March

 I'm alive!

Potentially barely but I am here still kicking.

Remember me mentioning my iron was low and I just didn't care. Well, let's just say that blew up in a big way.

Let us see if I can get this all down. I tend to get sidetracked and not complete what I planned on writing. 

Last term I had planned on taking 6 classes this term. You may remember last term kicked my booty so I was planning on only doing 4 this term. Before I had made that decision I had already signed up for 5 classes and my advisor would need to add me to the 6th. Since I decided not to do that I told my counselor never mind. I intended to go to each of the three different night classes (M-W) and decide which one to drop. The term started on a Wed and I went to that class. I looked at the drop date and it was the following Tue which was great! That way I could meet all my teachers. I was eyeballing the Tuesday night class to drop because it had a group project and a 6-page paper AND the professor had said in the syllabus to bring a thick notebook as she will be giving us a lot of notes for our Capstone classes. So I went to Wed. and then the following week Monday. Tuesday 10 minutes before class started I was like yeah I'm dropping this one anyway and went in to drop it. Umm, I couldn't drop it? I looked at the college calendar again. I had looked at the Spring C term drop date, not Spring A. So I could not drop the class. This teacher is scary- I had her online for my 5-page paper in Fall B so I pulled on clothing and ran out the door. I was like 30 minutes late to class and she wasn't even in there. I passed her in the hall on her cell phone. She had stepped out to take a call. I apologized and told her I had emailed her (Which I did at a stop light lol telling her what happened) She was not what I expected and she was super nice. This teacher is KNOWN for hurting feelings and being an APA terror. She is super nice I now know, just super blunt. I made it through two group projects and a 5-page and 6-page APA paper.  

I made it through all 3 sets of night classes with a 4.0 average! Which included a 2-night hospital stay for me. Thankfully, I had sweet-talked both professors into extensions for the big papers for the whole class in two different classes before the hospitalization so that is what saved my ass. The professors would have let me turn stuff in late because I kept them in the loop but I didn't have to. 

to be continued need to go get dinner in the oven

My daughter's birthday is Feb 19th and when I was looking at presents for her and entertaining the thought of a theme park I realized there is no way in hell I could go to one with my iron the way it was. I wouldn't get winded, but if I walked at a normal speed my heartbeat would be in my ear/neck. My heartbeat would go wonky for a few seconds at a time and my Apple watch kept telling me about my high heart rate even when I was resting. I was eating ice like it was a second job as well.  I finally gave in and called the Oncologist's office. I had an appt on Feb 12th that was a blood draw and a meeting with the Dr. I had my last iron infusion in Dec 2023 and went for follow-up draws in Jan and March of 2024 but I cancelled the May and hadn't been back. I have been feeling the low iron creeping in since at least August but was angry that the Dr. just throws bandaids at me with the iron infusion and isn't trying to find out what is wrong. By October I was really feeling it but just plugging along as usual. Ok back to the Dr. appt- My blood work was taking an unusually long time for the part they run in office. He went to look at it and came back wagging his finger at me. They had tested it multiple times because of what it was at. Normal hemoglobin for women is supposed to be 12. When I went to the hospital a few years ago with chest pain it was a 7 and when I started with the oncologist. It was a 5.6 and I had just started my cycle that day and day two is my worst day. He said if I was young or old he would have me get an iron treatment that day but since I am not he would do it tomorrow. Ok great! However, when I went to check out they told me it would be a week or two because they needed to get it approved through insurance. I was worried, worried since I knew the next day I would be gushing blood. I went the work the next day 2/13 and everyone wanted to know how I was and was shocked the Dr didn't send me to the hospital with those numbers. I was concerned with my period and how much more I would lose. I left a message for the office wanting to know if the Dr was told I couldn't get anything today because as far as I knew he told me tomorrow and I figured he would think I was getting it. In the voicemail, I said I did want to wake up tomorrow. The infusion room called because they got my paperwork and wanted to know how I was feeling. I told them- that this was normal but that I was on 2nd day of period which is the worst day and I was concerned. They asked me to take my heart rate so I just went to the nurse and she had a click on and it was 137 which I told them. They hung up to go speak to the Dr.  They called back and said go to the hospital now and tell them I needed blood. 

At the hospital, my iron was at a 5.2. I ended up with two bags of blood, an iron treatment, and an IV dose of a drug that is meant to stop bleeding to slow period. They also ordered an ultrasound and there we hit pay dirt! Of course, the ultrasound techs said nothing but they took pictures which was telling. By the time I got back to my room, I could see the results. They kept me overnight so someone could talk to me about them. Imagine my surprise that I was released with instructions to see a gynecologist. No one bothered to tell me about the test results. I felt like they kept me overnight for no reason to pad my bill. 

I am actually elated at the test results. Why? Because they found something! I feel like this is the reason for all that is wrong in my life.  Ok fine, the reason for the super heavy periods which are making my iron drop each month. I have a fibroid the size of a BASEBALL  7.5 cm to be exact. I went home that Saturday showered and took a nap. Then I got to work on those papers that were due that weekend. I got an A on both thankyouverymuch!

That is my update. I realize how shitty I felt the last month plus. You know how they ask you if you have lost interest in things you once enjoyed. I totally had for a while. I even mentioned it in my last post kinda. I had a blood draw on Wed and I am at 8.7 and I feel better even though it is still low. I had the follow up with a midwife on Thursday. She was trying to recommend gentle things like birth control or IUD or partial removal. I'm all like nope take it all out! So I am meeting the surgeon at the end of the month and my plan is to get this done in July. That way I can still take my summer classes and do my internship and then have the entire month of July to heal. I expect it will have to be a full slice since I have had 3 C-sections and probably have lots of scar tissue. 

The positive thing about my screwing up and not dropping that 3rd class is that now my graduation date should be by the end of Fall A.  I want to say it is 10/9  Had I dropped that class it would have been December 2025.

There is my update. I need to try and catch up with ya'll. New term doesn't start till March 10th so I have another week of nothing on my plate which is nice.