Saying Goodbye to the "Summer of 48 Hours"

I'm sitting here waiting for my last blood samples to be taken at the endocrinologist's office and taking this time to reflect on my summer. I'm blogging from my phone so I don't think this post will look too pretty, but what can you do?

I'm so so so so so beyond thankful for such an awesome summer. And by awesome, I'm referring to all the things God's revealed to me. It's been a rough summer but I know everything has had a purpose in God's plan for me.

Not only did I get to see such amazing sights this summer, everything from the beaches and people in Barbados, the beautiful mountains God perfected at Lake Junaluska, the smiles on youth's faces as they worship, and the ocean at Jekyll Island. I've seen so much and I'm so grateful. I also got to experience some not-so-pleasant things like sun poisoning in Barbados, spraining my ankle at the lake, missing out on ADPi's Leadership Seminar, multiple health problems, and a very rushed summer.

I'm saying goodbye to the Summer of 48 Hours and it earned its named easily! Let's see, I was home a couple days between school and Barbados, then home 48 hours with a trip to Augusta and then I left for Lake Junaluska. My first week at the lake went by fast and Nana got put on hospice so I sped home. I was home...you guessed it, right at 48 hours! I got back to the lake and stayed until the middle of July! I got to come home for 2 short days while being stuck at home since I couldn't drive! I got to finish off my summer at the lake on the mountaintop and came home just to unpack and repack for the beach with my family. We got home Thursday and this is the longest I've been home since May! It's been filled with doctor visits and gearing up for my senior year!! Yikessss, it's here. I'm officially a senior!!!

How has my rushed summer turned into my last year of college so soon!? It's been fun to look back at the place I've been each year going to school...

Freshman Year: TERRIFIED!! I was terrified for many reasons. I was that 1/5000000 people who didn't want to go to college. Yup, I wanted to avoid the whole thing! My BFFL Katherine and I even used to make up plans to just stay home and skip over the college years! We knew it would never work but I was still hoping for my lucky lottery ticket to save me from the college years (not that my mom ever agreed to that). I wasn't scared of the work load or not being able to make friends. I was scared of change and change is exactly what I got! I had to make all new friends seeing as I didn't know anyone and I had only made two friends, Sarah and Callie, before heading to the Presby! I didn't have everything I was so used to having in high school including my family, boyfriend, best friends, church, and the comfort of my life in Irmo. Time to start all over...talk about scary! But the good news is on the first day of classes I had a sense of peace come over me to remind me I was in the exact place God wanted me! I had no idea I could be where I'm at now.

Sophomore Year: EXCITED!! I was definitely excited to head back to school. I had established friends (BEST friends), my place in ADPi, and I had 2 new jobs waiting on me! I had no idea how the year would change so much. Looking back and remembering how much change there was between freshman and sophomore year is crazy! Even though my freshmen from last year aren't my residents anymore, I still think of them as my babies haha. And even though my job is technically over with them, I know God placed them in my life and vice versa for many reasons! They continue to teach me and I hope I can continue to teach them. Coming back to school as a sophomore is TOTALLY different from freshman year! It's a good different but can be scary too! Let's be honest, what part of college isn't a little scary? I would say ALL of them!

Junior Year: OVERJOYED! I think that's a real word...if not, I just made it up because that's exactly how I felt going into my junior year. I had the absolute best summer of my life and couldn't have imagined a better start to the year. I was sooooo excited to be in Belk with my freshies! Freshmen are so much fun, sometimes too much haha! They're so impressionable and I knew God was preparing me for my role in Belk. My junior year was indeed the best year of college yet but it was also the hardest. My classes, health, jobs, and other commitments made it a difficult year but all the hard work paid off for sure.

And now we're to senior year. How am I feeling? Excited. Old. Confused. Invigorated. Anxious. Nervous. Happy. Sad. And probably any other emotion possible!! I can't wait to see what this year holds for me. I want this to be the favorite year by far! I'm sure it will be! All my besties are in the same dorm for the first time EVER!! God taught me a lot this summer I can't wait to use in my daily life. I'm hoping to glorify Him in my actions this year! And just think of where I could be this time next year...who even knows?!

Thanks for reading!!!! :)

Update on My Health!!!

Sorry I've gotten so bad at blogging this summer, its been the craziest summer!  I had another mountaintop summer at Lake Junaluska and while I was super sad to leave, I was also very excited to spend some time at home!  

I saw the orthopedist again for my ankle 2 weeks ago.  I was hoping he'd let me leave the boot and downgrade to a brace.  Unfortunately, my ankle wasn't doing well enough for the downgrade.  He told me my ankle was still too swollen for him to know if it was anything more serious than the sprain and torn ligaments.  He's thinking due to how its healed so far, I probably have a high ankle sprain for sure which can take 3-6 months to heal all the way...yikes!  I would like to say my ankle is all better but it still hurts a lot.  I'm kind of worried when I get back to school that walking so much is going to set me back.  Prayers for continued healing, por favor!!

On to my thyroid...or not.  I went to the endocrinologist this morning.  She's from Iran and kind of hilarious.  

She doesn't have the best English so when she walked in she said,
"Hey Miss Rachel...I can't pronounce your last name."
I said, "Fogle! And its okay because I can't pronounce yours either!"  

We agreed she can just call me Rachel and she's just Dr. K.  Well Dr. K couldn't understand why I was there since my tests came back normal so I explained to her everything leading up to today and good thing she's the doctor because the wheels in her brain were just turning thinking of what it could be.  Dr. K doesn't think my thyroid is the problem right now.  There's no denying all the symptoms I'm having and yes, they go along with thyroid stuff but they also could be pointing to other health conditions.  Dr. K's number one idea is that I'm insulin resistant.  She kept warning me not to freak out because some people confuse this as "You have Diabetes!" but she said that wasn't what she was trying to say.  Pretty much from what I understood, there's too much sugar in my body and my body doesn't really know what to do with it.  Her other ideas were polycystic ovarian syndrome or something could be going on with my pituitary gland.  All of these control hormones which is where the problem is at for sure.  

So the next step is to get a bunch of tests done...11 to be exact.  She told me I could come in whenever I want, they'll take 3-4 hours to complete, and I just have to fast before showing up.  Most of them are just blood tests but one of the insulin tests takes 3 hours itself.  I'll be at the office first thing Monday morning to get these tests out of the way before moving back to PC Monday afternoon.  What a day that'll be!  She said she'll have the results in about a week's time, possibly even by the end of next week and depending on the results, she'll go ahead and write me a prescription.  The good thing is she's having tests done on my metabolism, pituitary gland, thyroid, and lots of other things.  She hasn't ruled out the thyroid stuff and she'll continue to watch it.  Dr. K did tell us something new we weren't told before.  She said not to be alarmed by the right side of my thyroid being larger than the left because anything we have two of, one is always a little bigger.  Also there were some nodules on my thyroid.  My aunt and great aunt both have/had nodules on their thyroids so this is genetic.  Also, she realizes I have a goiter and isn't denying that.  The goiter is the swelling of my thyroid (the puffiness around my neck which is obvious).  I will go back for a check up at the end of October (the same week as Recruitment, of course) and she will do another ultrasound of my thyroid at the beginning of November to check the nodules, see if there are any more or if there's any new concerns with my thyroid.  

Needless to say, I didn't have the doctor's visit I was expecting but Dr. K sounds very hopeful that she's narrowed down what's going on.  I just pray that all the tests will show her exactly why my body is doing the crazy things it is.  I pray for answers and the right treatment.  She told me some hopeful stories of girls she's seen just like me and they come back in for their check up much happier and feeling 100% better!  I forgot to tell the saddest part of this whole insulin resistance thing.  I have to cut back major on sugar...which if you know me you know I love sugar in all forms (this could be where my problem comes from haha!)  This is going to be very very difficult!  But Anna, one of my roommates this year, has already promised to stick by my side and help me out with this. It will make things interesting to say the least.  Dr. K also said I could go see the nutritionist in their practice to help me put a new diet together!  Whoo hoo!!!  All hopeful news right now.

Keep me in your prayers as Monday approaches....and as I try to get sugar and sweets out of my diet.  All prayers are appreciated!  Thank you and I love you all :)