Thursday, May 22, 2008

My Condolences.

One of my alltime favorite Christian singers is Steven Curtis Chapman. His music has blessed me for what seems like a lifetime. I was first introduced to his music at a youth camp called Centrifuge and the song The Great Adventure. Yesterday Steven and his family lost someone precious to them. Steven and Mary Beth's adopted daughter Maria has gone to be with the Lord. My heart ached when I heard the news. Please lift this family up in prayer. You can find their story here.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

It's party time!!

This semester is officially over and I have managed to squeak out a 4.0 gpa! I am so excited. I have never had a 4.0 so this is a first for me. Okay I just thought I'd share that little bit of info. Enjoy your day. :D

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Pull up a seat. It's gonna be a long one.

It has been a long time since I last posted something. For this I apologize. So if you are ready for a nice long read that may or may not bore the snot outta you, continue on.

As most of you know last July I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's. At the time my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) was a little over 7. The range for normal is .3 to 3.0. My endocronologist told me our goal was to get it to 1.0 or slightly lower. Well as of this week we have completed that goal. I am now officially at .75. I am feeling better as far as this goes. I will be returning to this doc in 3 months to check and make sure I am still at or close to this number. I am so excited that I have reached this point. I am told it could take several months after you get to this point for your body to fully feel better and to notice some positive changes. I would think so! This poor body has taken almost a year to get here. Every couple months I would go in for a blood test, wait a day, get the results, and then be prescribed a higher dosage of Synthroid. So the fact I am at this goal is a relief for me.

I think I mentioned that back in February of this year I had been diagnosed with PCOS with Insulin Resistance. Well the first month on the medication (Metformin ER) I was so very nausous. Even the thought of food made my stomach churn. It has gotten better. I was told to follow an eating plan (South Beach phase 2) to help with the weight and that would help the meds do what they are supposed to do. Okay so I haven't been able to do that. I am currently experimenting with different foods to see what my body likes and dislikes. This can be an unpleasant thing. Some foods have you in the restroom within an hour or so. I try to do all my experimenting at home. Now I love salads. Absolutely love them. But I have found out that I can not eat the big ones like I used to. Too much roughage. I have also lost the ability to enjoy some of my faves like pizza, some pastas, and fast food. So it may be a while before I will be able to figure out all of the food stuff. I admit at first I tried it full force. All that did was discourage me and quite honestly made me mad. So this way I learn what my body likes. Every body is different.

In this journey with all of this I have also learned the importance of taking vitamins. When taking the Metformin, your body doesn't absorb enough b vitamins. This then makes me tired. So lately I have been feeling really tired. When it dawned on me the problem I started taking more vitamins. Not just b but all of them. This has started to make a difference. It is so important for all of us to make sure we get the right amount of vitamins and minerals every day.

School is finally over for the semester. Now I am just waiting for the instructors to grace me with the grades. I am confident I have made an A in all three classes. For the fall I have chosen chemistry and psychology. I hope they go as smoothly as these 3 have. I have found out that just because I used to stink at something doesn't mean I stink at it now. That being said, there is a reason why I didn't take chem in high school. I stunk at science type stuff. Ha! And here I am going to be a nurse. Yeah! That's a surprise to me too.

Okay now that you are almost asleep I will stop. I don't want to be responsible for any of you banging your heads cuz you're nodding off. I will do my best to post more often and hopefully not just about my medical woes.