Yesterday, marked the beginning of a new semester of school.  This semester is going to be interesting, to say the least, because my days are so packed with classes, working, boot camp, and homework.

My first class starts at 7:00 am.  On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, my last class finishes at 9:50 am.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I only have the one class so I’ll be done at 7:50 am.  Right after class, I go straight to work and stay there until 6:00 pm.  Then, it’s straight to boot camp.  Corey and I will finally get home around 8:00 pm each night.  At that point, we’ll do homework and then go to bed.

I had all three of my classes yesterday, which made it nice because I got to see what they’d be like.  I’m taking Spanish, an intro to literature class, and a religion class.  I’m really nervous about my Spanish class.  I have retained most of the knowledge I learned as a child, but I’m extremely rusty when it comes to speaking.  I don’t like making mistakes and because of that, I get super nervous and can’t get out what I want to say.  Hopefully, that will ease with time.

This morning, I dropped my religion class.  I decided that since I don’t need to take any more religion credits, I didn’t want another class possibly counting against my GPA.  I also really don’t want to write any more papers regarding religion.  If this class were like Institute, I’d keep it.  But, since it’s like a full-blown class, there’s no point in making my life more stressful than it already is.  Plus, it gives me an hour between my Spanish and literature class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to do my Spanish homework.

I’m really looking forward to my classes this semester, even though it will be a challenge with my lack of free time.  I’m excited to brush up on my Spanish and, hopefully, I won’t let it slip again.  I also look forward to learning more about literature now that I’m actually interested in it.  Hopefully, it will help me throughout the rest of school.

I’ve had three doctors’ appointments this week–one on Monday and two on Tuesday.  The first appointment was to have my bones scanned.  My gastroenterologist was worried about the density of my bones since I have a vitamin D deficiency.  According to the scan, my bones are still healthy so I don’t have to worry about osteoporosis for the time being.

The first appointment on Tuesday was with my general doctor.  I wanted him to take a look at my knee.  He said I have bursitis, which is an inflammation of the bursa underneath my knee.  For the next couple of weeks, I’m not supposed to jump, run, or climb stairs (or as little as possible since I live in a two-story townhome), and I need to be careful when doing lunges or squats.  Luckily, my boot camp instructors are working with me and still giving me a good workout.

My general doctor also decided to test my vitamin D, vitamin B12, and iron levels again since I’ve now been on supplements for a few months.  Yesterday, I got a call from the nurse.  My vitamin D and vitamin B12 levels are in the low normal range so I just need to keep taking my supplements and, hopefully, they’ll continue to increase.  My iron level, on the other hand, is still too low, which means I get to have iron infusions by IV once a week for the next four weeks.

The second appointment on Tuesday was with a sleep doctor.  I don’t sleep well at night.  It takes me forever to fall asleep and then I wake up umpteen million times during the night.  When I wake up, I don’t feel rested at all and I constantly feel like I’m going to fall asleep at work, which I’ve actually done.  He’s having me start a medication to see if it will help me sleep.  It’s not habit forming, which is good.  He’s also testing my oxygen levels to make sure I don’t have sleep apnia, or I should say a worse case than I already had because in 2005, I was borderline.

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I’ve been doing boot camp for five weeks now.  This is my sixth week.  So far, I’ve lost 12.8 pounds and three or four inches off of my waist.  I’ve also lost inches off of my thighs, hips, and neck, but I’m not sure how much.  They don’t track chest measurements for women.  I want to start tracking that measurement (at home) because I really want to know if I’m losing inches there.  It would be a glorious day if I am.

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I feel like Tuesday was a waste of a day off of work.  I took it off so I could read Mockingjay all day.  Guess what didn’t happen? I didn’t get to Mockingjay at all. I knew I was pushing it because I was only halfway through my reread of Catching Fire at midnight on Tuesday morning.  But, I figured I could get through the rest of the book mid-morning.  I was wrong.  With all the doctors’ appointments, boot camp, and car troubles on Tuesday, I didn’t finish my reread of Catching Fire until 9:00 pm.  I was so frustrated!  But, I’m glad I took the time to reread The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.  I always forget how much I love a story until I’m rereading it.

At this point, Mockingjay is going on hold for a couple of days because I have the chance to read an ARC of Matched by Ally Condie.  My blog friend Natasha lent it to me at the book charity event last Saturday.  We’re going to a book blogger social this Saturday, which makes returning it to her easier since neither of us know where the other lives. I figure I’ll always have Mockingjay now that it’s mine, but if I don’t get Matched read by Saturday, I’ll have to wait until November 30 to read it.  Whatever you do, please don’t spoil Mockingjay for me, and I promise when I review Matched, I won’t spoil it for you!

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Yesterday, Corey started school for the first time in over 10 years.  He was really nervous, but I think he enjoyed his classes.  Of course, he’ll know for sure how he feels once he’s gone a few times.

I start school on Monday.  I’m excited, but I feel like it’s almost on me and I need more time to get ready!

The most frustrating thing for me when trying to lose weight is when I don’t lose weight and I gain it instead.  I’ve been eating completely healthy this last week and I worked my butt off in boot camp, yet, I still gained two pounds. I’m just trying to remember that it’s probably because of muscle gain, even still it’s disconcerting. I guess we’ll see if I lost any inches this week after our session today.  I really hope so because I have a hard time sticking with things when I don’t see results.

Updated: I did lose an inch off my waist and a half an inch off my neck.  I do feel a little better now.

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I’m getting all my paperwork done for my financial aid for this school year.  I’m a little behind because Corey and I had to file our taxes late due to everything that happened last year.  I always forget how much paperwork it takes to get financial aid to go through.  It’s so daunting!  Luckily, my FAFSA application says I should not only qualify for subsidized loans this year, but I should also qualify for a full pell grant!

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I’m getting really nervous about my Spanish class this semester.  Sure, I’ve known Spanish since I was six years old, but I don’t speak or listen to it every day.  I also haven’t really practiced in many years.  I try to speak it whenever I’m hanging out with my nephew-in-law Dave, but I just feel so rusty.  The last class I took was almost 10 years ago.  What if I’ve forgotten everything I need to pass this class?  Fortunately, I remember most of the grammar rules, but my vocabulary is not nearly as rich as it used to be.  I know it’ll come back to me, but I’m still nervous.

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Since I finished rereading Shiver and reading Linger, I’m back to reading Fellowship of the Ring again.  I hope I can finish it this week.  Otherwise, it’s going on the back burner again so I can reread The Hunger Games and Catching Fire to get ready for Mockingjay‘s release on the 24th!

I’ve been doing this boot camp thing now for a little over two weeks.  I got weighed and measured today, but I wasn’t found wanting.  (What movie is that in reference to?)  I didn’t lose any inches off my waist this week, but I did lose another 5 pounds.  So far, I’ve lost 11 pounds total since starting boot camp!

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School starts in less than four weeks.  I’m getting excited and nervous.  I hope I can figure out a way to work working out into my hectic schedule.  I know I won’t be able to keep up with the five-times-a-week boot camp, but I’m going to try to go at least two or three times a week.  I don’t want to stop now that I’m in the habit of being more active.  Even though I feel like dying each day, I actually feel good.  Go figure.

This semester, I’m taking three classes again.  I’m taking Spanish to finally get my language credit out of the way.  (I love learning foreign languages, but I’ve been taking so many languages here and there that I’ve never completed the credit in one language.)  I’m also taking an intro to literature class since I never paid attention to literature in school.  I thought it might help me become better versed in the literature I need to know to do well in my major. Finally, I’m taking another religion class.  I don’t need to take anymore, but I wanted to take a class in between my Spanish and literature class so I signed up for one since there’s always space available.

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Thanks for all the feedback regarding whether I should split my book reviews on to a separate blog.  For now, I’ve decided to keep my blog in one piece.  I think with school starting in a month, I should keep things as simple as possible.  I might revisit the idea again in the future.

My niece Cami got married on Friday.  (I’ll highlight her wedding in a separate post.)  All my siblings came.  It was the first time since my wedding twelve years ago that we had all been together.  When we could steal Cindy (Cami’s mom) away from the festivities for a few minutes, we took a family picture.

My siblings and I are in order of age from right to left: Shari, Cindy, Becky, Jared, LeAnn, Caryn, and me.  I’m the youngest by eight and a half years, and I’m 23 years younger than my oldest sister Shari.

I love seeing my family, but it’s always stressful to me to have everyone around.  My family is extremely emotional so it has made for some interesting get togethers over the years.  Normally, someone goes away unhappy and angry.  Luckily, for my niece, nothing like that happened this time around.

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Yesterday, I found out I got an A in my latest English class.  I’m so excited! When I added up my points for the class, I thought I had missed an A by one point.  Luckily, my teacher rounded my percentage up and gave me an A instead of an A-.

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I went to my gastroenterologist last Wednesday.  He’s very confident that I don’t have Celiac.  He even said that my blood test, which my regular doctor thought was positive, was actually negative.

After I described all my symptoms to him, he told me he thought I had one of two things: Crohn’s Disease or SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth).  He thinks SIBO is the more likely option.  I get to have a colonoscopy to confirm (and to rule out other GI diseases, like colitis).

I couldn’t find a lot of about SIBO on the Internet, but from what I’ve gathered, I would rather have Celiac.  The reason for my thinking is that SIBO is hard to treat.  Normally, patients are put on a round of heavy antibiotics to kill the extra bacteria.  But, whatever caused the patient to collect this extra bacteria has to be treated too and most doctors don’t know why it happens.  More than likely, the bacteria will come back.  If that happens, the patient has to be put on antibiotics long term–usually one week on and three weeks off.  And, because of bacterial resistance, the patient has to switch between antibiotics constantly and possibly take probiotics with the antibiotics.  Sometimes, patients have to alter their diet anyway and the most effective diet is a high-fat low-carb one. I’m not a bit meat eater and that’s where I’m going to get the good fats with the low carbs.  Also, with this diet, I’m not supposed to have excessive sweets, which is a good thing; I just don’t know if I’ll be able to eat any as some patients can’t.

I guess we’ll see what the colonoscopy tells the doctor.  Hopefully, it’s something conclusive so I can start feeling better.  He has already given me a round of antibiotics, so we’ll see if that helps too.

I decided to drop my Summer term class after all.  It had nothing to do with the teacher and it had nothing to do with being assigned to read books before the class even started.  (Actually, I’m going to keep reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy since they’re already on my radar.)  I simply decided that I need a break from something.  I’d prefer to take a break from work (not my new job, just work in general), but since I can’t, school is next best thing.

I have too much going on all at once to have to worry about an accelerated class too.  Changing jobs has taken a toll on me.  I really like my new position, but it has taken some getting used to, especially as far as the schedule is concerned.  I can dictate my own schedule, but I have existing appointments I have to work around so I’ve had to work 11-hour days a couple of times since I started.

Trying to figure out my health is taking a toll on me too.  I’ve noticed that I’ve been feeling a lot worse lately, which is in line with IBS.  (The more stress you’re under the worse IBS becomes.)  The more and more I’ve started to pay attention to the things I eat, I seem to feel icky after I eat anything with gluten or anything with dairy.  I haven’t been able to pin it down to one or the other yet.  (Corey thinks it could also be sugar.)  I’m slowly going gluten free, but I don’t want to go completely gluten free until I’ve talked to my gastroenterologist tomorrow.

My regular doctor told me I should know after two weeks of being completely gluten free if I feel better, maybe not completely better, but remarkably better.  I’ve decided to go gluten free for two weeks (starting this Sunday) and still eat dairy.  If I don’t feel much better, I’ll also cut out the dairy for a couple of weeks.  Then, I’ll introduce gluten back into my diet to see if one or the other (or both) are the culprits to feeling bad after I eat.  If neither going off of gluten nor dairy helps, then I’ll cut out the other allergen foods and work from there.

It’ll be nice to not worry about school while I’m figuring out my new job and figuring out my new eating lifestyle.  Plus!  I get to read what I want for 10 weeks. I’m hoping to up my number of books read drastically during this little hiatus.  Wish me luck!

I saw my doctor again today.  He confirmed that it’d be beneficial to go off gluten for a bit to see if it helps.  He said I don’t need to worry about seeing an allergist because sometimes their tests aren’t the most reliable.  He just suggested that if going off gluten doesn’t work, then I should try going off of the major allergy causing foods, like dairy, nuts, soy, and eggs.  He’s also referring me to a gastroenterologist to see what he thinks because there’s still a possibility I do have Celiac since my blood test was positive.  He also said I could just have a sensitivity to gluten, which is much better than Celiac.  It means that I’ll feel badly when I eat gluten, but gluten won’t cause the same kind of damage it does to people with Celiac.  I could also have colitis or IBS.  Hopefully, the gastroenterologist will be able to give me some answers.

As you can see, I have a few options to give a try.  We’ll see how I feel after I give up some yummy foods. Now, it’s just a matter of stocking my house with gluten-free things.  I’m going to go simple for the first little bit by just eating veggies, fruits, and lean meats.  Then, if I notice that not eating gluten helps me feel better, I’ll add in the gluten-free carbs.

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My Spring term class officially ended yesterday.  I didn’t have a final exam; I just had to hand in a final paper worth a sixth of my grade. Depending on how I do on my paper, I’ll either have a low A or a high A-. I’m really happy with how well I did in this class.  It definitely wasn’t the easiest class since it focused mostly on principles of literary theory, but I did learn a lot.

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My new class starts on Monday.  My teacher is pissing me off more and more.  The main reason is the assignment to read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy before class even starts.  In her first e-mail, she told us we had until the end of the first week to get them done.  In subsequent e-mails, all sent this week I might add, they now have to be read by Monday. I’ve only finished The Hobbit so far.  I’ve been too busy with my current homework, new work schedule, and everything else life has thrown at me to spend the time I need to get the other books done.  Luckily, I get to choose the book to focus on during the class so I’ll just choose The Hobbit.  I still need to read the other three books because she said we might draw on them during the term for more information.

Finally, she signs every one of her e-mails as “Sister” blah blah.  I know I’m going to BYU, but do teachers really have to go by Sister or Brother blah blah (unless they’re religion teachers, of course)? Ugh! I had to send her an e-mail yesterday and I deliberately called her “Prof.” blah blah.

I’m actually considering dropping this class, not because of my teacher, but because I’ve just been s0 busy with everything that I’m a little stressed out right now.  Plus, I’m a little overwhelmed with my new job.  Starting a new job and a new accelerated class at the same time doesn’t seem like a good idea.  The only problem with dropping my class is that I can’t take it in the fall because it conflicts with my other classes.  The soonest I could take it is in the winter.  Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but it directly corresponds with the class I just took so I don’t want to let too much time pass by before I take it.  Decisions, decisions.