Showing posts with label kidneys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kidneys. Show all posts

Friday, June 3, 2011

photo theme thursday: home

home


thursday challenge is a fun blog idea site where every thursday they post a theme and you have to either find a picture you already have or take a new picture that goes along with it and post it on your blog.  this week's theme was "home."  this picture was taken a couple of winters ago around christmas.  i love this picture because our house looks exactly like those you see in christmas movies or martha stewart catalogs.  i also love when snow covers the lights by the sidewalk so it looks like the snow is glowing.

there's a secondary reason for this post.  today i went to see my urologist and he declared me normal!  blood work, x-rays, everything looked fine.  i'll see him again when i'm home in december and then a couple times after that every six months and then hopefully i'll be down to once a year visits.  becoming healthy is sort of bittersweet, however.  as sad as it is, i know everyone in that office and they know me, just like the girls at st. mark's registration.  i feel like i'm on "cheers" but instead of everyone yelling "norm!" when i walk into the bar, they all yell "laura!" when i walk into the office.  (ok, so there's no actual yelling going on but you get the point.)  i may have to stop by every once in a while just for the heck of it.  oh, also, the blood work my general physician took on tuesday for my physical all came back normal.  this means i still do NOT have diabetes (for those who don't know, a doctor misdiagnosed me as pre-diabetic about 3 years ago and i didn't realize it until after taking four 500mg metformin XR tablets a day for 8 months).  mom gave me the seal of approval to go to georgia....though i was going to go anyway.  it's an odd feeling to listen to my body and hear nothing.  it's peaceful and quiet for once.  i just feel whole.  i hope it lasts.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

catching up & more

i believe i promised a blog entry and so here i am to deliver.
a lot has changed in the year since i last wrote.
  • i haven't had a kidney stone surgery in over a year
  • i graduated from the u with a b.s. in chemistry
  • i got accepted to UGA pharmacy school and leave in august
  • i'm planning on helping UGA start up a pharmD/phD program so i'll get 2 doctorates while there
  • i'm actually feeling pretty healthy lately :)
probably the biggest downer was when i had a colonoscopy a couple of weeks ago. they found and removed 2 polyps and took a sample of some inflamed tissue. the polyps were not cancerous but they are the type that most often turns into cancer so i now have to go back every 2 years. oh joy.



enough of that for now. ages ago, my friend sarah gave me the "irresistably sweet" award. in exchange for receiving the award, i'm supposed to list 5 guilty pleasures. oh boy. here we go.



1. shoes. you can ask my mom about this one as she's usually the one picking up all the shoes i leave lying around. recently i saw a nate birkus tv show where they said one of the signs of being a shopaholic is that you own more than one of the same thing - ex. the same shoe, just different colors. i argue that that is *not* shopaholicism, just good sense. if you find a shoe you like, buy it in a couple different colors so you can wear it more often! i'm trying to convince lisa that she really doesn't *need* the raise she'll get this year and therefore she should donate that extra money to a shoe fund for me. :)



2. books. i am never happy reading just one book at a time. right now i'm on 5 books with another 20 waiting on my bookshelf to be read and well over 100 more that i want to read at some point in my life. i blame my mom for starting my addiction to books. she used to make me read 30 minutes every day during summer breaks from school. at some point, i realized i could spend those 30 minutes reading things i actually *liked* and it all went downhill from there. i practically inhale books although i do try to read something serious that takes a while every now and then. to see the list of books i've read, am reading, or want to read, go check out my goodreads page.



3. disney channel/disney movies/anything cinderella. i know i'm supposed to be too old to enjoy any of that stuff but there is nothing better to me than watching the disney channel while doing homework to help you unwind or putting on a favorite disney movie to help you fall to sleep. i think i watched wall-e almost every night last summer and i regret none of it.

4. the big bang theory. not a thursday goes by that i'm not either watching this show or recording it to watch later...sometimes both. i think it's partly that this show has made me feel cool to be the nerd that i am. my favorite times are when they make some random science joke and not only do i laugh, i understand it and go "hey! we just talked about that in lecture this week!" i freaking love sheldon. and i love watching the new penny/bernadette/amyfarahfowler trio. especially when amy tries to fit into the normal "girly girl" role. and, yes, i own all of the seasons that have so far been released on dvd.



5. doctor who. yes, another geekish show but i dare anyone to watch an episode with david tennant and NOT love it. i'm still coming around to the new doctor but i think he'll do just fine. still, david tennant will literally have me laughing out loud every episode...which is why i usually watch it later at night in my basement room with the door shut. otherwise, my parents would probably think i'm even more insane than i usually am. okay, and i don't want to be interrupted while watching david tennant, either.

now i guess is the part where i'm supposed to nominate 3 other people for this award.

1. kelly at highly caffeinated and sometimes funny. though, really, i think she's always funny. plus she's adorable. i really don't think i've ever seen her angry. upset maybe but never actually angry. she's the other half of team #kelra.

2. kelsey at the adventures of an eclectic scientist. we went to the u together for a little while and also worked in the housing department for a year when i was a host and she was an ra. we didn't talk too often but i always admired her. she was one of those female science majors that i would look at and think "why can't we all be like that?" she's funny, smart, kind, and never seems afraid to stick up for her beliefs.

3. dan & amanda at team damanda. formally known as just dan and amanda, these two incredible individuals have become one seriously awesome couple. i was in access with amanda and i always love to be around her. she has the best ability for making me laugh. i remember sitting at the access lunch table in the union and she told two jokes: "what's green and goes through walls? a frog if you throw it hard enough." and "why did the monkey fall out of the tree? because it died." while the rest of the girls went "ohhh! that's so sad!" i was laughing my head off. i'm pretty sure i was laughing so hard i cried. dan is a pretty awesome guy, too. he did come to my 22nd birthday party, after all. and he and amanda gave me a ben franklin action figure. oh yes. i still have it. now if only we lived in the same state again.

i think that's good enough for you people for tonight. right now, i'm going to go eat my dinner then go off to the gym. oh yeah, i'm doing that again now that i actually feel well enough to do it :)

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

kidneys!

so i have basically had constant kidney stones since october 2009. i have had 3 surgeries since then and several more stones that i was able to pass on my own.
finally i went back to the doctor this past week and they've started me on medication! it's just a water pill (hydrochlorthiazide) and potassium citrate but i hope they work. the only downside is that the potassium makes me extremely sick to my stomach unless i take it right after i've eaten. i go back in 3 months to check and make sure everything looks normal. let's hope i don't have any more kidney stones in the meantime!

Friday, May 29, 2009

ohhhhh life.

fabulous fun day. I AM STILL ALIVE. i know some of you were concerned about that. yes, i'm still here, just been having some issues going on in my personal life.
today i was running around to doctors' appointments. my urologist spotted a calcification in my kidney from the x-rays i took a week or so ago. so yay for me! :p
also found out i have yet ANOTHER ear infection. i think that makes it 4 in the past 6 months. go my life.
anyway, short and sweet for now. i'll be back when i have exciting news that doesn't involve some form of illness.

Friday, May 1, 2009

kidney watch '09

hello peeps. long time no write. *FAIL* sorry. been an interesting past couple of months.
after the great kidney storm of '08 i've been on kidney watch this entire year. for a while, everything was peachy. up until a few weeks ago. i was out and down for the count with yet ANOTHER kidney stone. i think this may have been harold, gordon's younger brother, who was still stuck in the renal pelvis when gordon was shimmying his way on out. at least, i hope it was. i reallyyyyyyy don't want there to be any more chillaxin up there.
in other illness news, i've had the crappiest, most painful ear infection the last week and a half. stupid augmentin hasn't even touched it. even my ear drops worked all of 5 doses and then spazzed out on me. my life = awesome. luckily it's now finals time which means i'm almost done. hallelujah.
welp, i'll be back when something interesting is going on in my life. in the mean time, stay frosty.