Bad Blogger

Hi everyone!

It has been another long time between updates. Sorry about that. Here is what has been going on in my life the past few weeks.

1. As I mentioned before I FINALLY graduated from college! I was looking for a job and I finally got hired at one that I think I will really enjoy and will allow me to do my nursing prerequisites. I will be working t a residential school for children with autism. It will be a lot of challenging work but I think I am up for it. I also think that the rewards I get from the job will outweigh the stress. I start tomorrow!

2. I started my chemistry class. I'm not really a fan of the professor. The requirements for the class have been very unclear and she assigns homework which she says she will go over and then does not. I have made friends with a couple people in the class and we have basically been teaching ourselves.

3. I'm all moved in back home. It is a little weird moving back home since I have not lived here full time in five years. A lot has changed in my neighborhood and I am still trying to get used to it. Also, I am not used to living at home. My dad and I get along fine, but sometimes I wonder if I have any more options. I know nursing school is going to be really expensive, so I do think it is a good idea for me to be saving that money I would be spending on rent.

My health has been up and down as well. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that the congenital abnormalities in my legs are causing problems. I am looking into having surgery to correct them but it is scary. Recovery will be long and hard and I can't think of a good time to have it. However, I think it may need to be done now so that it is not even harder when I am older. I plan on seeing an orthopedist as soon as I can. The health insurance that I am getting through my new job does not require referrals, so hopefully I can get in as soon as possible.

Those are my updates for now. Hopefully you will get another soon :)

"Normal"

Something I struggle a lot with is not feeling like I fit the mold of a "typical college student". I get exhausted so easily that I don't normally go out. I am 21 years old and I never go to the bars or clubs around town and I hardly ever go to just regular parties. There are a few of reasons for this:

1. Besides having lupus, I don't like the feeling of being drunk at all. I don't get it. I only like to drink to the point where I am "friendly". Whether due to my medications or my body chemistry or whatever else, it does not take much to get me "friendly".

2. Then there is the lupus itself. Just the energy of dressing up and looking cute can make me sleepy and achy. I really am no fun when I get like this and my friends notice it right away and it brings them down too. I hate not being able to do these things, and share in these experiences, but I really am miserable by about two hours in.

3. The recuperation period for me takes a long time, and I simply don't have much time. Between my six classes and two jobs, I don't really have the time to spend trying to recover. It's much easier for me to do things that I know won't take a lot out of me.

The reason I am writing this post is because I am currently sitting at home, 100 miles away from school about to go to bed at 10:45, and the rest of my school is partying it up. It's basically our spring weekend and there are parties and dances all around campus. I was so exhausted and out of it I decided not to drive home and spend my money (oh, my precious money) to skip work today and take the bus home.

But after all this, I still have to ask the question "What is normal?" I have to accept that this is what it is for me. College students come in all varieties, so fitting some media induced or stereotypical mold is not realistic. Maybe one day I will actually come to accept this.

Opening Day!

I am a Boston sports fan. Especially baseball. The Celtics won against the Cavs today, and its opening day against the Yankees tonight. This is the start of summer for me. There is nothing like Fenway during baseball season.

Anyway, heading back to school today after a delicious Easter dinner with my family. I'm sad to be going back, but I know I have a lot of work to do. I am really glad I didn't go to work today as I am just starting to feel better and working my shift would have probably set me back another week.

Has anyone seen the documentary Sicko by Michael Moore? I watched it last night and finished it this morning. I recommend it. It has me thinking a lot. Maybe I will write a post about it later.

Hope everyone has a great start to their week!

Nothing Like It

There is nothing like going home. My dad picked me up at school and brought me to the doctor's on Friday. She gave me a Flector patch, which is doing well so far. Then we stopped at my aunt and uncle's for a bit and then continued home.

I am not working tomorrow because I am pretty sure I would not make it. I am so happy to be spending Easter with my family. I have been so miserable lately and I think the best medicine so far has been being home with my dad and the rest of my family.

I am also completely swamped with work. I have never had this much to do before! Maybe I will post my list, but right now it's too overwhelming. I worked on some today and noe I am about to get into bed with a movie.

Happy Easter/Passover/anything else you might celebrate!

Cellcept

Sorry for the lack of posts. It's Spring Break and I have not been near my computer very much. I started Cellcept today. I decided I wanted to try something that would be less likely to make my hair fall out as I was getting really annoyed with the Imuran. I'm tapering up to 2000 mg over several weeks. I don't know if that is normal as I just jumped right in with the Imuran.

I have been feeling so-so recently. My fingers are swelling intermittently and my other joints are aching. But I cannot complain too much. I'm really happy to be home.

Home and Back Again

I went home on Saturday and I just got back to school now. Being home was so wonderful. I hate having to leave.

I'm also really happy that we had today off, even though I spent a good chunk of it criss-crossing the state. My joints are not taking to that too kindly. In fact, they have been pretty painful for a little while now. They have ven managed to wake me up. Hopefully that gets better soon.

I also think I may be starting to bleed again. When will this end? It is so frustrating, I need it to go away. It really makes no sense.

I got in touch with my old pediatrician. She lives in Ghana running a child health clinic. She is coming back to MA in June and I really hope to meet up with her. She was wonderful, and a huge inspiration for me.

I'm REALLY not getting along with a co-worker of mine. Unfortunately, I have to see her tomorrow for the first time since we got into a little fight. And my boss won't be there to keep things calm. I am extremely easy to get along with, but I can't with her. I never yell at people. But I did at her. Hopefully things go alright tomorrow.

I hope everyone enjoys their week!

Belated Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone out there's Thanksgiving was as great as mine! I contributed mac and cheese, bread pudding mashed potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce. We also had turkey, ham, turnips, green beans, stuffing, rolls, sweet potato pie and almond cake. It was fantastic. It was great being home and seeing family.

I came in Tuesday morning and missed a bunch of classes. But that was OK because on Wednesday, when I would have been free to leave, there was a 45 mile back up on the highway I use to get home. I was able to drive home on Tuesday with no problem at all and made good time.

Yesterday I went out to eat with my dad and some family friends at Bugaboo Creek. We also saw the movie Precious which was AMAZING. Go see it, It was my first time at Bugaboo Creek. I was jolted awake at 3:30 this morning with horrible stomach cramps. I don't know if it is food poisoning because my stomach has been disagreeing with everything for a while now and it might be a progression on that, so I really need to get my stomach checked out. I have had a barium swallow, upper endoscopy and two colonoscopies because my intestines have bled before without any cause. No bleeding today, but I have been pretty miserable. I may mention Celiac's next time because my stomach really, really does not like me sometimes.

Now I have a lot of work to catch up on. I am supposed to go to a fashion show tonight, so I will see if I am up to that. I can't find my cell phone so I have not been able to get the details on it.

Back to school tomorrow, but it was great being home.

Pin Cushion

So I saw my doctor today for a follow up to headaches I have been having. He also had the results of the blood tests I had done a couple weeks ago at my rheumatologist's office. The good news was that my ANA was negative and the anti-DNA antibodies were "low". I forgot to ask about my sed rate and c-reactive proteins. The bad news was that some of my liver function tests were off, my urinalysis was not up to par and my calcium is high. So I have to go repeat those in the next few days. I'm getting tired of being a pin cushion.

I have explained before that I have something called Gilbert's syndrome which raises my bilirubin levels but causes no other real problems. This does not explain the results of my other liver function tests. That is what has me the most worried. I do not want anything happening to such an important organ. I have had high calcium before, but my parathyroid hormones are OK, so I do not know why that keeps happening. And I have also had weird urinalysis results before.

In better news, I think I did really well on my recent communications and neuroendocrinology exams. Spanish is up in the air. I am not good at oral exams and I realized some mistakes I made on the written exam. I think I did alright on the graded homework, though, and we have another one due Friday. Also, my world cinema and Shakespeare professors postponed the due dates of their papers until after Thanksgiving break and I am very thankful for that.

I have a history paper due on Monday and that is the only major thing I have due before I get to go home for Thanksgiving!

I registered for classes already for next semester. I am going to be taking 19 credits, so thats 6 3 credit courses and a one credit course. I will be taking Spanish 2, Psychological Problems in Contemporary Lit for my psychology major, The Ecology of Plagues to get rid of my last biological science requirement, New Media, Media Programming and Writing about Communications for my comm major and I am taking an Resident Assistant/Apartment Living Assistant class because I will be applying for both of those positions. I will also be having the same job with the same hours.

It will be a busy semester again, but I think I can handle it.

At Least I Was Home

Well, I am sick. I posted a few months ago about getting a combination of bronchitis, sinus infection, ear infection and strep throat all at once and I'm pretty sure that brewing again. I havent been feeling all the great for a while, but it finally hit me pretty hard on Friday. I took the bus home and about 15 minutes away from campus it broke down making me extremely late, cold and unhappy.

I considered staying home until this passes, but I decided to go back to school and go home if it gets worse. My primary care doctor is up here and if I get sicker at home my only option is the emergency room (because my insurance does not pay for urgent care...stupid). So I'm going to ride it out. I do not plan on going to class tomorrow unless I am better, so I think I will probably hang around and watch movies. But I am going to do my homework so I do not fall behind.

I dount this is the flu because my temperature is only slighty elevated. If, though, it shoots up then I will reevaluate my plan. So for now its cold medincine and tea. Hope I feel better soon. Its so inconvenient being sick.

Going Home!

I have decided to go home this weekend. I haven't been home in over 2 months! I am being inducted into an honor society on Sunday and I want to get my hair done before the ceremony. I chemically straighten my hair, so it is a bit special. The area where I go to school does not have any salons near it that can properly take care of it, so I have to go home. I am going to be taking the bus home because my dad and aunts are going to be driving up on Sunday, so there is no point in me driving when I can drive back up with them on Sunday!

In other news, I have had a sore throat since yesterday and my stomach is not cooperating with me. It will be nice to get off of campus for a while and get better at home. I have committed myself to a party Friday night, but Saturday my dad has a "date" and I will spend my time on the couch watching movies!

Now I can't wait until Friday ay 3:45 when I board the bus home!