Week 2

Dear Sister Emily,

How are you doing the first week at the MTC?  How is your Mandarin (Putonghua) coming along?  I hope this past week was not too overwhelming. 

 It has been two years and eight months since my last missionary letter.  Here I am again!  I am not sure when you will be on the computer tomorrow to send/read email, so I decided to send it the night before, so I can make sure you will get my mail tomorrow.  I was in a big hurry to send you the Halloween package and did not attach any word with it, I hope you were not too disappointed.  

After we dropped you off at the MTC last Wednesday, dad drove me and Ebony home in this unusual warm afternoon.  There was not much of conversation going on on our way home because we were tired.  I felt like I had to learn how to talk and what to say again because dropping off a child at the MTC is a traumatice experience to most parents and I was trying to recover from that shock.  Attending an evening concert at the Alta High School the same day did not help because it reminded me when you were playing on stage. I was bawling almost the whole time until the last 3 numbers when Ebony was in it.  Life goes on and I take one day at a time and try not to think too much the past and the future but today.

I know you have a lot more exciting thing to tell us than what I have to tell you, so I would not take too much of your time.  Dad and Ebony are doing good, we are trying to get used to doing things without you which is an adjustment.  

Love,

Mom

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I have so much to tell you, it's kind of crazy. Don't worry I'll tell you all about it ok?

So yes it's true. I was exercising on Friday and fainted. I was on those in-place bikes and felt light headed and nauseated and so I stopped and got up and the next thing I know, I'm lying on the ground of the exercise room. My comp had caught me and then had laid me on the floor. The sisters said I was out for probably one or two minutes. They helped me up and I rested for about half an hour before I went back to my dorm. Fun fact: when I was walking back to my dorm, I felt that my pants were wet for some reason and I found out later that I had urinated while I was passed out on the ground back in the exercise room. I was wondering why there was a little wet puddle on the floor of the gym after I had gotten up to sit on a chair......yeah that was embarrassing. But afterward, my sister training leader came in and told me that she would tell our branch president and also wanted me to go see the doctor here at the MTC clinic to check my blood pressure and whatnot. And so I finally saw the doctor yesterday because I hadn't really had time any of the other days.

So here's the thing: It's true that I have passed out before when I was sick that one time and you caught me. But it's not the first time that I've had symptoms like this while exercising. Because what happens is that I get these symptoms before I pass out. The symptoms are: nausea, light-headedness, blurred vision, dry mouth, and disorientation. It's happened before once when I went running to train for our stake Trek, once when I ran a mile back in high school, and when I biked to the Yauney's house probably around high school. I always thought that it was because I was dehydrated and so I would just sit down, drink water, and rest for a little bit. And I think the reason why I've never actually passed out before is probably just from pure will power. And these symptoms would only happen when I hadn't exercised in a while and then all of a sudden I would start exercising again. So I also thought that it was just from over exertion and that I just need to build up my endurance little by little. But anyway, when I saw the doctor yesterday. They took my blood pressure it was about 96/72 so a little low, but my blood pressure has always been low. The doctor didn't mention anything about that. I told him what I've told you and he listened to my heart and then "prescribed" me a treadmill stress test in which they will make me run on a treadmill and monitor my body and my heart. And he also "prescribed" me a 24 hr heart monitor in which I got today and will wear it until tomorrow. The treadmill test is tomorrow around 1pm at the Revere Health Clinic in Provo. So I don't really know what's going on. I ran 1.5 miles yesterday and was fine.  I personally think it's just over exertion. But that's just the update. Sorry to make you worry. I'll definitely keep you updated though. I also had to get my blood drawn twice this week: one for my visa and then another for my fainting incident and they also took a urine sample from me too for my fainting incident.

Overall I think I'm ok. Emotionally I'm doing fine and I'm not struggling in adjusting to missionary life. I'm actually not struggling with anything at the moment so it's just this thing that I've got to figure out. I am happy and still loving the missionary life though! I can email until 6pm tonight so maybe I can check my email one more time to see if you have any questions for me. I love you and hope you're not too stressed!

Love your happy missionary daughter,

Sister Emily Liu