Stem Cell Research Continues to Progress

This is yet another attempt to make stem cell research an option without destroying the potential life of an embryo. Isn't science great! Click the link on the title above to read the article.

Oh Baby!

Well, the news is out... we're going to have a baby! As far as we can tell, it's a very healthy baby and according to the ultrasound technician it's already a BIG baby. I'm currently about 14 weeks or 3 months and 2 weeks. I've just started the second trimester. The due dates we have been given are: September 9, September 3 and August 24. I'm hoping for the earlier ones, but I guess at this point the baby will come when the time is right anyway.

Because I'm diabetic this pregnancy is considered "high-risk" which means I get extra attention from all of the doctors and technicians. It's actually kind of nice. I've already had two ultrasounds, the second of which was much more fun than the first. The baby was already very active. We watched while he/she ate amniotic fluid, waved, hit itself in the face, and yawned. It was really fun to see! Plus, seeing the baby move around made it more alive for us. Now it's not just the thing that's making me tired but it's really a living human being!

This doesn't change any of our plans, Joe will still go to the best medical school that he gets into, regardless of it's location. However, the timing is a bit complicated, considering that I'm due at approximately the same time he should be starting medical school. The doctor promised me that they always take babies of diabetics at least two weeks early, but even then, likely the earliest they would take the baby is near the end of August sometime. I've decided that it's really not worth it to worry about the timing until we know for sure which medical school Joe will be going to.

As for me, I've been feeling just fine. The only really noticeable differences have been a heightened sense of smell, serious tiredness and uncontrollable blood sugar levels. Joe has thrown up more than I have during this pregnancy!!

Stem Cell Research

I am excited to report that my op-ed piece on stem cell research was printed recently in the Deseret News. Click on the headling "Stem Cell Research" to be directed to the page. In a nutshell, embryonic stem cell research holds the key to the potential cure for diabetes and a myriad of other diseases as well. The future of stem cell research is promising. Hopefully, it will bring about the cure for Parkinsons, cancer, and type I diabetes and well as help in the creation of organs for those waiting for transplants. And likely many other currently known and unknown benefits. I hope you will read the article and sympathize with my position. Stem cell research is an important step in the progress of medical treatments.

Medical School

Many of you are following Joe's applications to medical school. If you want up to date information, I will attempt to post it here regularly.

ACCEPTANCES:

INTERVIEWS (in order of receipt):
Tulane University School of Medicine, Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Drexel University College of Medicine, Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Dartmouth Medical School, Thursday, October 27, 2005
Medical College of Wisconsin, Friday, November 18, 2005
University of California at Los Angeles, Thursday, December 8, 2005
University of Utah, Monday, November 28, 2005
Temple University, Declined by Joe

WAIT LIST:
University of California at Los Angeles, rcvd. March 9, 2006
Dartmouth Medical School, rcvd. March 31, 2006

SECONDARY REQUESTS (in order of receipt):
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Northwestern University, Evanston/Chicago, Illinois
Columbia University, New York City, New York
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
Stanford, University, Palo Alto, California
Brown Universtiy, Providence, Rhode Island
Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado
Harvard University, Boston, Massachussets

STILL WAITING:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

REJECTIONS:
University of California at San Francisco, rcvd. November 15, 2005
Duke University, rcvd. November 28, 2005
University of California at San Diego, rcvd January 5, 2006
The Ohio State University, rcvd. January 25, 2006
Brown University, rcvd. February 1, 2006
University of Colorado, rcvd. February 5, 2006
Northwestern University, rcvd. February 13, 2006
University of Southern California, rcvd. February 15, 2006
Columbia University, rcvd. March 6, 2006
Harvard University, rcvd. March 10, 2006

'Tis the Season

Merry Christmas to everyone!! We hope your Christmas was as happy as ours. I'm happy to report that according to Joe we got all the "shiz" we wanted for Christmas. In addition to the "shiz" we had several exciting Christmas parties. We always enjoy our Spilker Family Christmas Eve party. This year Katie, Callie & I dressed up as punk rock queens and danced to a punk version of "O Come All Ye Faithful". We were a hit!

Just last week Joe and I went snowboarding with my brother, his girlfriend Jessica and my sisters. It was a really fun day. The snow was good, the back pain was increadible. So, I thought I was a pro-snowboarder for 30 seconds and have been paying for it ever since. It's been a good excuse to get lots of massages out of Joe!

Joe is finally done with school. He's spent a lot of time helping my dad put pergo in the apartment downstairs and paint. They're almost done now and the apartment looks fabulous!

It's been almost a month now since Joe has heard anything from any medical schools. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the anticipation is a killer. He did, however, have a fabulous interview at UCLA. The doctor who interviewed him said that he would put him in the "highly recruitable" category which means that he still has a chance. For a California resident that means your for sure going to get it, but for an out of state resident it's still up in the air. The earliest we expect to hear anything from UCLA is mid-February.

A very merry Christmas to you all! Thanks for your love and support.

Onward and Upward

October was an exciting and busy month for us. Joe went to three medical school interviews, I turned a whopping 24 years old and we spent a lot of time with friends and family.

I spent a lot of time working on a paper that I have submitted to Newsweek's My Turn column. Certainly they would trim it down if they were going to print it, which I don't anticipate they will, but it's important to me. (Newsweek receives 600 papers for every 4 that they print.) The paper is about stem cell research and how I think it will benefit me and society.

Joe, on the other hand, has just had a paper accepted for publication in Pediatrics which he describes as the BEST pediatric medical journal. This is very exciting news because a published scientist (aka Joe) is much more respected than a non-published scientist (aka Joe yesterday). Not to mention the whole world will now have the opportunity to learn about their ground breaking research on non-chemical treatments for head lice.

So far, Joe has interviewed at Tulane, Drexel and Dartmouth. Of the three schools he seems most excited about Dartmouth. Dartmouth is a top 15 medical school in a semi-rural area right next to some of the nations most exciting cities (aka: Boston, New York, etc.) One interesting fact about the medical school: it's founder was the surgeon who performed Joseph Smith's famous leg surgery. We're also excited about Joe's upcoming UCLA interview. The likeliood of getting accepted after an interviewis about 8-15% (depending on the school). At the same time though, Joe is an amazing person and everyone who meets him can usually tell right away - - so we try not to think about the dismal statistics.

Joe's brothers and sisters have had very exciting month's as well. Peter got baptised on Saturday, November 5 (the same day I got baptised many years ago). And Aliza recently got engaged to a young man named Tobi! We're glad all of these exciting things have taken place!

I've got a plethora of new books to read thanks to my recent birthday and the library's bi-annual book sale. I've recently read all 6 Harry Potter books and Amy Tan's new book called Saving Fish from Drowning. This was a very interesting book which followed 11 travelers who are "kidnapped" in Myanmar/Burma. If you like traditional Amy Tan this probably isn't the book for you, however if you're interested in human rights and/or politics you would probably like the book a lot.

Denver

The events of the past month were quite exciting. We went to Denver to see Wicked, which is an awesome show. The story, which follows the lives of the wicked witch from the west and glinda the good witch, develops the characters from the Wizard of Oz ten fold. The special effects were awesome and of course the music was the best of all. I've been listening to the soundtrack for about a year, so it was fun to see how different the show was from how I had imagined it ~ even with all of the information from the various songs. Anyway, if you have a chance, you should definately see Wicked. The picture at the left is all of my family at the Buell Theater in Denver, where Wicked played.

Just before going to Denver our house was broken into. What a mess! They didn't take anything - likely because we don't have anything good to take - but they definately went through a bunch of stuff. I had the police come and do a report and they took finger prints, foot prints, all kinds of pictures, if the person who did it ever gets caught they have no doubt that it was him becuase he left his tracable prints EVERYWHERE!! The same week, unfortunately, two of our neighbors houses got broken into, our neighbors car was broken into and another neighbors bike was stolen. And, besides the bike and the mess, nothing was missing from any of the homes/car.

Joe got his tonsils out on Monday. The recovery is supposed to be 10 days but today is only the 3rd day and he's already back in class. We've been told he went to the best ear, nose and throat doctor in the state, so maybe that's why. Either that or the constant popping of percocet. Yumm!

I also had my bi-annual endocrinologyst check up . My A1C was 4.8 which is very good. The American Diabetes Association recommends below 6.5 or 7 so 4.8 is looking pretty good. Now my doctor is concerned that I'm having a hard time realizing my "lows" which in the long term is not a big deal but short term, it could cause me to go into a comma or have minor troubles. I think I'm fine, besides unless I let up on my control of my highs, I will always be a little unaware of the lows. I'd rather risk having a few short term troubles than face the consequences brough on by having high blood sugar levels (you know: blindness, neuropathy, loss of limb, kidney failure, etc.).

Work is boring as usual. I have another article that will print in the Salt Lake Tribune in the next 2 weeks or so. You can look for it online, it will be in the Suagrhouse edition either this friday or next, I think.

Until next time... Pray for Joe to heal and do well at his medical school interviews (and to get more).