Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope that y'all have a safe and busy Halloween Day.
As for me I just got back from the Badger game (37-0) against Purdue and need to warm up before donning my Luna Lovegood costume and heading out for the night. I'll try to post some pics tomorrow :)

A Weighty Issue

I can't lie to myself, I've had weight issues my entire life. I can remember as early as 1st grade feeling fat and not cute. My parents never said anything about my weight, and always told me I was pretty. My classmates always made me feel less than pretty. I was never fat, maybe a bit rounded around the edges, but I felt FAT.

The only time I didn't feel fat was during my freshman year and part of my sophomore year of college. I lost weight instead of gaining it like everyone else. The only thing is I lost it in very unhealthy ways (skipping class to work out multiple times a day, unhealthfully counting calories, only eating once a day). I remember going back to work at camp Summer 2004 and being complimented on the weight I had lost by former staffers and campers. I felt so GOOD and kept up that unhealthy lifestyle.

Then depression hit and the weight came back with a vengence...It just kept creeping up and piling on my small frame. I kept struggling with self-esteem.

Cut to last August (the one in 08), with a doc's urging and my own realization that I was obese by BMI standards I joined a gym. It took me about 2 months to lose 5 pounds, even with a trainer. I went back to the doc and found out my hormones were out of whack (because of the weight) and that was making it almost impossible to lose the weight. I started out some medication to help and then somewhere between 15 and 20 lbs were lost. I felt good again, but this time no one said anything! Only those that knew I was working out said anything.

My weight loss has stabilized somewhere about 20-23 lbs and I feel great. My goal is about another 10-15, but I need to get back on the work-out train.

Another week, more thoughts

Here are some random thoughts I've had lately:

I love riding the bus to school. It's filled with many many interesting people.

I'm recently obsessed with Netflix. I haven't gotten any movies yet, but my queue is rapidly expanding.

I FINALLY got my loan check. I'm super happy to not be destitute and living off of popcorn and spaghetti.

I love, love, love Family Fusion.

Taking it by auricle....uh, ear

I haven't posted about audiology lately or school in general, so I thought I'd let you in on my "professional" life. Let's break it up into a few categories: classes, clinic, capstone, extern year.

Classes
This semester I'm taking Implantable devices, Pathologies II, and Counseling. I don't have a favorite, but counseling doesn't really seem to apply to what I've done thus far as I don't work with kids that have recently been diagnosed with hearing loss or that are going through the process of getting a cochlear implant which seems to be all the prof talks about. Implantables is great and I'm learning alot and then Pathologies is similar to all the other classes with Dr. F except a bit easier.

Clinic
I'm at Sauk Prairie Hospital just north of Madison. I've seen patients aged 2 weeks to 90+ years. Almost all of it is hearing aids, and they're all Siemens brand which is not my fav.

Capstone
My capstone is off to a good start. I'm working with high frequency tympanometry (a test of middle ear function) in kiddos. Haven't started testing anyone yet, but it'll be soon. Just practice with Claire tonight to get a feel for the systems we're using.

Extern
I missed the application deadline for one of the places, but I didn't really want to be there anyway. This weekend (crossing my fingers) I'll be meeting with the director of audiology from the Wolfe Eye Clinic in Iowa. They haven't ever had an extern, but the director is a UW grad which hopefully will help!