Wow - what a crazy week this has been!
First thing Monday morning, I went in for my second annual physical....good thing too!
At 6 a.m. - I forgot we would take a fasting CBC and popped a Hershey's kiss in my mouth. Oops. But I know my BG is usually on the low side of normal anyway....so I just told my doc when I got there. We opted to do the CBC anyway and if the BG came high - we would go ahead and retake it, but fasting this time. It was fine and came back at 82.
Anyways.....not so great was my b/p. We had been practicing this on others in our Skills Labs class and while mine was high, the cuffs aren't always calibrated correctly, etc. But I knew that my physical was coming up and I'd get it checked. It was high. Scary high: 162/115. Normal for me (even three months ago) had been 130-135 over 80-85. Yeah, not good. I had the MA take the b/p in the other arm (as you are supposed to do when hypertensive, but she's a new MA, formally Surg Tech, so she didn't know) and it was only marginally lower. Boo. We decided to go with a low dose of an ace inhibitor, just to get it down quickly so as not to cause any heart damage. When weight-loss occurs, this will go down naturally, so we also talked weightloss....maybe this is my "trigger" to get moving?!
Or not. Maybe my loss/gains have less to do with me and more to do with something else? Yep. It does. First though.....Wed, my doc calls back. Says that the BG is great (lower end of normal) and my cholesterol is fantastic - my LDL's are within normal ranges and, as a bonus (almost unheard of) I raised my HDL from an unhealthy low range up 8 points into a healthy range (see, our eating habits HAVE been changing!!). So fantastic. Except: I have hypothyroidism.
S/S of hypothyroidism include:
So.....all this has been going on, as well as school (did you know: a nursing student spends about 60-80 hours per week between classes, clinicals, studying, etc? yeah - don't talk to ME about being busy!!!), caring for the kids/hubby/house (meals, cleaning, etc) AND....the start of clinicals this week - WAHOO!! It was soooo cooooolllll yesterday to be able to introduce myself as Jessica, Student Nurse!!!
Even though we've had some rocky roads lately.....the sun is always there, waiting behind the clouds!
GOD IS GOOD - ALL THE TIME!!
(now....back to homework!)
First thing Monday morning, I went in for my second annual physical....good thing too!
At 6 a.m. - I forgot we would take a fasting CBC and popped a Hershey's kiss in my mouth. Oops. But I know my BG is usually on the low side of normal anyway....so I just told my doc when I got there. We opted to do the CBC anyway and if the BG came high - we would go ahead and retake it, but fasting this time. It was fine and came back at 82.
Anyways.....not so great was my b/p. We had been practicing this on others in our Skills Labs class and while mine was high, the cuffs aren't always calibrated correctly, etc. But I knew that my physical was coming up and I'd get it checked. It was high. Scary high: 162/115. Normal for me (even three months ago) had been 130-135 over 80-85. Yeah, not good. I had the MA take the b/p in the other arm (as you are supposed to do when hypertensive, but she's a new MA, formally Surg Tech, so she didn't know) and it was only marginally lower. Boo. We decided to go with a low dose of an ace inhibitor, just to get it down quickly so as not to cause any heart damage. When weight-loss occurs, this will go down naturally, so we also talked weightloss....maybe this is my "trigger" to get moving?!
Or not. Maybe my loss/gains have less to do with me and more to do with something else? Yep. It does. First though.....Wed, my doc calls back. Says that the BG is great (lower end of normal) and my cholesterol is fantastic - my LDL's are within normal ranges and, as a bonus (almost unheard of) I raised my HDL from an unhealthy low range up 8 points into a healthy range (see, our eating habits HAVE been changing!!). So fantastic. Except: I have hypothyroidism.
S/S of hypothyroidism include:
- Coarse and thinning hair.
- Dry skin. It's winter, who isn't dry?
- Brittle nails.
- Irritability (nursing school, 5 kids, husband, house, bills....hello?)
- Cold skin. again, winter
- Inability to tolerate cold. winter
- Feeling tired, sluggish, or weak. (Winter, nursing school, 5 kids, husband, house, bills)
- Memory problems, depression, or problems concentrating. (nursing school, 5 kids, husband, house, bills....hello?)
- Heavy or irregular menstrual periods (your "normal" can change!)
- An enlarged thyroid gland .
- Weight gain/inability to loose weight (A-HA!!)
- Swelling of the arms, hands, legs, and feet, and facial puffiness, particularly around the eyes.
- Hoarseness.
- Muscle aches and cramps.
So.....all this has been going on, as well as school (did you know: a nursing student spends about 60-80 hours per week between classes, clinicals, studying, etc? yeah - don't talk to ME about being busy!!!), caring for the kids/hubby/house (meals, cleaning, etc) AND....the start of clinicals this week - WAHOO!! It was soooo cooooolllll yesterday to be able to introduce myself as Jessica, Student Nurse!!!
Even though we've had some rocky roads lately.....the sun is always there, waiting behind the clouds!
GOD IS GOOD - ALL THE TIME!!
(now....back to homework!)
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