to continue giving Hannah medication at home through an IV. There are a lot of risks involved, so it’s a little scary, but after a lot of research and multiple conversations with her team of doctors and medical students both Heather and I felt this was the best option for Hannah and us.

Coming Home

We finally arrived home from the hospital at around 3:00pm on Saturday (July 2nd). On our way home from the hospital we had to stop off at the home care office to pick up a weeks worth of medication and get our last training session.

Finding Normal Again

Now we are trying to find normal again. We are adjusting to a new schedule where Hannah needs her medication 3 times a day. So the medication schedule we are on is 6:00am, 2:00pm, and 10:00pm. We are also having Hannah wear a leg warmer on her left arm to cover up and protect her PICC line from Connor. It feels very comforting to finally have everyone back home under the same roof and relatively safe and healthy again.

This small experience has made me THAT much more compassionate and sympathetic to all the other children and families in the world who are enduring much longer stays in the hospital with more severe health and medical issues. The children and families who are battling cancer and other potentially terminal issues are especially heart wrenching. I don’t know how they have the faith and strength to battle their way through it all.

Life is Full of Choices

Children are so innocent and pure that in my mind they don’t deserve to go through anything like this. But the fact of the matter is, this is all just life and the beautiful struggle that it is. Their is seldom any real rhyme or reason for any of the things that happen. I feel that we as people are constantly searching and wanting a reason. however I just feel like things just happen and as things happen and as they happen it creates an environment to learn and grow. At the same time those exact same things can also create an environment where you can become resentful and full of hate. Life really just comes down to how we chose to react to the circumstances and environments in which we are placed throughout our lives.

Hannah’s Song

Every night when I put Hannah to bed I either read her a story or tell her a ghost story then I sing her a song. Tonight after I sang a song and kissed her goodnight I started my slow and careful journey through the darkness of a wasteland of toys when she said, “Well I have a song that I really want to sing for you.”

So I stopped… Turned and said, “Alright, well sing it for me.” as I sat back down on her bed.

Then in a soft small voice of a 5 year old she began to sing,

I love my family
I will never leave you
Even if you get mad and yell at me
I will love you still
I will come to you while you sleep
Don’t peak because I will be there with you

I’m not so sure about the last two lines of the song, when she got to that point she started to scramble and stutter searching for a way to end her song. Either way it was a really cute song. I asked her to sing it again, and she struggled to remember and added new parts that also didn’t seem to fit the beginning. Lucky I was able to keep this much in my mind long enough to write it down.

Formula to Happiness

THE PREFACE

Over the years I have learned the formula to achieving happiness. However just as in math knowing the formula is only half the battle. It’s an entirely different story when you actually have to apply the formula to actually solving the real world problem (equation). I should know, seeing as how I always struggled in math class. The majority of the time I was able to completely understand how the formula worked, however I would always miss a step along the way. I wouldn’t carry the negative sign, or I would go to fast and make careless mistakes which led to me coming up with the incorrect answer.

In my pursuit for happiness I often face the same problems with receiving the correct answer, which in this case is happiness. In other words, by me “claiming” to have the formula to happiness does not in any way mean that I am ALWAYS happy.

THE FORMULA

I firmly believe that ALL people regardless of race, color, religion, or nationality have a personal set of morals and ethics in which they set for themselves as a standard “code of conduct”. For many people religion, culture, family, and other outside forces influence this moral code of standards. In many cases it is almost sub consciously imbedded into their system. Meaning that for the majority of people it takes a lot of soul searching before we are able to realize what ours is. This is the first obstacle in being able to find the answer in the equation of our own happiness. Up until the point where we are able to learn this moral and ethical code of conduct it remains the “x” in our formula.

CREATING ESCAPES

A lot of our lives are spent trying to figure this out. I call this soul searching process “escapes.” What I mean by this is that we all find aspects of our lives that if we escape them it will equal happiness. Let me use a personal example as to what I mean by this. In the beginning of my mission for the LDS church in Brazil I went through some very difficult and frustrating times. I was in a foreign country without any family or friends. I didn’t speak or comprehend the native language and I was 19 years old. So in the beginning I remember thinking, well once I know the language this will be easy and I will be happy. Once I learned the language I only became aware of more issues, and obstacles. So then I began to search for a new escape. I continued down this path until finally it dawned on me that none of those things bring happiness. In fact the absence of obstacles, stress, and tribulation does not equal happiness. Alot of times that is our first mistake. We see all of these stresses in our life, and we begin to think, if only I was able to rid myself of these stresses I would find myself FREE of stress thus resulting in happiness. This is a very destructive path, mainly because the only way anyone can experience growth and edification is through overcoming trials and obstacles in their lives, but that in itself can and should be reserved for it’s own post.

MOVING FORWARD

Once we are able to comprehend that escaping what is bringing stress into our lives like, the lack of money, lack of friends, lack of family, lack of a job, etc… will bring about happiness. We are finally able to make some progress through this formula. We are then able to understand that only ONE person is in charge of our happiness. In fact only ONE “thing” is in charge of our happiness. We are the only ones who decide weather or not we are going to be happy. Regardless of circumstance happiness can be achieved. This does not mean to say that the pursuit to happiness is as easy for everyone, however “easy” or “hard” in itself is a relative term and is highly based on personal perception.

The only true way to find happiness is by living up to your own personal moral and ethical code of conduct inwhich we have all set for ourselves. Everyone’s morals and ethics differ, so there is no RIGHT answer. However when you you don’t meet your own expectations then you don’t love yourself. If you don’t love yourself you also are unable to comprehend or allow others to love you. Love is important because love is what brings about happiness. However when I use the word love I mean love in it’s purest form. The love I speak of is synonymous with the word charity. So the best definition I can find is in the bible which says:

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in ainiquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth

1 Corinthians 13

*I find it important to note, that in the Brazilian Bible they interpreted the word charity as the word love. Which is more proof as to how perhaps love and charity are really the same word, but their definitions have become lost in time by man.

IN CLOSING

Please note that at the time of writing this post I am only 29 years old, and in my meager 29 years of pursuing happiness this is what I have learned and began applying to my daily life. I always find when I am unhappy it is almost ALWAYS in direct relation to how well I am doing in meeting my own personal moral and ethical code of conduct. So by going through the necessary steps to repair my own relationship with myself through forgiveness I am able to once again be on the pathway to happiness once again. So please feel free to add your own beliefs that you have learned along your travails of life.

RELATED:

5 Simple Rules for Happiness

Over a Bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup

Just got an email from Heather that related this story:

Just now, over a bowl of chicken noodle soup, Hannah says to me, “I really wish I could have a baby in my tummy.” (random yes) So I said to her, “Well, one day FAR off in the future when YOU are a mommy, you can have a baby in your tummy too.”

So she gets this excited, puzzled, intrigued look on her face and says, “Wait… So I can have a baby in MY tummy?” and I said, “Yup that’s right. Only mommies and girls can have babies in their tummy…daddies and boys can’t.”

So she looks at me with a DUH look on her face and goes, “Yeah, they just watch.”

Which reminds me I REALLY need to start writing down more of what she says on a daily basis cause it is so hilarious, but sadly my mind is unable to hold onto it for much longer than a day.

First Month

I can’t believe we are already one month into Connor’s life. I think we are all finally starting to get to know one another. He has grown to LOVE his mother, and almost always wants to be near her. Heather has finally figured out the secret to getting him to sleep pretty much through the night (we hope). Hannah is really enjoying her role as “Big Sister” and I think I am finally getting back to some sort of a routine. To bad it is all going to start over come October when I turn another year older, move into our first house, a new ward, and a new side of town.

We made a trip to San Antonio last weekend and Connor decided to take a nap on his Uncle Ethan while we all hung out in the family room watching some cheesy Life Time movie with my mom.

Cannon Ball!

Hannah has gotten a bit more brave in the last month. She now enjoys jumping into the pool and yelling “CANNON BAAAALLL!”

Connor Michael Guymon

Connor Michael Guymon was born at 12:09pm weighing in at 8 pounds and 1 ounce and measuring 20 inches. He has a full head of hair no chin and what seems to be the first appearances of the Guymon nose.

Click here to view ALL of the photos

Here’s the story:

Heather emailed me at work around 4:45pm on Tuesday July 28th letting me know that she talked to her doctor who set her up to be induced at 6:00am on Wed July 29th. Just as I was finishing up my projects for the day and sending out an email informing everyone that I wouldn’t be there tomorrow. I got a phone call from Heather telling me she would really like to go eat at Chili’s one last time as a family of a one child household. Ten to fifteen minutes later at 6:00pm I get a phone call where Heather said, “Change of plans, my water just broke I need you home NOW!”

So off I went, I got there and Lyndsee Bates was nice enough to take Hannah for the night, and the majority of the next day. So I had enough time to grab a few things and throw them in a bag and give Hannah a few hugs goodbye.

Then off Heather and I went to the hospital, we got there at like 7:00pm. They ran a check to make sure that her water did REALLY break, after the test came back positive, they began hooking Heather up to everything and getting her prepped and ready to have a baby. She was already having small contractions regularly and was already dilated to 3 and a half centimeters. So the doctor chose to just let her go and see how everything developed.

The first plan of action was to make a decision about putting Heather on petocin to speed up the contraction & labor process or not. That was supposed to be done at 11:00, but actually didn’t happen until an hour or so later. They didn’t end up putting her on petocin until 4:00am when although her contractions were getting worse she wasn’t really progressing as far as being dilated or any closer to being able to actually push.

So we sat and waited and waited and waited… Lucky for us Heather’s BFF Heidi Fling made the courageous voyage from San Antonio to help entertain Heather.

They started the petocin at a very slow drip, and so nothing really progressed although her contractions got closer and closer together and more intense. Heather said they were at a 5 on the pain scale, but she never appeared to be in pain, only said it was uncomfortable. So she asked for an epidural, but that wasn’t until almost 10:30am on July 29th. Which was over 16 hours of labor. Heather was super happy and content with her epidural, and everything was much more calm and relaxing then. About an hour later Heather started saying she was feeling some pressure during each contraction, and thought maybe Connor was finally starting to move down. So she told the nurse, who didn’t ever actually check her in anyway, but rather said, “Well let me know when it is a lot of pressure.”

Thirty minutes later the nurse and the doctor came into the room to check to see if Heather was any farther dialated, and when the doctor lifted up the blanket Connor’s head was sticking out already. The doctor said, “Whoa you are having a baby, DON’T MOVE, BREATH, LAUGH, TALK, or ANYTHING!” He ran out of the room pulled in his tools and everything sat down, and Connor immediately fell out, and Heidi was nice enough to cut the chord for us, and off he went to the sidelines to get measured, and cleaned. I began snapping photos and enjoying the moment, and thanking heavenly Father for blessing us with a beautiful healthy baby boy!