Every year at the start of the semester I say that I'm going to be better about blogging and updating. Well, once again, I've failed to post anything since September. Things tend to get a little crazy 4 weeks after the start of the semester and then I look back and think, "Where did the time go?"
As always, I'll give you a recap of how the semester went down....
This post has been a long time coming. Again, I spent countless hours on the road four days a week. It was becoming exhausting, and routine. I was getting burnt out. But the thing about this semester is that there was light at the end of it. I was going to be free from driving 200 miles a day, and be in my student teaching placement, hopefully somewhat close to home. The amount of stress that I endured this semester was more than I thought I would have to manage. Between practicums, night classes, working at the winery, the single mom thing, and then a relationship on top of it all, I'm not sure how I manged it.
At the end of September I had a RAGING UTI, as in the most pain I've ever been in with a UTI. However, the pain never went away. After 4 weeks of waiting for the pain to go away, I finally needed to figure out what was going on. I was run through the gauntlet of tests. MRI, two different ultrasounds, blood tests, physical therapy, and then a HIDA scan. At this point I was missing class because of how much pain I was in, and felt like I was letting my group down in every aspect of what group work should be. Finally, as I was on my way to the cities for a MN Shape conference I got some answers. Well, at least a surgical consult. Come to find out, my gallbladder was functioning at 0%...so it wasn't functioning at all. I made it through the weekend, with a plan for me to meet with a surgeon the following Thursday. After looking at my schedule this might have been the most inopportune time to have to have surgery. Right at the end of the semester and finals too. I didn't make it to my Thursday consult. By Monday, on the day I was scheduled to teach my aquatics lesson, I couldn't get out of bed. Thankfully, I was able to get in and see someone at the clinic for pain management, and reschedule my surgical consult for the same day.
After meeting with the surgeon, and finding out he only does surgery on Tuesdays, I was rushed into an appointment slot for a pre-op physical, so I could have my gallbladder removed the following day. It was a whirlwind of a day, but I'm so thankful for the doctors who were in my corner and were able to figure out what was going on the majority of the semester.
I'm not back to normal as of yet....but have I ever been really normal? :) I developed some post-op ulcers, which is normal because of the stress on the body during surgery. With my new diet and inability to eat a lot of food, at can at least get down to my goal weight by March when I get to go on a 10 day vacation with my other half. No, not K. Only 104 more days, but who is counting!
So that was an exciting semester...did I mention that I'll probably end the semester with a 3.8 GPA?!?
That's enough with the boring stuff......
What this post is really about is my amazing "crew." These are the people I spent the majority of my days with. The people that knew when I was having a bad day, but were there to be supportive and make me laugh, even when I wanted to cry. They were supportive through all the medical BS, and all my hours and miles of driving. There are my people. These are the people who I would ride or die with. These people, I call my friends, and my future health and PE people. Together we made it through this semester before student teaching. We had our ups and downs, but at the end of the day, and at the end of the semester, we were there for each other. I couldn't have made it without all of you, and you know who you are. Cheers to the next semester and graduation!
As always, I'll give you a recap of how the semester went down....
This post has been a long time coming. Again, I spent countless hours on the road four days a week. It was becoming exhausting, and routine. I was getting burnt out. But the thing about this semester is that there was light at the end of it. I was going to be free from driving 200 miles a day, and be in my student teaching placement, hopefully somewhat close to home. The amount of stress that I endured this semester was more than I thought I would have to manage. Between practicums, night classes, working at the winery, the single mom thing, and then a relationship on top of it all, I'm not sure how I manged it.
At the end of September I had a RAGING UTI, as in the most pain I've ever been in with a UTI. However, the pain never went away. After 4 weeks of waiting for the pain to go away, I finally needed to figure out what was going on. I was run through the gauntlet of tests. MRI, two different ultrasounds, blood tests, physical therapy, and then a HIDA scan. At this point I was missing class because of how much pain I was in, and felt like I was letting my group down in every aspect of what group work should be. Finally, as I was on my way to the cities for a MN Shape conference I got some answers. Well, at least a surgical consult. Come to find out, my gallbladder was functioning at 0%...so it wasn't functioning at all. I made it through the weekend, with a plan for me to meet with a surgeon the following Thursday. After looking at my schedule this might have been the most inopportune time to have to have surgery. Right at the end of the semester and finals too. I didn't make it to my Thursday consult. By Monday, on the day I was scheduled to teach my aquatics lesson, I couldn't get out of bed. Thankfully, I was able to get in and see someone at the clinic for pain management, and reschedule my surgical consult for the same day.
After meeting with the surgeon, and finding out he only does surgery on Tuesdays, I was rushed into an appointment slot for a pre-op physical, so I could have my gallbladder removed the following day. It was a whirlwind of a day, but I'm so thankful for the doctors who were in my corner and were able to figure out what was going on the majority of the semester.
I'm not back to normal as of yet....but have I ever been really normal? :) I developed some post-op ulcers, which is normal because of the stress on the body during surgery. With my new diet and inability to eat a lot of food, at can at least get down to my goal weight by March when I get to go on a 10 day vacation with my other half. No, not K. Only 104 more days, but who is counting!
So that was an exciting semester...did I mention that I'll probably end the semester with a 3.8 GPA?!?
That's enough with the boring stuff......
What this post is really about is my amazing "crew." These are the people I spent the majority of my days with. The people that knew when I was having a bad day, but were there to be supportive and make me laugh, even when I wanted to cry. They were supportive through all the medical BS, and all my hours and miles of driving. There are my people. These are the people who I would ride or die with. These people, I call my friends, and my future health and PE people. Together we made it through this semester before student teaching. We had our ups and downs, but at the end of the day, and at the end of the semester, we were there for each other. I couldn't have made it without all of you, and you know who you are. Cheers to the next semester and graduation!
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