kapachino

Category: health

  • A Hard-Earned $45

    I had a big day lined up today. After my morning class I planned to eat a hearty meal and then donate blood at noon, after which I was going to walk over to Baylor College of Medicine to have an MRI for cash. When I told David about this latest experiment he just said, “Oh Kat,” and smiled. He’s made his protests, and now he’s coming to terms with our differences.

    Anyway, I ate the hearty meal as planned – a huge ham and provolone sandwich on a croissant, a banana, and two chocolate chocolate-chip cookies. I then meandered over to the blood drive to begin the screening process. At this point I was nervous about the whole blood-giving experience because I have had issues in the past, and I was already feeling bad with a headache and cramps. Also, I have an important soccer game tonight which I still planned to play despite my cells being drained of their oxygen source. Because I’m tough like that.

    So I began the screening process. My vitals were good: pulse 60, blood pressure 102/70, temp 97.2. Yes. I got my finger stuck and my iron level was 39. On a roll! Now all the questions…no, I don’t have HIV, hepatitis, hemophilia, or anything of the like. No, I haven’t had sex with a man who has had sex with a man. No, I haven’t paid for sex. I got hung up on the travel questions. In 2006 I went to a small town in Mexico that isn’t in the database. We spent approximately ten minutes figuring out what state it’s in, enlisting the help of a supervisor for this process.

    I was getting worried at this point that I would be late for my MRI, but after about thirty minutes of screening I was told that I can’t give blood for a year because of the unlicensed bird flu vaccine that I received the other week. My gift of life was denied. Should I worry that I had an unlicensed bird flu vaccine last year as well and donated blood three times without reporting it? Nah.

    After this disappointment (although I was secretly relieved) I walked over to the neuroimaging lab. After a bit of waiting and paperwork I was loaded in to the MRI machine. First came a quick 10-second scan. No problem! Then I waited…and waited. This was a group study, and apparently the others were having issues with their scanner. I am still having cramps during all of this. After more than enough time had passed, I began a 4 1/2 minute scan so that they could get my basic structure…or something like that. This one was extremely loud and sounded like some kind of emergency alarm that gave me the serious urge to exit the building NOW. It also gave me the serious urge to vomit, because the magnetic field was so strong. I had to implement controlled breathing exercises to make it through that one. Afterwards, a voice asked me, “Are you comfortable? We want you to be as still as possible for the rest of the experiment.” Um, no. I am decidedly NOT comfortable, I am dreading the actual experimental scan (30-40 minutes! Torture!), and as soon as someone tells me not to move, that is ALL I want to do. But I replied “Sure,” with only a hint of sarcasm.

    More waiting, and then it was time to begin. I was going to be playing a computer game against another person while they scanned me. This was to try to discover something about the brain and how people work together. I would explain the game to you, but it’s probably not interesting to 99% of the people reading this. But I guess I did alright on it, because I earned an extra $15 for my performance. Add to that the $20 flat rate for being involved in the study and the $10 extra they gave me for being a “good sport” with all the waiting, and I have myself 45 big ones. You may not think it was wort it, but to me it totally was, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

  • Busy Bee

    Since I wrote last I:

    • Hosted a Pampered Chef party and scored over $200 of free products
    • Went to the doctor and got a physical, a blood test, a TB skin test, and a tetanus booster (I’ve pretty much conquered my fear of needles)
    • Visited 4 possible ceremony/reception venues and ruled out 3 of them
    • Tried on some wedding dresses and decided that I definitely need to tone up my arms
    • Finished the book The Friday Night Knitting Club – it was alright
    • Watched the Academy Awards on fast forward and stayed up too late doing so

    Now I need to get myself to bed ASAP…another 12-hour shift coming up!

  • Zzzzz

    I’ve had a problem for as long as I can remember with falling asleep when I shouldn’t. It happens basically anytime I’m not actively engaged in an activity. For example: in class, at work, while driving. It’s not that I stay up late or don’t get enough sleep. I get at least 6-7 hours of sleep a night, and I start getting very tired around 8:30 or 9 p.m. In fact, I am pretty much starting to shut down right now. This drives Boyfriend David crazy because he is a night person.

    Obviously the falling asleep while driving thing is dangerous, and I’ve gotten better at handling that by calling someone or pulling over when it starts to happen. Falling asleep in class isn’t the end of the world to me. It’s not good when it happens at work, though, and I really hope no one catches me.

    But today my clinical group of 8, plus my instructor, met for pre-conference. A man from APS came and showed us a video and then talked to us about the services they provide. We were in a small room with only ten people present, and I was sitting right next to the guy. I wasn’t bored – he was interesting – but the sleep came over me and although I fought it with all of my willpower I could not overcome it.

    I thought that I was concealing it, but after the presentation was over and the man left, my instructor pulled me aside. “Are you getting enough rest?” she asked me. In a very polite and concerned manner she proceeded to tell me that she has noticed me sleeping on multiple occasions and at different times of day. She said that it was embarrassing when I was sleeping during the presentation. She told me that I should talk to a doctor about this issue because people will perceive me to be rude or lazy when that’s not the case.

    I was so embarrassed. I seriously doubt that I have any kind of medical issue that makes me especially tired because I don’t have any other symptoms. David says I just do too much and that I need to take in more caffeine if I want to continue my current lifestyle.

    Do any of you struggle with something similar? I don’t understand why I’m tired all the time. It is extremely frustrating.

  • Thirteen Things

    1. My day in the ICU yesterday was kind of boring. Both of my patients had brain aneurysms. They were awake, alert, mobile, and for the most part independent. That means there wasn’t a whole lot for us to do for them.

    2. One of the patients was a woman from Baton Rouge, a really sweet lady, and I loved her Cajun accent. She hugged me when I said goodbye to her.

    3. The other was a nice man who would have talked to me all day long if I’d let him. Once he found out that I majored in Christian ministry for my first degree, he told me his whole life story. It was very interesting, but for the sake of time I will just say that he was the founder of this ministry.

    4. There was a job fair at my school today, where I talked to four different hospitals. I was then inspired and went ahead and applied for the graduate nursing program at all four places. The application for the one I really want, though, is a little more extensive than the others and thus I am not finished with it.

    5. Luckily I know a woman who worked at that hospital for most of her life who agreed to write me a letter of recommendation.

    6. I have decided that I am mostly interested in working in the areas of critical care and oncology.

    7. I am really proud of my indoor soccer team, because we had an awesome come-from-behind win tonight.

    8. However, I do not appreciate the fact that there were no female subs, meaning I had to play the whole game, and thus I am utterly exhausted. (It is a coed team and three girls are required to play at all times – six players on the field total.)

    9. Tomorrow I have a clinical for my community health class. I make home visits to senior citizens for the Meals on Wheels program. I don’t like it a whole lot, but it’s not too bad.

    10. My birthday is next week. I will be 26 years old. The celebration begins this Saturday and ends a week later.

    11. I am giving up sugar for Lent this year. Lent begins right in the middle of birthday week, so I am going to stuff myself with cookies, cake, ice cream, brownies, and every kind of chocolate I can get my hands on before then.

    12. I need to shower in a bad way. Sometimes showering is such a chore, like when I’m tired and just want to go to sleep. When I was younger I used to skip it if I didn’t feel like it, even if I had played a soccer game that night. I guess sleep has always been my priority.

    13. But I don’t do that anymore!

  • I Heart Weekends

    Whew. I am ex.haus.ted. It has been some week! It has been awhile since I looked forward to the weekend this much. I feel like I’ve been gone all week, driving all over the city from place to place, never home for more than 30 minutes at a time unless it’s to sleep. I have about two hours now before I have to leave again, and I am just loving it. Even though I surely have schoolwork that I need to do, I am instead going to begin working on the anniversary present I’m making for David, spend some quality time with Cleo, and maybe even get a tiny nap in. Ahh.

    I should mention that my friend and I reconciled, which took a lot of stress off me. Although I am still worried about her, at least there isn’t the tension between us that there was before, and since I see her a LOT that makes a huge difference in my life.

    Also, we were able to sell our entry for the Texas Independence Relay to another team. So even though we don’t get to run it, at least we will get our money back. I am disappointed that it didn’t work out like I wanted it to from the beginning, but we had so many team members drop out recently that I just wasn’t going to be able to put a full team together and manage it with only a month to go until the race. So this solution is really the best one given the circumstances. (Thanks, Katy, for pulling this off! I hope that we can do another race together in the future…something not quite so stressful!) I’m going to try to keep running, but for now at my leisure. It does make me feel good, and I hope to run some interesting races in the future, but maybe once I get out of school and have more time to train.

    Anyway, my point is that I’m in a lot better mood now than I was at the beginning of the week. Now it’s time to relax!