Personal Update: Moving, Wedding & Health
Reducing my Carbon Footprint & Commuting Costs
The past couple of weeks have been very busy for me. We just moved across town and are in the process of unpacking. One of the benefits to moving is that I have really reduced my commuting costs from $622.00 per month to $447 (20 mile round trip to ~2 mile round trip). That calculation incorporates car payments, depreciation, car insurance, the price of gas, and more into the mix. If we look at the cost reduction just in fuel to get to and from work (not including any extra stops or other trips), I save about $170/mo in fuel!
Wedding Planning continues…
My finance has been working 7 days a week at two jobs so that’s added a bit of difficulty into the mix as far as moving and wedding planning goes. I’m looking forward to things settling down a bit. We have a place in mind for our stag and drag and hope to make an announcement soon about the time, date, and location! My fiance’s dad is preparing to leave for the military– he goes for training very soon and early next year will get deployed to Iraq.
Health Issues
I was recently diagnosed with a few medical conditions which include severe iron deficiency, B12 deficiency, and an abnormal thyroid. My iron levels were so low they were a “1.” That means I had very little oxygen in my blood. I knew there was a problem when I tried to give blood a couple of weeks ago and was rejected for low iron. They usually test your iron by pricking your finger and dropping it into a vile. My blood wouldn’t sink– it just floated on the top.
I’m now on high doses of iron. Hopefully, my iron will be restored to “normal” so I don’t have to get iron via IV. I hate taking medicine but the doctor told me I need to be on this the rest of my life. An interesting dimension to all of the problems is that they all cause fatigue and tiredness. I had adjusted to the feeling of being tired so I didn’t notice. Once I was aware that there was a problem, I noticed just how tired and run down I felt. It’s like when you have a cut and don’t know it so it doesn’t hurt. Once you know it’s there, it’s painful. This analogy is very similar to how I felt when I found out. I’m expected to regain energy gradually but I hope to be diligent with my medication so this occurs. I got a B12 shot while I was at the doctors– I’ll have to get those every month instead of when I notice I’m light-headed. I go to the endocrinologist in September to dig into the thyroid issue. That’s kind of far away!
Random things…
I wanted to visit my family in North Carolina for the 4th of July but many factors contributed to me not going. It’s been almost a year since I’ve seen my little brother (who turned 8 today!) or my mother… I hope to make a trip down soon.
One of my friends just got engaged!!!! I’m not sure how many people know about it yet so I won’t say who it is yet– but I’m so happy!
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