Overwhelmed

I am overwhelmed with life at this very moment. There are several different reasons for my feelings.

Reason One: School started again this week.
My courses are going to present a challenge this semester, but I'm willing to take it on. I'm not sure exactly how that is going to turn out. My classes are as follows:
Medical Microbiology- Leccture and Lab
American Literature 2
Nano Nagle- Her Life and Legacy
College Algebra
So that's a total of 12 (or 13) credits. College Algebra is going to be by far the greatest challenge. I'm not too worried about Literature or the class about Nano Nagle, but Medical Microbiology will be challenging as well. Lots of studying to do there. Literature is mainly about reading, which I adore, and my other class is about the foundress of my college, Presentation College. This is Nano Nagle. Something about her story has captured me, which is interesting as I haven't read the book on her in its entirety yet. So far I've only read the first two (or three) chapters. But I have to say, there is more there than I have read, I can just sense it.

Reason Two: Numerous Medical Appointments
There are some pressing things here. I have several specialists and other people helping me be as healthy as possible. Urologist, my PCP, my therapist, my pain specialist. Not to mention the fact that I would also like to add massage therapy and chiropractic to the mix. I may also need GI, genetics, and orthopedics involved. I'm just going by my impressions and symptoms here. Eating is becoming more and more difficult. I'm not looking forward to getting the results of my spine MRI. It's already been determined that I have Scoliosis and Degenerative Disc Disease. There is no doubt in my mind that both have progressed and worsened. However, I don't know to what degree. In addition, I don't know what they are going to want to do about both. If the Degenerative Disc Disease is bad enough, they may look at surgery (in extremely bad circumstances...and yes I know that I should not be looking at the worst case, but I'm trying to be realistic here.) It's also possible that they may want to look at putting a back brace on me for the scoliosis or even doing surgery for that. I've scheduled an appointment with Dr. P in late February, and I have a lot to discuss with him. I need to ensure I have everything out in the open with him because this is very serious.

My appointment with Dr. S, my pain specialist is Thursday of this coming week. I will already be missing Medical Microbiology (I've already missed one class period due to getting the crud on Wednesday evening and into early Thursday). It is during this appointment that I will get the results of my MRI, and I will need to reveal that the Hypogastric Plexus Block did not give me any noticeable pain relief. Such is life. Looks like I need to go through all of that headache again. Actually, it's more like a HUGE pain in the GUT. Ugh.

There are just a lot of unkowns right now. There are more reasons for my being overwhelmed, but at this time, I don't have the time nor the energy to get into it. For now, I just need prayers. I am so tired. But I will keep going. As always.