busy, busy, busy...

This is one of those conundrums of the doctorate program in which I find myself entangled... HOW DO I BLOG CONSISTENTLY?!

This quarter has been my first in my new place. The first in the student clinic. And, the first that includes classes that are heavy in what I affectionately refer to as "busy work."

The new place... The Life Village Retreat (AKA: the dorms)
The dorms are actually pretty nice, be it not for the SERIOUS lack of closet space. If I am talking about a lack of closet space, you HAVE to know it's serious, right? Anyway, I don't have a roommate, which is amazing, because they left that room unlocked. SO, what do I have? A two bedroom, two full bath apartment, RIGHT on campus!!! Gotta love that! I was actually interviewed in the school paper about the dorms and probably 1/3 of the article was me. The most talked about part of that paper was the fact that I love my new bathtub. For the first time in my adult life, I have a bathtub that my shoulders FIT into. I am comfortable laying down and lounging, which is something that usually required the purchase of a pillow or some other "bathtub comfort enhancer" that usually brought on issues by itself. LOL The responses of people on campus to reading my quotes has been interesting. Nothing like walking across campus and having someone yell at you from 100 yards away, "So, like your bathtub, huh?"

The student clinic... yeah, let's leave that for another blog entry. Lots of paperwork. Interesting puzzles that involve my schedule, the patient's schedule and then the doctor's schedule combined with time limits for when paperwork and physicals and Case Management Reviews can be completed. SIGH!

Ahhhhh, the busy work... why would they start you in classes with busy work at the same time you start in the student clinic? We don't have enough paperwork to do, so we have to start teaching ourSELVES with busy work now? REALLY?! Well, I hope Life is satisfied with the money they get out of me while I'm a student, because the endowment will NEVER grow because of me. I have never felt like the school has respected my time OR my decision to choose them and has constantly tried to annex my free time as if it was "imminent domain," bully me into submitting to "new requirements" and to conforming to the vision of our narcissistic, politician of a president. Sorry, President Riekeman, I will never become a Riekemananite!

OK... NOW, to the reason why this blog exists... my progress towards a body that reflects the knowledge I have of the body (including nutrition and exercise).

This quarter, exercise has been, shall we say "sporadic?" Our goal was to MaxFit 3 times a week. Mondays at 8AM (which has not been fun for me, since I don't have class on Monday until 1PM), Thursdays at 2PM (which was just not a good choice... right in the middle of the 2nd of my busiest two-day stretch of the week and complicated by Student council meetings being held during my only break of the day) and Saturdays (which between teaching CPR, going to seminars, and just being TIRED from the week, has only happened once.) The following is what I have written down on my calendar. I know we missed a Monday and we DID a Saturday, but I cannot remember which ones. Sorry.

Week 1, 4/5-4/11
I was still recovering from the Facet Syndrome I developed over break - No MaxFit

Week 2, 4/12-4/18
MaxFit on Monday! No MaxFit on Thursday, because I was stuck in a student council meeting, and Saturday, I taught two CPR classes)

Week 3, 4/19-4/25
MaxFit Monday AND MaxFit Thursday! Woohoo!!! No MaxFit on Saturday

Week 4, 4/26-5/2
MaxFit Monday. Thursday, both of us had patients and Saturday I was in Orlando at the Pompa seminar

week 5, 5/3-5/9
MaxFit Monday. Thursday, my reassessment of a patient went MUCH longer than expected and I couldn't make it. My partner was sitting outside of the door of my dorm waiting for me. :-( Sorry. No MaxFit on Saturday

week 6, 5/10-5/16
MaxFit Monday AND Thursday! I think we've given up on Saturdays.

week 7, 5/17-23
MaxFit Monday. I had a couple tests Thursday afternoon that I wasn't ready for, so I skipped MaxFit and Saturday was a very busy day for me. Phone meeting with Dr. Flynn, then my Uncle Doc Reed was in town so we hung out, then I gave a massage to a new client, then I went to the Verizon store to try to get my cell phone fixed and then I went to Discovery Mills to play the boyfriend role for the gorgeous Hong as she was shopping for clothing. It was fun to help her shop and watch her smile as she was enjoying herself and feeling pretty. :-) Afterwards we went to Maggiano's for dinner... YUM!

week 8, 5/24-5/30
MaxFit Monday. Today is Thursday and we are not going to work out. I have a Case Management Review (CMR) to do in the clinic and my partner is stuck at DMV. Saturday isn't going to happen... I'm just saying.

SO... overall, the working out hasn't gone to plan. I AM staying active. I live on campus now, so I definitely park further away and walk more. That's good. I have done some tennis playing and obviously last Saturday there was a bunch of walking around the mall (LOL), but still. Next quarter, I have to kick it up a notch.

TOXICITY!!! Here is some larger news. I have been detoxing from the mold for about three and a half weeks. I have seen the mold symptoms disappear. Here is the problem: as soon as they started to disappear (well after about two weeks), I began to notice symptoms that led to heavy metal toxicity. My response was, OH CRAP! Why? Biotoxins like mold don't take nearly as long to detox from as heavy metals. Heavy Metal detox can take years!!!! So, I took another toxicity questionairre which was really just a long "symptom history" worksheet called the FAQ. It gives you a report, based upon your symptoms, that leads you to which tests should be run. The most striking thing about the results are that biotoxins were number 7... yeah... SEVEN!!! Heavy Metals were number two. All of the others from the top 7 were "fruit" issues from the "roots" of heavy metal and biotoxicity. It seems that I merely peeled back the top layer of my toxicity by detoxing from the mold. And because I was in a mold exposure in my old apartment, it makes sense that the biotoxic symptoms were "on top," but now I am staring a urine porphyrin test dead in the face. It's actually on its way to me. Once I get the test, I will take it and send it off. The results of this test will tell me WHICH metals I have to detox from. And then, the journey will begin.

Are you coming with me? I hope to be able to blog more consistently. Y'all pray for me. I feel like I JUST got into the swing of this quarter and it is over in three weeks! LOL