Thursday, March 6, 2008

Robert Tyson Bates



My story since graduation includes moving to Alabama and going to University of Northern Alabama. I moved back to Idaho after a semester and went to work for Pepsi. I worked at Pepsi in Idaho Falls from September 1999 until December 2007. Throughout the years since, I got married July 2001 to a red haired, Firth girl, Sarah Reeves. May of 2004, I received my CNA and started the next fall semester (2004) at EITC in the Nursing program. I fell ill after two weeks of college and was put in the hospital for two weeks. I was a vacationer in a place I like to call "Hotel EIRMC" where the food was bad, the service sucked, and all the amenities cost an arm and a leg, if you are lucky. This was a very bad vacation for me, the vacation from Hell. I now have an autoimmune disease called Wegener's Granulomatosis, for which I take anticancer/low-dose chemotherapy drugs for and a steroid, no I am still skinny. Needless to say, I have a ton of doctor bills due to labs, doctor visits, and medications, but I have good insurance, so no worries. It is a very rare disease with no cure, no cause, and isn't contagious. Don't ask me how I got it because the doctors don't know and they couldn't tell me what I had for a long time after I contracted the disease. So, I took a year to recuperate and started at ISU in the fall of 2005, where I am currently in the Registered Nursing program. I have no kids due to medical conditions, but my wife does have cats (too many) to love and torture instead of kids. We will most likely adopt in the coming future after I graduate from ISU. It has taken me a while to get around to my goals due to unforeseen problems but I have a house in Firth with two acres. My wife and I have lived here for almost six years. Sarah works at Treasure Dental Lab in IF. I also still run around with Randy Campbell and Jesse Gardner, surprise, surprise. It is great to have great friends. Well, this is my story and I am sticking to it. Thanks.

2 comments:

KAMBRIA and MATT said...

It was great reading your update. Sorry to hear about your autoimmune disease. I hope all is going well with that. It is great you are in a nursing program. Matt will start his RN program soon. I wonder if we are related to your wife. I'll have to investigate.

Mindy said...

small world- i was a cna for 4 years and i have two auto immune diseases- not as serious as yours though- hashimotos and seronegative spondyloarthropathy. so i basically am 27 going on 90. the body is a weird thing, but i love that you're studying it and that you're planning to adopt! I think thats awesome! and i wonder if i know your wife- her name sounds familiar... did she know holly prescot, sadie crofts, or maybe jennifer miller from Firth? i knew them all in 7th grade before i moved ot rigby... small world.
take care!