you take a nice, gloriously relaxing shower, get out and pull on nice warm pajamas, and after an hour realize you shaved only one leg?
Story of my life.
My doctor thinks I’m insane, but that’s okay because I am a little bananas.
January 7, 2009I waited for nearly an hour to see this new doctor, playing an endless number of Solitaire games on my trusty iPhone and coming thisclose to yelling at the receptionist and walking out the door. The nurse finally came to get me, who was pleasant enough to make me forget about badmouthing the new doctor all around town. She took my still skyrocketed blood pressure, weighed me, told me I was underweight even though I eat more than any girl I know, and then told me to wait for the doctor.
RAWR. The new doctor finally came into the exam room fifteen minutes after that. We had a conversation about how I’m pretty sure I’m dying, and she decided to put me on a new medication. Ten minutes after explaining what that medication would be, she mentions…
“So, your family doesn’t have a history of blood clots, right?”
“Right. OH YEAH, I forgot about that. My mom’s whole side of the family has this Factor X Deficiency, so I probably have it too. So I can’t go on that medication. I forgot.”
“Factor X? You mean Factor 5?”
“No… I’m pretty sure it’s Factor X.”
“Hmm… I’ve never heard of that before. Have you been tested for it?”
“Well, no. Not yet.”
“Okay, well I’ll send in this script for the medication anyway to the pharmacy, just don’t take it yet until you’ve been tested. And if you have this blood clotting disorder…”
“I know; I shouldn’t take it. My mom said it could increase the risk of blood clots.”
“Yeah. So come in in three months and we’ll see what’s going on.”
She left the exam room, and I pulled my coat on and then left too. I heard her down the hallway saying, “she says her mom has this Factor X Deficiency… have you ever heard of that??”
Giggle giggle. I knew I was right; my mom, her four brothers and sisters, and her parents all have/had Factor X Deficiency. THAT IS WHAT IT’S CALLED. It was my fault though that she spieled on for a good ten minutes about the medication that I actually might not be able to take. I bet I’ll be the office gossip there all day… “Yeah, this insane girl came to see me today and kept forgetting to tell me IMPORTANT PIECES OF INFORMATION!”
I wrote down those important things to tell her, but I left the piece of paper at home this morning.
SEE TORI, I TOLD YOU I WAS FORGETTING SOMETHING!!!
—Edited to add: Yeah, I was wrong. It’s Factor V Leiden Deficiency that my family has. Damn. Damn you, Google, for leading me on.
Western Kansas
January 5, 2009Kansas has gotten its reputation because of the west part of the state. There are abandoned towns, vast amounts of land, and roads that go on for miles out there. The land is flat flat flat, sprinkled with dozens of shiny silver windmills and a house here and there. Most people seem to think that because there aren’t a lot of material things to look at, that it’s boring out there.
I’m in the minority, with the few that think western Kansas is beautiful. Sure, there’s not that much to look at, but driving through gives you so much time to simply think. Isn’t time something everyone wishes they have more of? Being out there allows you to sit back and examine your life in a way you wouldn’t be able to if you were in the city.
I really can’t explain it! All I know is that I get a sense of peace when I’m out there. Yesterday, I realized some things that I needed to do to move on. I don’t want my life to be mundane and filled with places I’ve already been to and stuff I’ve already done. I want to experience the world, and to do that, I needed to be in a place that would help me figure that out on my own. Thank you, western Kansas.
For Your Saftey!
January 2, 2009
I took my Tulsa cousins here today.
Way to represent Kansas, LGA.
I promise you, Blog World, we’re really not all hicks here.
I left them a scathing super nice note informing them that the ten signs they had up on the railings of their gym that hosts many gymnastics meets all spelled “safety” wrong.
How embarrassing.
January 1st
January 1, 2009Happy New Year, Blogging World!
January 2-4: My Tulsa cousins come up. 
They were supposed to come the day after Christmas and stay a long while, but those plans got changed. My uncle has to save his vacation days for our family reunion in June, so my six cousins will only be up here for this weekend.
January 4-5: J and I are taking a trip. Details to follow…
January 15: Back to school! This semester, I’m taking the following classes: Honors English, Intro to Journalism, Women and Violence, Intro to Psychology, and Digital Photography. Should be a good time!
January 16-18: Tentative Tulsa visit date. Two of my cousins have a gymnastics meet on the 18th that I would go watch. Nothing better than sitting in a hot gym trying to figure out who’s doing what. This might get moved though; my cousin Amy says her coach is thinking of pulling the team out of this meet and going to one the weekend after. Or something.
That’s all that’s scheduled now for January 2009!
(Oh, and for anyone who is wondering, my resolutions this year are to continue writing, to do my best in school, and to be positive thanks to Yoon!)
The End of 2008
December 31, 20082008 is been an insane year for me. It started out bright, with me being excited about what the year would bring. The feeling lasted about a month, then my life started spiraling downhill out of control. That was a time when I didn’t yet have my blog, and quite frankly, I don’t want to get back into details. However, time went on. The world kept going. And I moved on. I grew up.
At the beginning of 2008, I made the resolution to completely fill a journal in one year. I previously had journals where I would write for a week then completely forget about it. Guess what? I actually kept my resolution.
In January, I made the decision to apply to college one year early. This was made possible due to the fact I spent that semester being homeschooled, and had the SAT scores to go onto college. I spent hours pouring over websites and deciding where to apply; this was made a bit difficult as some application due dates were January 1st. However, I decided to apply to four: St. Lawrence University, Allegheny College, Florida Atlantic University, and the University of Kansas. When April rolled around, I received my acceptance letters from all four colleges in the mail. St. Lawrence gave me a $30K scholarship, Allegheny a $40K, but I turned down them both (and FAU) for KU. I finally realized that I had spent basically my entire life waiting to leave Kansas without giving any of it a chance. Plus, I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving my friends and my home behind.
I met two of my best friends in 2008. Hillary and I skated together, and discovered one night in February at the ice rink that we had the same taste in music. Our friendship has grown, and now we share all of our embarrassing moments with each other. 
I’ve sorta known Tori for awhile, but we actually started talking in June. We’re basically twins. Almost.
In May, I started this blog!! Tori and Mary convinced me to begin blogging, and it’s been such a wonderful experience so far. The blogging world is amazing!! I keep trying to get my friends and family into it, but they have yet to be as enthralled as I.
I visited many places this past year. Washington DC, South Carolina, Colorado, Maine, New Mexico, Ireland. Plus all the small trips to St. Joe, Tulsa, St. Louis. I’m really lucky that my parents can afford to travel, and that they really enjoy doing it. I get to experience so many different places, and I’m very grateful!
College was also brand new this year. So far, I’ve nearly gotten hit by numerous bikes and buses, walked three blocks with my dress up in my underwear, run towards a bus only to have it leave me standing exasperated and embarrassed, gotten three unfair parking tickets, challenged those three unfair parking tickets and had them removed from my account, aced tests, failed a test, written a few ‘A’ papers, met new people, tripped going up and down stairs in front of people, and still have the ability to laugh at myself.
It’ll be interesting to see what 2009 will bring!
St. Louis
December 30, 2008Was really uneventful, minus the phone calls about Logan. We had a great time, though; it was fun seeing my relatives there! And it was a good opportunity to use Clo, my new camera.
Logan is in the hospital
December 29, 2008Update 12/30 at 4:17PM:
Logan is officially out of the hospital and is doing a bit better, hooray! Stellan, though, is back in the hospital, and does in fact have RSV. His doctors are going to sedate and intubate him to help his lungs get better. Please continue to keep the MckFamily in your thoughts!
——
My baby nine-month-old cousin has been in the hospital all day and will continue to be there through the night. My aunt took him in after he was having trouble breathing, and the doctors are remaining cautious and keeping him there just in case. His x-rays were pretty clear, so I think they ruled out pneumonia, and he is negative for RSV (yay), but his oxygen sats were pretty low. Please keep him in your thoughts tonight.
Also, Stellan the MckMiracle over at My Charming Kids is battling a nasty cold and was hospitalized last night. He’s out now and back home, but please also send good thoughts their way.
Thanks guys.
