kapachino

Category: health

  • Pre-Surgery Checklist

    It’s the day before David’s surgery, and I thankfully don’t have to work. Yesterday he went to the hospital to get some bloodwork and other tests done, and brought home a huge packet of information regarding his procedure, hospital stay, and recovery. Thank God, because he never asks a single question at his appointments, and doesn’t let me go with him.

    So last night at 10 p.m. (only an hour after I got home from work; it was a long day) I sat down to read the packet in detail. It included advice on things to do before surgery, such as:

    • Be familiar with the guidelines and benefits covered by your insurance company – we have no idea
    • Make a list of your medications – done and already submitted
    • Make plans for transportation home & someone to stay with you at home for 7-10 days – that’s me!
    • Fix up your home so that it is safe & uncluttered – always
    • Obtain adaptive devices such as raised toilet seat, hand held showerhead, etc. – nope, hoping the hospital will fix us up
    • Stop blood-thinning medication seven days prior to surgery – oops, David took an ibuprofen yesterday. Oh well.

    In addition to those instructions, I have a checklist of my own. It is as follows:

    • Sleep in – sort of done. Dogs were having panic attacks all night long which resulted in me getting pawed at and whined at every thirty minutes. Curled into a ball, put in ear plugs, and diligently ignored them until 9:30 a.m.
    • Take a really, really good shower and shave
    • Encourage David to do the same
    • Do my nails
    • Clean the house from top to bottom
    • Do all laundry
    • Return overdue library books
    • Drop the dogs off at miscellaneous family’s houses
    • Grocery shopping
    • Make copies of house key
    • Get power of attorney paperwork signed and notarized
    • Figure out our financial situation
    • Pray, pray, pray

    The next few weeks are going to be quite an experience.

  • How I Learned That It’s OK To Walk

    I’ve played soccer since I was about 7 years old, and soccer is a sport that involves a lot of running – sometimes up to 10 miles a game. I didn’t really mind running during games or practice because there was a purpose to it.  For a long time I hated running for its own sake.

    I grew up training hard for my teams, practicing daily and playing in elite tournaments with three games a day in 100-degree weather. I was surrounded by trainers, coaches, teammates, and dads that pushed me to the limit. Sometimes I broke down, but overall I pushed myself right along with them.

    When I graduated college I continued to play on adult teams in the area, but these were much different. Most people had grown up playing soccer and had talent, but the point of the game had changed. It was more about fun now. For example, if it was a Saturday morning game, it wasn’t uncommon to have several team members show up with hangovers.

    These teams didn’t hold practices, so it was up to me to keep myself in shape. I decided to give running a try, and when I did my first 5k I found that I really enjoyed the race culture. This was something I could get into, I thought.

    Unfortunately, when I entered nursing school I had to drop out of playing soccer except in the summers. The games just didn’t work with my schedule. Along with it went my running efforts. Before I knew it, months had gone by without me running.

    Eventually some friends inspired me to pick it back up again, but for the first time in my life I realized what out of shape really means. I couldn’t run a 5k. I could barely run a mile. If I tried, I hated every minute of it, and gave up. That’s when I discovered the C25k program, which is a run/walk interval that slowly increases the amount of running until you can run a straight 5k. For some reason if I was sticking to a “training program” it was OK for me to walk. It was less embarrassing that way.

    The interval method works. Since I discovered it, I have allowed myself to fall out of shape many, many times – like I am now. I’m not happy about it, but I know how to fix it. I don’t always use the C25k program when starting out, but I have finally gotten to a place where I’m content to stop and walk if I need to.

    My current training method when I run is to listen to my body. I allow myself to walk if one of the following happens:

    • I feel like I’m going to vom
    • I get sharp or very achy cramps
    • I feel like I am going to fall asleep mid-stride
    • I don’t think my legs are going to hold me up much longer

    I would also walk if I felt like I was injured, but that hasn’t happened yet. I’ll walk until I sense my body has recovered, and then I’ll run again. Eventually I’m able to run farther and walk less.

    It works for me. I’ve been getting the urge to run lately, and since I’m in need of distraction from certain anxiety-inducing realities I’ve decided to throw myself back into it. I’ll be an expert 5k-er by the end of this year, just watch. Anyone with me?

  • Natural Health: Beginning the Process

    Lately I’ve become extremely interested in natural wellness. Usually people in the medical field have a reputation for being reliant on drugs and medication, and as a nurse I do believe that they have their place. In my field (cancer and blood disorders) I see patients where things have gone horribly wrong in their bodies, and medications can save or extend their lives but also take an overwhelming toll on them.

    Up until this year I have taken my health for granted. Growing up I would experience the occasional sickness or headache, but nothing too out of the ordinary. This year I have felt betrayed by my body several times over, and it’s jolted me into awareness. I still consider myself a healthy person overall, but I want to start taking care of myself naturally before things get worse.

    I’ve begun actively seeking non-drug treatments for any issues I have. Personally my main concerns are infertility, nutrition, and headaches, but underneath that is the desire for overall wellness. Some of the things I’m pursuing are acupuncture, massage, chiropractic care, fitness, and a nutritional overhaul. It’s going to be a process, and unfortunately it won’t be cheap. You’d think that since I work in a hospital I’d have great insurance, but that’s not the case. I have in-network benefits only and that network is basically limited to the hospital system.

    Of course I’m not completely shunning the medical community; it is my profession after all, and one I’m passionate about. But I’m not the kind of nurse that pushes medication on my patients; I encourage them to decide what is best for them and to consider other options. I personally still see a primary care doctor once a year for physicals, and I do plan to undergo fertility treatment. Maybe the natural treatments & changes I’m taking on would allow me to get (and stay) pregnant, but I’m a little bit impatient in that area.

    I’d like to share the journey with you, so from time to time I’ll be posting about each aspect of natural health & treatments that I’m experiencing.

    What are your health concerns? What kind of natural solutions have you found effective or ineffective? Is there anything I should try?

  • Anesthesia Makes Me Cry

    Today I had my first Valium, my first dental procedure, and my first surgery. It was probably the weirdest feeling I’ve experienced in my life. When I woke up afterward I didn’t have any pain or nausea, but I immediately started crying. I was overwhelmingly emotional, which was NOT in my patient education handout. I guess they’re not used to such hormonally-imbalanced women as me.

    Apparently they had to break my bottom two teeth up into pieces to remove them. How pleasant. So far – other than the first few hours when my mouth was stuffed with gauze that made me want to gag (but I guess that was better than when I removed it only to have my  mouth fill up with blood within minutes making me look like a character out of a horror movie) – the most annoying part of the whole ordeal has been the numbness of the entire bottom half of my face. I somehow managed to get down some chicken broth a few hours after I got home, but when a piece of vegetable made it into my mouth I completely lost track of it. It could still be in there somewhere as far as I know.

    Like a crazy woman, I am still planning on attending a conference at work for the next two days. Since I utterly refuse to wear the hideous ice pack in public, I am aware that this may result in some additional swelling and/or bruising. But seriously, it’s either that or this:

    Don’t worry, David is going to drop me off at the bus stop so I don’t have drive, and I’ll have free reign to take all the pain medicine I want to. Within prescribed parameters, of course. It’s silly, but I’m not even upset about having to attend the conference (which I kind of did to myself), but I’m heartbroken over the fact that I won’t be able to eat the free meals provided. Instead it’ll be Slim Fast, juice, and soup for me, which I have to say is highly unsatisfying. Now that I can only have liquids all I can think about is cheeseburgers, fried rice, and quesadillas. And is it just me, or are there WAY more commercials about food lately??

    Anyway. Let’s all pray that I have no crazy complications, that I don’t end up looking like a hamster, and that I make it through the next two days without completely embarrassing myself. Not too much to ask, right?

  • waiting & learning

    I never intended to write publicly about my quest to have a child. I thought it would be easy to get pregnant, but it wasn’t, and it isn’t. When I finally took the scary step to see a doctor, I thought the hard part was over; she’d give me some medication and life would be good. I did get pregnant–without the medication even!–but it ended in loss, putting me back at the beginning. No, before the beginning. I now find myself in an extremely long and complicated process, and I haven’t even started fertility treatment yet.

    Bear with me as I share a little bit about this whole thing.

    After I miscarried, part of me wanted to start trying again right away. It took me weeks to internalize the fact that I wasn’t pregnant anymore. But at the same time, I knew I had to let my body recover. I went through a lot that month, so I tried my best to rest and relax. During that time I went through more psychological states than I have ever experienced in my life. I went from seriously considering seeing a psychiatrist to complete elation and everything in between. For someone who stays relatively calm and even for 90% of my life, this was a difficult turn of events. Stupid hormones.

    Lately I’ve been feeling much more like myself in all areas of life. My moods have regulated, I started working out again (which means I feel strong), I am generally enjoying life, and I’m hoping & planning for the future. I still feel sorry for myself probably too often, certain things are still quite hard for me, and my heart does ache. The farther out I get from my miscarriage, however, the better perspective I have. I never would have been able to see the silver lining before, but now I am realizing how ignorant I was of my own body, health, and pregnancy. Instead of viewing this as something taken away from me, I’m trying to see it as a gift of time.

    Infertility issues don’t get solved overnight, I’ve come to see. I had to wait two months for a new cycle to begin just so I could have some blood tests done, only to find that as of now the lab has no record of them. In the meantime, my husband is dealing with his own health issues that are kind of putting any treatment on hold for awhile. I’m being forced into patience, so I might as well make the best of it.

    I look forward to eventually getting (and staying) pregnant again, but there are some things I would like to do first. For starters, I want to get truly healthy. To that end, I’m having my wisdom teeth removed (something I’ve been putting off for close to ten years), finding and getting a physical from a primary care doctor, and seeing a chiropractor/nutritionist. I’m starting up my exercise routine and working on a better diet.

    I also want to make our house a home. Our house looked great when we bought it, but it wasn’t our style. There is a lot of work to be done to make it into a place where we can walk through every room and sigh with happiness. We need to paint, buy furniture for, and decorate every room except the living room and kitchen.

    Although there are so many other aspects of my life that are a work in progress, those are the two that, in an ideal world, I want to happen before I have a child. Of course, if I got pregnant tomorrow I wouldn’t complain. :)