Well...

I will be having a surgical proceedure on Tuesday morning at 7:20am to have two moles removed. Turns out the are 98% positive I have skin cancer. They are just not sure what stage or exactly what type...although it is very likely melanoma.

Exhaustion

It is not even the entire way through the first official week of the semester and I am already extremely exhausted. Of course, this is due to the fact that I have a ton of other things going on in my life at the moment. I don't know how single mom's can handle full-time school, full-time work, and being a full-time parent. They are truly AMAZING women...and men for the single dad's out there. I don't have kids of my own, although I help take care of my nephew, I don't work...except for volunteer and help take care of my mom...I do have full-time school. I am tired all the time it seems. I am battling my own health issues, but still. Sometimes I think I am weak for being so run down through it all---and other times I think I am strong for being able to fight through it all.

Well, tonight is my first  night of my on-campus class...let's hope I don't get lost and overly stressed like I did last fall!!!!

FINALLY!!!

I finally received the email from the financial aid office letting me know that all the issues/confusion with my loans and bookstore credit have been resolved. I logged onto the bookstore website to, once again, order my textbooks for this semester. It is really cutting things close because the semester starts on Saturday. Luckily, I don't actually have a class on campus until Wednesday August 25th.

MSU grants course access before the semester actually starts, which actually makes me very happy. I would have preferred that IHCC did that as well. I would like it even more if I already had my textbooks. I will already have homework in my Intro to Professional and Technical Writing class as well as my Marketing Principles class. I am a little worried for all the work in my marketing class. When I met with a counselor/advisor at MSU back in June and she told me to keep in mind that these classes will be a bit harder than the classes at IHCC and most of the time people don't really realize that I kind of brushed it off. There is a ton of homework! I just need to stay on top of things and keep remembering my goals. I have made it this far, I refuse to give up or slack off now. If anything, school is even more important to me now because these classes actually pertain directly to my degree and my career aspirations.

On a bit of a side note: I will finally be having surgery!! =) It seems like I have been waiting forever even though I just started the process at the end of May/early June. I meet with the surgeon on Aug 31st and have my last check-up/progress visit on Sept 8th. They said they will submit my approval for surgery to the insurance company on the 8th after my appointment! I am really excited and find myself being a lot more motivated to eat healthy and exercise in preparation and anticipation of the surgery. I am a little more nervous for how the surgery will go and if it will be successful. In a weird way, it seems scary to make such a big change and even to accept the changes that will happen with my medical issues. These will all be good changes and I am extremely happy about that, just hope that things go as planned. I know I will be healthier and a lot happier after all of this occurs!

As a last big girls night out, a few friends from mostly IHCC are going out to celebrate the start of the new school year, the new adventures and chapters of our lives, the fact that Kelly, Jenna and I are leaving IHCC to attend new schools, and Sam's upcoming 21st birthday. We are going to the Hard Rock Cafe in Minneapolis and I am so excited! I have needed a good girls night out just having fun and enjoying amazing friends! I realized that I have met some amazing people and have a great support network since starting IHCC. I could not have asked for a more supportive, loving group of friends. Especially in the EMS dept--they truly are my crazy, dysfunctional medic family and without them I would not be where I am! I have found a big piece of myself I thought was lost because of them! I will forever be grateful and I will most certainly never forget them! I think the transition from IHCC to MSU would be much more difficult if I thought that I would never see them. Luckily, I can walk over to IHCC and see them anytime I need to! I <3 it!!!

New Beginnings

As of yesterday (August 12th) I have officially earned my Associates in Arts degree from IHCC. Even though I had my graduation ceremony back in May, actually receiving my degree depended solely on my successful completion of my Logic class. I have never really liked math, nor have I ever really understood it well. I was surprised to find that I earned an A in the class! This gave me a 4.0 GPA for the semester and an overall GPA of 3.55. I wanted to graduate with honors, but you need a 3.75 for that. I am trying not to be too hard on myself about this. I tend to be a lot harder on myself than other people are.



In about a week I will start up school again at MSU in Saint Paul. I am a little nervous because the campus is a lot bigger than Inver Hills and I am still very unsure of where everything is on the grounds. I am lucky to only have three courses on campus; two at the main campus and one at the midway campus. The midway campus will probably be the easiest to navigate since it is just one building. I am also nervous because I don’t know anyone who goes to school there which makes me a bit uncomfortable. I felt nervous when I started Inver as well, but at least I knew someone who went there and could help me navigate everything.


I feel somewhat rushed this next week or so. I need to go to Walmart and get some notebooks, pens, pencils, folders, etc. I also, thanks to the financial aid office not telling me that I have to fill out a loan request form, to try and get my textbooks as soon as possible. As it is I will probably not get them by the time the semester officially starts. I was hoping to have them immediately because we can access our courses online starting on the 18th and I wanted to read as much as possible to stay on top of things before the semester starts. I also, however, have an eye doctor appointment, a dentist appointment, an appointment with my surgical care team at Southdale, and I also need to have my toenail removed for the second time in 10 months. I want to have my toe “surgery” before the semester starts so that it has time to heal before the semester really starts up.


This is the start of a new beginning, a new chapter, in my life. I want to make the most of it and truly enjoy it along the way. While I had a lot of fun at Inver I feel as though I didn’t fully let myself experience everything like I could have. I want to make sure I get the most out of the next two years of my academic life. I want to step out of my shell and really let myself shine! I have learned that you need to let go of the past, live for the future, care less about what others think, do what makes you happy, and live every day like it’s on purpose! =)