day2-brain scans

today was the second day of my scans---

the appointment started at 10:00AM, but it was pushed back till 11:15AM- dad and i took a quick look at the jelly belly factory, but didnt have enough time to take the tour- just check the giftshops--- we got back to the clinic and started with the history part, previously we were given a 20 page questionnaire to fill out, so today we worked with that mostly- we spent about one hour with 'Bob' our historian- he just basically followed up with the forms, making sure everything we wrote down made sense, and perhaps rewording a few things---- at the end he asked me to remember three things, 1.a red ball 2. mona lisa 3. shitaqua(an Indian tribe) he asked me a few questions in between then had me say the 3 items to him, i remembered.. mostly because i pictured mona lisa with a red ball on her head, and then i remembered shitaqua because there was a little bear figurine there and i pictured him 'shiting'+ 'aqua'...hehehe so silly he asked me a few other things, like how many floors were in the buiding we were in(one), what his name was(i only knew cuz it said on the clipboard i signed), what 3 similarities were with a Bike and an Airplane-- i said 1. sitting 2. seeing/windows 3. they were long --- yes weird.. he also asked me to spell my name backwards- leahcar noslekcim- i forgot the K in the last name- but i did the rest-- leahcar with no problems- so that was that-

after the historian, we had the final brain scan, this was was a relaxation scan, so i was to just sit in the same small room and just relax, this IV didnt hurt as much, it was in my right arm this time...this time i was alone, and the door was mostly closed- i dont really remember what i thought about, but again about 7 min into, Mike came in and gave me the medicine, and back to relaxing i was--- then he took me into the scanning room..and same routein, on the bed with the pillow under my knees, the bedsheet supporting my arms, a pillowcase covering my eyes and holding me head still, and a blanket on top- this one was a little harder, because i had already been relaxing, so to keep relaxing was a bit tricky-- there was a point where i needed to cough, it felt like something was in my throat, but i wasnt supposed to move, so it was difficult-- i just had to swallow deep and not move-- i guess i did ok though-- anyway that was it, after that, dad and i left---



we went to carls jr again for lunch- i had the same thing- a chicken club sandwich- it was good--- today we took our sightseeing day=

we started off going across the Golden Gate Bridge- (we had to pay 5$ too!) we got into san-fran and went to the golden gate park- it was a lot of fun, smelt the roses in the rose garden- we went to a japanese tea garden(4$ each) very pretty and tranquil! then we went to an observatory and both pushed our height limit-- i was starting to get a bit woosey, but thankfully the observatory was closing in 5 min... i secretly think dad was ready to go too-- but he wouldnt admit it---

after the park we drove into the city-- San Fransisco--- very dirty, and old-- not somewhere i would want to live--- we drove down Lombard street(halfway down anyway) and then to Fishermans Warf-- we stoped at some coffee shop (California Adventure Coffee Shop) and i had a wonderful Chai Latte- (Oregon chai if you care) -- then took an hour walk around the warf-- it was quite fishy smelling, and too many tourists for my liking-- i have never been a fan of the tourists--

we even saw the "Bush Man", aunt margo said that if anyway knew san-fran, then they would know the bush man-- he would hide behind some branches and every once in a while he would just kinda peek out and say boo or aughh or something startling-- it was quite silly to see

but still, too many tourists for me- so we got out of there- we came right back to the Olson Casa- had some of uncle jeffs good cooking and thats about all today had- it was nice-

tomorrow we get to find out the final results- we have a 2 hour sessions to find out what type of a brain i have(no, i dont have a monkey brain...or a pig brain) hehe :)


so yep-- then on friday, its back to utah-- woooopieeeee!

day1-brain scans

today was the first day- i was very nervous- i really didnt know what to expect- i knew what they were going to be doing- but i didnt quite know how i should be feeling about the whole thing---

anyway being here in california with the Olsons really helped a lot, also dad is here with me-- so im very surrounded by people who love me and care for me- gran is even here(she will be coming back to utah with us)

ok, so i woke up today,had a banana- and dad and i started our drive to Fairfield CA. it was about an hour drive--- i tried with the small talk to keep from getting nervous... we showed up at the Amen clinic about 50 minutes early, so we decided to go inside and start the paperwork and drink a lot of H2o-- i forgot i was supposed to have a lot of liquid in my system-- so while i was there i had 2 cups of water and half a waterbottle- yes, i used their bathroom twice today--- anyway 'Mike' took us into the first room, and put a IV in my arm, it was just as he said a 'small poke' after it was in i started crying, i guess i felt vulnerable- or perhaps just 'on the spot' just somewhat uncomfortable mostly-- but then he moved the computer to me, dad got to stay in the room, mike turned the lights off and shut the door most of the way closed, i started the concentration test-- basically it was a black screen, but every so often random letters of the alphabet would show up, i was told to hit the space bar everytime i saw a letter except for the letter "X"-- not so much a hard test, but it did take 15 minutes--- so it got kinda boring, and a bit tricky--- i hit the 'X' quite a few times on accident-- hehe--- about 7 min into the test he came into the room and put some stuff into the IV, stuff to make my brain glow, so the scanners would be able to see everyting!

ok, so that test was done, nice and easy, he took the IV right out- and we headed into another room, this room was bigger, and had a lot of white machines- i got to lay on a table, it was thinner than my body, he braced my arms so they wouldnt move or flop around, i had a pillow for under my knees and then he braced my head so i wouldnt move so much- it was nice and easy-- i had to lay real still on the bed for 15 min so the scanner could take pictures, dad said i held real still, i think i did good too---- i guess while i was laying still mike let dad see some of the scans, and dad said he could see my eyeballs-- hehe-- he said they were round socket things-- and that was it of day 1--

Chicago[dad and i]

dad and i went to Chicago- we were there for a business seminar- basically a restaurant managing seminar-- a lot of good information- it was good to finally be in chicago, even if it was just for 4 days---

i love eating out, i love seeing the different menus, tasting the different foods, feeling the textures in my mouth, smelling the yummy scents-- i love food

we went to four great places to eat, our fist dinner in Chicago= uncle julios; Mexican food. it was good!! i had a chile relleno, chicken taco, and pork burrito... i was stuffed! excellent service, a lot of fun!

dinner the next night was an Italian restaurant, calming to be the oldest in Chicago-- a really nice set up, it was a hoping place! not only was it in the heart of the tallest buildings, it was defiantly a favorite of many! i had a lemon chicken- the sauce it was in was perfect, it had the lemon flavor, but the texture of the sauce had the consistency of an alfredo sauce-- really good---

for lunch the next day we found Panera Bread co. top on my list--- i had a veggie medditrainian sandwich. and of course desert! i had a pineapple upside down bunt cake- YUM, and also a shortbread cookie!!

dinner the last night was in a super cute/quaint town= Glenco, Ill. we ate at Frank and Betsies!!! it was very Italian, i had a chicken breast with portabello mushrooms, and swiss cheese. the sauce was incredible! also a side of steamed veggies, carrots squash and zuchini, and yes, i ate all my veggies! also a small helping of very light and fluffy rice- it was floating in my mouth- it was the best- dad and i ended the meal with chocolate truffles and i took a peice of their famous "no flour chocolate cake" home- what a meal! it was in the perfect area, wonderful weather--- it was great


the weather the whole time was perfect--- not too cold at all, but all the locals said Chicago was an unusual 15 degrees higher than normal--- so it was great--

dad and i had time to visit lake michigan, i even stuck a finger in the mossy lake-- it took some convincing- but dad said i needed to--- we also took a road trip up to Wisconsin! we basically took pictures of the "welcome to Wisconsin" signs and turned around! but it was fun---

anyway it was a lot of fun, we learned some interesting things in our seminar, so yep!!!

someday ill defiantly be living there! there is no stopping me!