Thursday, August 28, 2008

I've been tagged!

­Kaci has tagged me and instructed me to go onto Google Images and find an image suitable for my response to each question. So here we go;



Past Loves: This would be shopping! Why is this a past love you ask. Well I just recently found out that it's difficult to shop without money. Now while there is a way to do it, using the five finger discount just isn't my style. So until Grant and I have money, shopping will remain a past love. So sad!





My First Name: Okay, this one took me awhile to find an image for. You wouldn't believe some of the images that comes up when you search for Kory. No, I don't need pictures of strippers thank you very much. So My Dad is the one who picked my name. Not only did he pick the name Kory, but he was also the one to decide that it would be spelled the way it is. Which is why it was funny when he misspelled my name one time. Yes, he really did that. Thanks Dad!


My Middle Name: This one is common. It's tradition in my family that the daughter takes the middle name of the mother and the son takes the middle name of the father. Grant and I have also decided to continue this tradition which is great because his middle name is Thomas, which is also the name of his late father.







What are you doing right now: Working. I know that the picture shows someone who is being handed many things to do and I'm sure you can figure out that obviously that is not my current situation as I'm sitting here typing random facts about myself but sometimes that really is me.







My Age: I can't believe it, I'm 27 years old. It's funny actually because my birthday was just over a month ago and about 3 weeks ago I was lying in bed trying to remember how old I was. Seriously. Then when I counted back and realized, again, that I was 27 (!) years old I just about freaked out. You would have thought that I was learning about that for the first time. Needless to say, I try not to think about my age anymore.




My favorite treat: Ummmm.....do you not know me? If you don't know the answer to this then you must be a random blog reader (which would be awesome actually, I've always wanted random blog readers). mmmMMMMmmmm chocolate......... And it's not once a month that I want chocolate, in fact it's not even once a day that I want it, it's pretty much anytime that I'm awake. And sometimes that's not even true, I have been known to crave it in my sleep (those are the best dreams by the way). So ya, chocolate is my friend and I'll love it 'til the end.



Place I would like to travel: I've always wanted to stay in a glass bottom bungalo in Tahiti. I can only hope that on our 10th anniversary Grant and I will have enough money (or equity in our home, lol) to afford a vacation like this.





My Favorite Color: Growing up my favorite color was always purple but I think I got tired of it. Have I ever mentioned that I like change? Anyways, now I love the color red. I'm not obsessed with it though. I'm not one of those people that have to have everything in their favorite color, I like to mix it up a little. But of all the colors, red is my favorite......for now.




My home Town: Dead Bluff......I mean Red Bluff is the town I grew up in. If you're not familiar with Red Bluff let me paint you a picture of what you would see as you drive down Main Street; you'd probably pass a tractor, Home Depot, at least 4 trucks hauling hay or horses, 8 hicks, 54 rednecks, several cows, a few historic stores and 4 drunk drivers. Oh, and if you want clothes your options are WalMart or WalMart. No lie, that's Red Bluff to a T. Do you see why we call it Dead Bluff now?




My Favorite Animal: That's easy, my dog Coco. I know it seems weird for a black dog to be named Coco, you'd think he'd be brown with a name like that, but anyways, he came with that name. Coco was a gift from Grant for Christmas in 2006. We rescued him from the pound and he is the best dog that I've ever owned. And as you can see from the pictures he's also the cutest dog in the world. I put a few pictures of him because he's just too cute.


And now I will tag Jennifer because like me she just started a blog, but she's even newer. And besides Kaci, who was the one who taged me, she's the only friend I have in the blog world. Sad I know!

Friday, August 15, 2008

The decision to have back surgery.

I remember growing up I always complained to my mom about my back. She would usually say "oh, you must have slept wrong" or "it's because your backpack is so heavy". I always believed what she said because it always fit. And plus, what mother would suspect that their preteen daughter has back problems? The doctors now tell me that I was born with a deformed vertebrae in my spine. Of course this wasn't discovered until many years after my birth.

In 7th grade my school was doing the routine scoliosis test in the nurse's office. They had me bend at the hips and point my hands towards the floor. Nothing new, I've done it many times before. The lady seemed a little concerned but after "re-testing" me she said that it must just be that my right shoulder and back are stronger and therefore had more muscle in them, making them bigger (or making the slight hump on that side of my back). So off I went back to class.

I was tested ever year and still the same responses came from the people conducting the tests. That was until my sophomore year of school the lady told me about scoliosis and was concerned enough to refer me to a specialist. I remember thinking "That's it! That's what I have." Even before seeing the specialist I knew. It explained everything. But how did everyone else miss it for all these years?

I had x-rays taken and my mom and I sat in the doctors office while he pointed at my back and explained why it was not straight. He pointed out on the x-ray that there was a vertebrae that was deformed. He said that it has been deformed since birth (but only an x-ray can show something like that). So as I got older and I started growing this vertebrae was in the way. It was wedged in there, therefore not allowing my spine to grown straight. I mean of course I got taller since birth, but when I went through my growth spurts in my teens it was just too much for my spine so it started to curve to one side. I had reached my maximum height and would not go up anymore. The doctor showed me on my x-ray how he knew that I was pretty much done growing (apparently you can tell by the density of the bone on the hips). Luckily my maximum height was 5'1" and no shorter. He referred me to Shriner's Hospital in San Fransisco (that was the nearest one at the time).

I loved Shriner's but I always felt out of place there. For one, all of the kids there were very young, most of them babies. And for two, most of them had casts or physical deformities and I felt like I was taking advantage because I just walked in looking totally normal (well maybe not normal, but you couldn't really tell why I was there). I just didn't fell like I belonged there. But the doctors wanted to get x-rays and see me there every six months to they can track the progress. They told me that there's not really much they can do. It's too late for a brace because a brace doesn't actually help the back get straighter, it just keeps it from getting more curved. They needed to continually check it though because if the spine starts to rotate (sounds fun, huh?) then they will have to do surgery. So I was checked every six months until I turned 18. Since it was a children's hospital they only treat kids under 18 so I was referred to UC Davis in Sacramento. This was good news for me.

I remember the first time I saw my doctor at UC Davis, we'll call him Dr. B. I looked at my mom in horror and thought "This can NOT be my doctor. He's got to be 100 years old". I'm telling you if you could have seen my face. Or him for that matter. This old guy walked around the halls looking like he was lost. He could have been someone who escaped the psych ward. Really!
And the first time I took my Dad to one of my appointments we were sitting in the room waiting for the doctor and Dr. B walked by, looking lost as ever, and I turned to my dad and said "Did you see that man? That's my doctor" Oh my gosh, the look on his face. He actually didn't believe me at first. That whole appointment was funny.

Dr. B told me that the only way to "fix" my back would be surgery. And even surgery isn't a miracle fixer, I'd still have problems. He explained that sometimes the problems caused by surgery outweigh the problems I could potential have if I decide not to do the surgery. He said that at any point in my life my spine could start to rotate, which would mean they'd have to do the surgery. And even if that doesn't happen it's pretty much guaranteed that when I'm older I will start to hunch over and I'd more than likely have trouble breathing. He said that if I wanted the surgery than he could arrange it for me, but it was necessary that I have it. Major back surgery is a lot to think about, especially for a 20 year old.

Over the next couple of years my back started hurting more and more. I was having problems sleeping and sitting for long periods of time. I didn't like to go to the movies anymore because it was so uncomfortable to sit for that long. Surgery was always on my mind as an option but I was scared.

Finally I had had enough of the pain. I couldn't take it anymore. Even rods in my back would be better than the pain I constantly went through. I called in December 2003 and scheduled an appointment to met with the doctor to tell him that I want the surgery. My appointment was scheduled for January 15th.

Even though I had finally done it, I had made the decision, I still doubted myself. All of my friends and family supported me 100%. My mom went with me to my appointment to speak to the doctors about surgery.

I couldn't believe it when just 10 minutes after I arrived in their office they said that they can schedule the surgery for the beginning of February. Were they crazy?? That was just two weeks later and I had just decided to have the surgery a few weeks before that. No! That's too soon. My mom and I picked a date for early March instead. That was a little better.

So then I got to wait for a month and a half while every day I questioned if that was the right decision. I was scared, nervous, terrified and excited all at the same time.

That's the store before my surgery. Stayed tuned for Take 2!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Corn dogs, Gravitrons and Carnies oh my!

So over the weekend Grant and I, along with his mom, sister, her husband and niece went the the Nevada County Fair. Let me tell you their fair puts our local fairs to shame! There are beautiful redwood trees over most of the fairgrounds that provide great shade. And their food is freakin' fabulous! I ate too much (but it was worth it) and rode too many rides (again, totally worth it). I haven't ridden on a roller coaster since before my back surgery (which I'll save that story for another post).

In other news there's not really much else going on. I'm ready for a change in my life though. I've been working at the same job for over eight years and let me tell you, selling countertops is not that exciting. I feel like I have the same routine everyday and I'm getting tired of it. Hopefully Grant and I will move onto bigger and better things some day soon.

Sorry this blog is boring but that's kind of how I feel right now.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Why it helps to have a wedding planner.


My wedding was amazing. It truly was the best day of my life and it was everything I've ever dreamed it would be. My great friend Amelia helped with the planning and basically took over to make sure all the details got done. This is how my wedding day started:

8:00 am: Wake up in the hotel room I got for me and 4 other friends.


8:15 am:
Go down to the free continental breakfast with Haley, Mona, Tonya and Amy.


9:00 am:
Get back to the room and decided to go back to sleep in the comfy bed.


10:30 am: Haley, Tonya and I go downtown to do a little shopping.


11:30 am: Have lunch at a great little sandwich shop, Kona's, in downtown Chico.


12:15 pm:
Pick up the wedding dress and try it on again so Tonya and Haley can learn how to do the bustle.


1:00 pm:
Arrive at my parents house (where the wedding took place) and since Grant wasn't there yet I got to say hi to family and friends and make sure everything was going how I had planned. This part I enjoyed because I finally got to boss some people around. I know, I'm bad!


2:00 pm: Lock myself with my bridesmaids, hairdresser and mom into my parents upstairs room to get ready and to hide from Grant. At this point we were all getting our hair and make up done.



4:00 pm: Watch the girls take some shots (I rarely drink and I didn't want to be sick on my wedding day).


6:30 pm: Anxiously peek out of the window to see all of the guests arrive.


7:00 pm: Walk down the aisle with my Dad.


So as you can see I had such a relaxed day. I got plenty of rest and plenty to eat. My brideslaves, I mean bridesmaids were at my side all day. I could not have pulled of such an amazing wedding without the help of Amelia.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

I have a blog...


My friend Kaci inspired me to have a blog. She sent me an email today saying that she posted a blog about her BFF and low and behold there was a story about me. I truly feel special.

Well, I got to thinking that maybe I should have a blog too. I mean there really isn't anything exciting going on in my life right now but maybe someday there will be.
So for now I will leave it at that and I will make sure to keep everyone up to date about all the eventful things that go on in my life....ya right.