Semester One, Week Nine

This sucks, I thought, as I lay on the x-ray table, getting 20 x-rays of varying joints in my body.

I may have rheumatoid arthritis. Or I may have crazy-lady syndrome. Yet to be decided. Long story short, I have had joint pain for the last five years that is increasing in severity, and some days, I feel like I am ancient. I ache more often than I don't. My knees lock up. I can't go up and down stairs without pain. Rising from a seated position is awful. Getting out of bed is miserable. Bending down to say, tie my shoe? Forget it. The pain to rise is miserable. Most recently, my elbows, shoulders, and hands ache. A little bit detrimental to a successful life.

So, if you see the 20-something year old nursing student grimacing as she kneels down to assess you, it's not in your imagination. I live almost daily in pain. It's awesome. It's been my own private struggle for years, being dismissed by health care providers for not having the typical joint redness and swelling that accommodates many types of arthritis. However, I recently had blood work that indicated (surprise, surprise) my body is literally attacking itself.

I went to the doctor today, and explained my symptoms. He was not really paying attention, till I asked him to assess my knee and the strange thing it does when I extend it.

And as he maneuvered my right knee, his face went like this:

Apparently, knees are not supposed to be doing what mine is doing, especially without injury. So, off the orders for blood work and x-rays went.

I told my doctor if I have RA that's going to seriously impact my nursing career. He told me "Or, it'll make you a better nurse."

~

Two exams this past week, two more A's. The pharmacology test was over adrenergic agnoists/antagonists and cholinergic agonists/antagonists. That's fancy talk for sympathetic and parasympathetic drugs. A difficult concept to navigate, but once you understand the basics of fight or flight verses rest and repose, the aforementioned topics are (almost) easy breezy.

Math was semi-complicated; just make sure you've got your conversions memorized. I ran into my math professor the day after the exam, and she congratulated me on my high score, and once more told me how I had touched her heart when I told her that her method of teaching changed my life. I merely told her, she has changed, literally made my semester. Without her teaching concepts, math would still be a foreign concept. I am eternally grateful to her and the impact she has made on my life.

I love nursing school. I do. I have never once felt so fulfilled in this career calling. I cherish this time.