Forewarning: This is sad

Over the past couple weeks I've come across a lot of people who have had someone close to them pass away. The one that stuck with me the most is a friend that is so close to me I consider him a brother. He is one of the sweetest, most genuine persons that I have ever met but life has never dealt him a good hand. He grew up in a family of abuse and a few years ago his father could not take his mothers alcoholism so he moved out. This left the burden on my friend to take care of his mother who eventually turned to alcoholism himself. Over the summer he decided he needed to turn over a new leaf so he was admitted into a rehab for 73 days and to prevent a relapse when he got out he moved in with his father who lives an hour away from his mothers home. Last week his father went to check in on his mother, that no one has heard from in about 2 months, and he found her dead inside her house and 2 of her pet cats starved to death from being alone for so long. This of course had a devastating effect on my friend who I've come to discover since this tragic event has started drinking hand sanitizer in his powerade to feed his addiction since he can not afford alcohol. So for this week I wanted to discuss alcoholism and it's effect on not only the alcoholic but also the people who surround them.
Alcoholism is a deadly disease that effects over 17 million American adults. It leads people to turn into someone thats not true to their real character when they are sober. Unfortunately my friend is not the first person close to me that has dealt with addiction and it leads even the most truthful person to produce lies to cover up their pain. I spoke with him just a few days ago and he told me he's been doing very well and thinks things are turning around for him but the next day he left a powerade bottle at a mutual friends house and that friend said he could smell the hand sanitizer in the drink. It's extremely heart breaking to not only me but the other people close to him. We all watch as the amazingly brilliant person we know slowly deteriorates into a shell of a human being. Over the past 5 years that I've known him I watched him go from a healthy pharmacy student to an underweight mal-nutritioned skeleton. He is a few inches taller than me but his weight is probably somewhat similar to my own. He substitutes his normal daily meals with alcohol to cover up the pain from his past.
If you know anyone with this problem they can visit AA meetings or the website listed.

hmmm.

I was looking around for interesting articles for this blog today and I came across this article. It has to do a lot with my past posts relating to my egg donations. A new test has been discovered that can detect chromosomal abnormalities in embryos before they are implanted which cause up to 70% of pregnancies not lasting full term. What this test does is examines the cells that eventually will become the babies placenta therefor not causing harm to the developing embryo. This could as much as triple the success rates of IVF cycles and could completely turn the field on its head.
Many women suffer from infertility whether it be from cancer or ovarian failure and often turn to IVF after failed attempts with prescription drug interventions for those that still are cycling. This procedure allows women to have children who thought that this dream had once gone out the window. If this new test can improve the success rates then a lot more women will be able to hold onto their dream. It does make me think though about what other effects this could have on other things in the world. Like a butterfly effect. I mean often when these women can't have children they turn to adoption.
If success rates of IVF cycles improve, will adoption rates decrease? And if so there will be even more children in the world waiting for a loving family. I'm not downplaying the amazing capabilities this new test may bring about but it just makes me wonder if every action has an equal reaction what could this mean for the world?

cold urticaria.

I've found it's easiest to talk about health topics that I can relate to so this week I picked another subject of which I've had issues with. Cold Urticaria is an allergy to cold temperatures and I've mentioned it before but I figured I'd go into more detail now. I actually didn't even have a name for this allergy till last week when the doctor who was discussing my asthma with me threw the name out there. Signs didn't appear till I was in third grade. I can still remember it now. I was dressed up as Pocahontas for the Thanksgiving day lunch at my elementary school and when it was time for recess I went outside as normal. Only this time things got weird because after about 15 minutes I broke out in hives in any place my skin was exposed to the outdoors. I went and complained to my mom who had been at the school helping out with the lunch and she took me to the school nurse who assumed I had come in contact with some form of allergen on the playground such as a plant. We sort of shrugged it off and the following winter it happened again while my brother was trying to teach me to snowboard on a small hill at my aunts house. At  this point we realized again it was my skin that was exposed to the cold air and we figured that must be the trigger.
Ever since then if my skin gets exposed to cold temperatures I'll break out in a red itchy rash and hives eventually appear. It's to the point that I'll break out in the water at the beach in the summer because of how much the temperature drops or if I hold a cold drink my hand will break out where contact is made. I've learned to live with it though. Often in the winter I stay indoors as much as possible and I try and avoid cold drinks or cold water in the summer. It sucks because it just started happening when I was really just beginning to like snow but that's the way things go. I can't enjoy most winter time activities like skiing or snowboarding or even snow ball fights but I'd much rather be rash free. Below I've added a recent picture of an outbreak as I was standing in line at a concert.

My Lovely Weekend.

Since this is a health blog I thought I'd write about my horrible health this weekend. I started feeling sick at the beginning of last week but Friday when I woke up I was just having a little difficulty breathing. I was diagnosed with asthma a few months after I started at USP (stressed induced much?), so I just figured it was nothing major and attempted to use my emergency inhaler which wasn't holding up so well. So I worked through all of Friday with an annoying slight lack of breathing. Saturday morning when I woke up my whole chest was struggling for air and I was making wheezing noises you could hear across a room. Me not being the pro at this asthma thing, got up as normal and went to work my 22 hour work weekend. As soon as I walked in my boss knew something was up. I worked for about an hour before she sent me to rest for a bit. After I still was not breathing better she thought it could be an allergic reaction to the antibiotic I started taking Thursday evening so she gave me some Benadryl and sat me down for about a half hour to see if I improved. I didn't. So we called one of my closest friends to come pick me up and take me to an urgent care clinic in Havertown.
I had to wait for him to get off work but once he did he took me right over and as soon as I walked in the door the physician waiting there dropped her lunch and asked me what was wrong. I explained to her with some difficulty that I was having trouble breathing and I wasn't sure if it was an allergic reaction. She told me to not fill any paperwork out and to just come straight back for a breathing treatment. This started to freak me out quite a bit considering I thought none of it was necessary and with some good sleep it would all go away. I went to a room where I was sat down and had to breath in a medication called DuoNeb through a nebulizer machine. After 30 seconds of the treatment the physician asked if I was breathing better, which of course I wasn't. She informed me if it was an allergic reaction I would have felt slightly better within that time then she apologized to me and said she had to call an ambulance. At this point I really started to get worried because I didn't think it was that big of a deal still.
So I was picked up by 3 EMT's who came in and assessed me. During that time I heard the physician whisper to the EMT that if I had waited 6 more hours (which would have been before my shift ended) my lungs would have completely sealed themselves off and I would have stopped breathing. That's the point where I really got scared and wanted to cry but I looked at my friend and he told me everything was going to be okay so I settled into the gurney and was taken to Delaware County Memorial Hospital.
In the ER I was given approximately 3 hours of straight Albuterol breathing treatments. I'm not sure if anyone knows about Albuterol but it has a side effect of making your heart race. After these treatments my heart rate had jumped into the 150 beats per minute range and my breathing rate was still about double what it should be. The ER physician said she was uncomfortable with letting me go home since I didn't make any major improvement and that she was admitting me to the hospital for the night. She informed my mom if I went home that it could get much worse and I may have to come back on a ventilator and possibly die (like that didn't make me feel any worse).
Around 9 PM saturday night I finally left the ER and was given a room where I was woken every 3 to 4 hours to get a breathing treatment and a dose of high steroids to reduce the inflammation in my lungs. Sunday when my mom and friends returned back to the hospital we sat down and talked to the doctor on my floor. He informed us that he wanted to keep me till Monday morning because he felt I still had some improving to do and I had to be tapered off my medicine. At that point I was breathing mostly on my own with just a little help of an oxygen tube in my nose and I informed the doctor I had way too much of a school workload to spend another day there and that it was stressing me out more being in a lonely hospital room. I had to work him a bit but eventually he said he'd release me that night if I was willing to take the risk I might end up back in the ER. I told him I was so I was released from the hospital Sunday evening around 6:30 PM.
I just have to say even though I never thought I would get to that point it was quite a frightening experience and if it wasn't for my boss who recognized the signs or my close friend who drove me to the urgent care clinic, this weekend may have turned out very differently and not for the better. The ER informed me next time I realize my emergency inhaler isn't working that's when I should look for help, not wait and try to brush it off thinking it will just pass.

umm. eww.

This past week my friend sent me this article on McDonalds happy meals and it absolutely disgusts me but yet I still can't give them up. An artist placed a bet with a friend that any burger would mold after several days left out so she bought a happy meal in April and left it out for the past few months. The absolute disgusting part, even though I'm not very shocked, is that after months of sitting out there was no signs of decomposition. This makes me wonder what actually happens to a happy meal while it's being digested. I'm not going to lie I love eating McDonald's food. I know it's horrible for me and completely defeats the purpose of going to the gym but I can't give it up especially during October when Monopoly is here. I probably consume at least 5 cheeseburger happy meals a week during the rest of the year and recently I've been devouring big macs for my Monopoly pieces.
After seeing these pictures I admit I've been craving other foods instead of McDonalds though. It made me wonder if the nutrition facts on the side of my big mac box actually mean anything at all. I mean if mother nature can't destroy a happy meal in 6 months what should make me think my stomach can. And even if I am digesting it am I actually getting any of the "nutrition" out of it? The artist in this article said the only difference she saw was the food developed a plastic sheen to it. What exactly are they putting in our food that instead of making it break down it basically is mummifying itself?

Finally!

I finally found a a good excuse for why I was always in trouble in high school for sleeping in too late. Of course I wouldn't put myself in the category of genius but my little cousin found this very interesting article on the relationship of intelligence and bed time. The psychologist who wrote the article studied the time children went to bed and woke up on both weekdays and weekends then tested their IQ's. Children who fell asleep later and woke up later tended to score higher on their IQ tests than children who were early to bed early to rise. This article captured my attention because ever since I was little as soon as it hit about 10 o'clock at night it was as if I got a second burst of energy. I don't think my mom knew what to do with me because I'd prefer to stay up all night watching classics like I Love Lucy or Mary Tyler Moore and then sleep through the boring Sesame Street or Fraggle Rock.
It was rough growing up with this sleep cycle because once elementary school started I was forced to be up at an earlier time and actually was threatened with detention in 5th grade if I showed up late anymore to school. I'm not saying I'm anywhere close to being a genius or anywhere else in the highly intelligent rank but it does seem interesting that I was the one in my family who always loved to read and study things that grabbed my interests. My dad is the same way but he has to be up early for work every morning so I'm not even sure what his sleep cycle would be like if it weren't for work. My mom on the other hand never had deep interest in reading for leisure (No, I'm not calling her stupid) and she's always the first to fall asleep and usually wakes naturally at an earlier time. I can't really speak for my brother considering I don't think he sleeps at all because he has a busy schedule of staying up all night to play x-box. Anyway, I just think it's interesting that this psychologist had these findings because we always use the phrase the early bird gets the worm which is true but maybe the night owl is the one thats winning out in the end.

update.

So my retrieval procedure was yesterday morning and I wasn't really sure what to expect afterwards. A few weeks ago I started the Follistim injections which helped me produce more mature oocytes while also taking a lower dose of Lupron to control my cycle. My last night with that cocktail was Tueasday and Wednesday evening my mom had to give me an intramuscular shot of Novarel. Novarel is a HcG injection that helped stimulate release of the oocytes from the ovaries. Thursday was blood work to check my estrogen levels and Friday was the big day. I got to the hospital early where I was taken to the fertility center positioned in the back of the ICU (not scary or anything). I was placed in a hospital bed in a room along with another girl there for the same procedure.
Once I had my IV set up I was wheeled into the room where the procedure was to be done and placed on what looked like a slightly deformed hospital bed. That's the last thing I remember before I woke up back in the original room. There was a nurse there that gave me a warm blanket for my stomach which I began to feel as soon as the anesthesia started to wear off. Eventually the warm blanket wasn't really cutting it so they gave my a small injection of Fentanyl in my IV line. I waited there for about another half hour before I was able to get up and get dressed then I was placed in a wheelchair and sent to be picked up by my mom. Yesterday was a little rough with walking and such. I mostly laid in bed all day and slept because the anesthesia hadn't fully worn off. Now that I'm a little bit more chipper I'm on a regimen where I have to take two Femara daily for the next two weeks. Femara is typically a cancer drug used in breast cancer patients but in my case it's just to bring my estrogen levels back down to normal. I'm also on a specialized diet where I have to eat at least 100 g of protein a day. All in all I'd say this whole process was worth it. Don't get me wrong the paycheck that's coming to me next week is definitely motivation enough but I also was able to give some woman a chance at something she lost hope for for herself.

And it goes on and on and on.

So some of you may know I got a pet micro pig over the week and one of the best things about her: she's allergy free due to the fact pigs have hair not fur. I think almost anyone can relate to the feelings of allergies. Mine are horrible and I live on allergy medicine year round. It's actually to the point that a few years ago I developed allergy induced asthma which is no fun especially since I'm allergic to the most random of things such as cold temperatures and rabbits. Of course me being an animal lover though I own a rabbit and could never give him up even though my doctor asked me too since he's had patients in the ER from similar situations. I wish there were some cure to these allergies but it just seems as though there's no end in sight. In the winter I have to make sure I'm extra bundled and I have to take Zyrtec D every night to prevent sinus infections. It can be dangerous though if not maintained. My allergy to the cold leads me to break out in hives and sends me into asthma attacks that are often painful and very scary if I don't have my inhaler around.
Now that I've complained a bit I thought I'd update everyone on my egg donation process. I'm scheduled to have them removed at the end of next week and the symptoms of taking my medications are starting to kick in. My Follistim is causing me to have feelings of pressure in my stomach and is making me not fit in my pants anymore. It's life though and the doctor warned me about that. As for the long term effects: there are none. Even though fertility drugs are more recent there have been studies done that show they do not cause any future fertility issues. I'll have an update next week once the process is over to let everyone know how it went.

The things college students will do for money.

So this week I decided to blog about something I've recently become familiar with. Egg donation. Yes, I know it sounds weird and almost everyone I talk to has a million questions about it. Last year in my genetics class it was brought up and the idea just stuck in my head. Not only is the compensation pretty sweet but the whole process absolutely fascinates me. So, me being the curious individual that I am I started looking into how I could become a donor. It wasn't too hard to find information about it. There's adds online and my mom actually even found one in the newspaper. I figured I'd give a call and see what the whole thing was all about. And now several months after that original call I'm several weeks into the donation process.
It's been an interesting journey so far. I had to have multiple tests done including a psych evaluation, which shocked all of my friends that I passed that step. It requires a lot of dedication to the process but so far I've had no bad side effects. I've had to give myself shots of a drug called Lupron every night for the past few weeks and over the weekend had to add another shot called Follistim to my regimen. I'm actually shocked that I've been able to do this considering I can barely prick my finger for blood. I think it's been easier for me to do this though because I know it's for a good cause. There is some woman out there who had hopes of one day having a child and whether it be chemotherapy or some other reason that chance was taken from her. Everyones first question is always: won't you be freaked out that you have a child out in the world? And my answer is always no because I don't see it that way. It may be my genetic information but I believe being a parent is much more than that. I won't be the one there for the child when it scrapes its knee or is learning to drive like my parents where there for me.
The process isn't complete yet but I'm sure there will be more of a bump in the road especially since everything is just starting to pick up. I only have a few more weeks left before it's all over but I have to say it seemed a lot more terrifying than it actually is. I'll keep this updated if anything else exciting or interesting happens during the rest of this. If anyone has any questions I'm open to them.

Totally awesome!

     So one of my closest friends sent me this link this past week and it is totally awesome. A woman had the whole tip of her pinky chopped off and refused to let anyone tell her no when she asked to have it put back on. First of all it's absolutely amazing that we now have enough research into stem cells that someone can dip their finger in some stem cell powder and the tip of it will grow back. Not only that but it was several weeks after the trauma happened that she actually got treatment and she was still able to recover. This is all too familiar of say an episode of Futurama but it's actually happening in 2010. Although it was just her pinky finger it's still a positive sign that there is a lot of potential in the studying of stem cells.
    The second thing I love the most about this article was this woman refused to hear no from her health care professionals. Working in the health field I see that the focus is becoming more on the quantity rather than the quality. In my pharmacy we're always being pushed to fill prescriptions as fast as possible like we're competing with McDonald's or some other fast food chain when the focus should be more on taking the time to actually review medications and be there for our patients when they most need us. This woman didn't stop until she convinced a doctor to take the time and actually look outside the box to save her pinky finger. I know most physicians are concerned with more than the cosmetic looks of a missing useless appendage but they should still be willing to listen to patients and help in whatever way is possible. After all, how else would we know about this amazing story unless her doctor went out on a limb and tried something new?

My first blog. Eek!

        It was rough trying to think of a health topic that I could actually speak on because I'm not a professional when it comes to anything health related especially considering one of my absolute favorite foods is a cheeseburger happy meal from McDonald's but here's my crack at it.  One thing I am a pro at though is sleeping. I could take a nap at any point of the day if I had the chance to but the problem is now that I'm a grown adult it's become increasingly difficult to find any time for sleep. I know they all say you should try and get at least 8 hours of sleep each night but where does a 23 year old biology student with bills to pay find the time? Trying to balance school, work, and attempting at a social life can take quite the toll on an individuals sleep schedule so how are we supposed to balance it all?

       I've found the best way to deal with it all is time management and prioritizing. If you don't your health certainly pays the price. I don't think I've ever had as many colds as when I started at USP and I think it directly coincides with the lack of sleep I've been getting ever since I started 4 and 1/2 years ago. I've read lack of sleep decreases your immune system and I'm sure I could be used as a lab rat to prove that statement. So my best advice for all you fellow work addicts out there: Find some time to yourself to get a good nights rest. After all nothing slows you down like a runny nose and achy body.