Abscess

Tuesday was a crazy day. I answered the 100 questions on my Real Estate Valuation and Appraisal mid-term in 35 minutes. I got a 94%!  My brain does apparently work! Thankfully, since I finished the exam quickly, I didn't have to rush my enemas. So, I was able to enjoy them, right? NO!!! Have you ever tried to give a swollen-ish asshole an enema? It's not easy, nor was it pleasant.

After that was over with I had some time to relax before heading to the colorectal specialist with my mom. While I relaxed I learned I got an 82% on the portfolio analysis exam I took last week when this all started going down. I was disappointed, but when I learned I got to add a 4 point curve to bring it up to an 86% it was a bit easier to swallow.

I arrived to the colon & rectal clinic early, but still ended up waiting an hour after my appointment time before being called back. As usual I was the youngest person there.  The waiting room was filled with mostly old men. In order to pass time, I pondered why everyone was there. I concluded old men just have bad butts. I was surprised I weighed in at 151lbs! That's fantastic considering on Friday I was down to 146lbs. I told the nurse what Mike Jolly said on Friday and she wrote down notes for Dr. Renee Mueller, my colorectal specialist. Mueller came in and asked some questions before the nurse came back in to prepare me for yet another rectal exam. Two rectal exams in less than a week. This has to be some kind of hell, right?

I dropped my underwear and pants to my ankles, knelt on the lower part of the table for my knees (while sitting on the table this is where my feet rest), and then I leaned forward to lay my stomach on the regular part of the table where a healthy person would sit their butt. Once I was in position, the nurse flipped the switch to move the table so that my butt was higher in the air and my head was lower to the ground. It's quite an experience, but I understand why it's not a ride at Disney.  Mueller didn't insert the scope, she just probed around with her gloved finger. So happy her fingers are thinner than Jolly's. The probing still hurt like crazy though. Probably because there's still inflammation down there. To my surprise she didn't find any sign of a fistula. She found the abscess, which she had trouble examining because it begins in my labial majora and tracks to the anus.

After I got dressed, Mueller came back in to discuss what she found during the exam. The good news is there isn't a fistula. The bad news is that even though the abscess is in part of a vaginal area (labial majora), it's most definitely related to Crohn's disease. Mueller said that if I would have seen her on Friday that she would have sent me directly to the operating room to have the abscess drained. However, since it seems to be improving with the antibiotics she's going to see me in two weeks once I'm off the antibiotics to see how it's doing. If it gets worse or stops improving before it's completely healed,  I'm supposed to call her and she'll take me to the operating room. The recovery time would be two to three weeks. That would devastate me right in the middle of this semester. I don't want to have to explain that "surgery" to three different professors.

I feel like I dodged a huge bullet and it's looking promising that I'll make it out without having to go under the knife.

Is Tomorrow Over, Yet?

I plan on being at the COB (College of Business) testing center when it opens at 7am tomorrow morning to take my Real Estate Valuation and Appraisal midterm exam. Immediately following the two hour, 100 question exam, I have to rush back home to give myself two fleet enemas to prep for my rectal exam at 11am.  This is the one where I'm expecting to actually be able to see what the heck is going on in my colon on the screen while the scope is inside me. Honestly, I'm not sure I want to look, but I'm sure my curiosity will get the best of me. Will the fistula be visible? Will my colorectal specialist recommend surgery? Will the rectal exam be more painful than usual?  Sometimes I wish they'd give me anesthesia, but then I remember that anesthesia is expensive and if insurance deems it un-necessary they won't cover it.

How lucky am I to have a rectal exam added to my list of midterm exams?  I'm more nervous for my rectal exam than any of the others. This week I really want to quit school because I feel completely overwhelmed.

C's Get Degrees, Too

           Do you remember me telling you about those waves of exams? Yeah, well I just found out that I survived the second wave, which took place right in the middle of my trip to New York! I surprised myself in ECO 3411 by getting an 88% on the second exam. I'm surprised because I know for a fact I am not learning anything from this class. Oh, and the professor who taught the class before spring break had some kind of surgery so now a different guy is doing a worse job at teaching it. The new professor has changed the schedule of what we'll be going over the rest of the semester. He's changed all of the power points, which I already had printed out. I'm over it!

           The next exam I took during the second wave came the day after I got back from New York. I didn't study on my trip. Sure I read a little of my Financial Models book on my flight out until I fell asleep. I got home Sunday, March 23rd a little before 11:45pm and went to bed only to wake up to study at 6am. My Financial Model Exam was at noon on Monday. I studied my butt off to learn all of the formulas I thought I needed to know. The exam was 5 pages of free responses where I was asked to fill in certain excel formulas to complete models using cell references. This would be cake on a computer, but it seems trickier since I have to hand write the formulas. Two of the five pages were complete curve balls to me with material over the "real option model." I'd never heard of it before, so I bull shitted the best I could by making up formulas on these two pages that were worth 24 of the 60 points. I walked out of the exam expecting to fail. I was okay with the idea of failing because I knew my NY trip took away from studying, but it was worth it. I was also okay with it because I feel like I am learning the most in this class, so I know I can make it up on the next exam. I just wanted to get higher than a 52% so that I would still be passing the class. I ended up getting a 47/60, which is a 78%! That's a passing grade!!! I laugh because I know I didn't know that much information on the exam. There's no way I could have guessed right on that many free responses to get 47 points out of 60. No matter, I've never been happier to get a 78% in my life!

          The third exam in this wave of exams was for business law. I got an 89%, which means I have to get a 91% on the final if I want to pass the class with an A. Honestly, I'm okay with getting three B's this semester. I knew I wouldn't maintain my spot in the top twenty of all the finance students. I've already got into Phi Kappa Phi honors society that requires you to be in the top 10% of all undergraduates with any declared major at UCF. So, I'm just going to enjoy the rest of my UCF student experience without stressing about getting A's. Lately the professors don't do their job well enough to learn 90% or more of the information anyways. I'd rather take a nap instead. I need more energy because I'm to the point of feeling like it doesn't matter... C's get degrees!

First Round of Exams Complete for Spring of 2014

          Every semester, exams usually come in waves or rounds as I like to call them.  This semester is no different. Each of my three classes will have three exams each. I survived the first round of exams this past week. I took an exam in all three of my classes in less than a week of each other. Rounds two and three will be the same way.

          I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage all of the information I had to learn at once. I was especially uncertain of how I was going to pound out the hours of studying between each exam without time to recover between them.  Somehow I did it! I survived the first round of exams in Business Law, Financial Models and Quantitative Business Tools II (Statistics) with a 90%, 88% and an 86%, respectively. I knew by taking three classes instead of two that my grades would probably be affected. Of course, I wish I scored an ‘A’ on all of them.  However, I know how much work I have put into juggling these three classes so far and honestly I’m happy with the results.  I’m one credit hour shy of being considered a full time student this semester. Plus, I’m working 30 hours a week. Oh yeah, and I’m training for my 4 half marathons in March. I’m trying to make some time for friends and family, but it’s difficult.  I’m already exhausted from this semester. I’m looking forward to spring break just to catch up. Some days I wish I could buy more time so that I could get all my work done. It’s like I’ve found myself in a sprint at the beginning of a marathon. The marathon represents this semester and the sprint represents the unrelenting progress of these three classes. Round one down and rounds two and three to go! I need a nap!