A Seriously ADHD Post... about ADHD

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak with a group of special education teacher candidates at the college where Ethan works.  As part of my M.Ed, I've done a bit of research on girls with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) - a topic that is near and dear to my heart, as I WAS a girl with (undiagnosed) ADHD.  My research and my personal experience afforded me the opportunity to share with these students the challenges in identifying and helping these girls.  

When we think of ADHD, we tend to think of little rambunctious boys who are disruptive and uncontrollable.  These students exhibit signs of the predominantly hyperactive/impulsive subtype of ADHD.  The other subtype is predominantly inattentive, and its symptoms can be more subtle.  Girls with ADHD almost always have this subtype, and so are considered spacey, disorganized or even just lazy... instead of being identified and helped.  

I wasn't diagnosed until I was 21, and even then, various doctors have gone back and forth about whether I truly have ADHD or if the symptoms are due to my depression.  (ADHD often leads to depression.  Depression leads to attention problems.  Which came first, the chicken or the egg?)  I was lucky to have a knack for test-taking and the ability to process information quickly, so the fact that I rarely completed homework did not hinder my academic success like it does for most undiagnosed girls.  But, I know the frustration and self-esteem issues that come from not being able to focus and not knowing why.  I'm burdened to teach future teachers to recognize the more subtle signs of predominantly inattentive ADHD so that they may notice what their colleagues may miss... and work with the students to develop strategies for coping. Girls with ADHD are significantly more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and eating disorders, and more prone to substance abuse, promiscuity and teen pregnancy. It's a big deal!   

(That's my soapbox, I'm climbing down now.)

Anyway, I prepared a powerpoint presentation (at 1AM the morning it was "due" - have I mentioned I have ADHD?)... I rehearsed transitions in my head, associated anecdotes and additional facts with certain slides... put the flash drive containing the powerpoint presentation in my purse... baked snickerdoodles to leave in the faculty lounge... double-checked that I had my flash drive... got dressed, aiming for casual professional... triple-checked my purse for the flash drive... took a few deep breaths and headed out the door, determined to show that a girl with super-late diagnosed ADHD could be put-together, confident, competent... started the car, put on some "you can do this" music... pulled out of the apartment complex (jubilant that I hadn't forgotten anything)... got stuck at a red light... sighed... 

SMACKED self in head for forgetting the husband's Tylenol, turned around went back.  

Grabbed the Tylenol (took one, that head smack HURT!), checked my purse for my flash drive, and drove to the university.

Received a very nice introduction from the professor, and a warm welcome from the students... popped my flash drive into the computer (take THAT, ADHD!  I did NOT forget my flash drive!)...

The presentation refused to open with that particular version of powerpoint.  DANGIT!!

So instead of an example of coping strategies working for a successful young woman with ADHD, these poor kids got to listen to, and even help me through, a fairly rambling narrative that included some facts from my research, some personal experiences and a pretty good-sized dose of "umm... where was I?"  Which is totally consistent with how a person with ADHD reacts to stress - the symptoms kick into HIGH gear! At least the kids (and by kids, I mean people like 3 years younger than I am, eek!) were gracious and encouraging!  And I did manage to cover the high points... just not as polished-ly as I would have liked :-)

And, they got to watch adult ADHD in action!  Hopefully, it was a valuable learning experience for them, even if it wasn't the experience I had planned :-)  

For making it through that ridiculously long blog post, I leave you with this:

Always,

Katie

Valentine Fun

Hey y'all!  How was your Valentine's Day?  We celebrated early, on Saturday.  Ethan planned a really cool date for us, and after an admissions event at the university, he was all mine :-)

We're both big Star Wars nerds, so we went to see Episode I in 3D. When we first saw the announcement that they'd be re-releasing all of the movies in 3D, there was actually a discussion about whether or not we'd see them.  I mean, really.  They're totally just trying to get more money out of die-hard fans.  Like us. And it works. ** Sigh. **

Anyway, check out the photo-op ads they have in theaters!

Yeah, this ad destroyed any attempt of mine to deny my nerdiness.  'Cause it rocked.

And, our sexy 3D glasses...

Then, we went to a pizza place that tons of people have told us we HAD to try - The Mellow Mushroom.  It was pretty good, but it sure can't touch Marion's (in Dayton, OH)!!  But we had fun ;-)

Afterwards, we went to a paint your own pottery place for their date night.  It was fantastic - the shop was open only to couples with reservations, and they had candles lit and romantic music playing.  Pottery painting has featured heavily in our story... so it was nice to find a place down here.  A little something familiar. :-)

We can pick up Ethan's tank and my vase tomorrow!  Can't wait!

I spent most of Monday AND Tuesday making Valentine cookies.  I had every intention of trying out some fancy icing piping techniques, but by the time I got all of the sugar cookies made, I decided to do runny icing.  So much easier, right?  Welllll... I forgot about setting time.  Oopsie-daisy!  But, I think they turned out pretty cute.  On Wednesday, I took a whole bunch of them to the University for Ethan's coworkers... after all, I do NOT need dozens of cookies in this apartment! 

On the fertility front, I have an appointment with my new endocrinologist next week.  Hopefully, he'll go along with the Metformin idea and we can whip this a1c into submission.  Because I'm on a very angry and bitter swing lately... and seeing some progress in that area would probably help a little.  :-)   

Always,

Katie

Lab Work Blahs

After 3 hours of dealing with the DMV, we finally got SC license plates and SC drivers' licenses... so that was nice.  Then I took Ethan straight to work for his office hours, and headed to a doctor's appointment with my RE.

Overall, there were no major surprises with my labs... my testosterone is high, nothing he can do about it.  My DHEA (I think, and honestly, I'm too pooped to look for the paperwork to make sure that's the right thing) is a little bit high, so he plans to prescribe a tiny dose of steroids (those cause weight gain, right? yay!)  My A1C is high (8.8).  The good news is, my new RE seems pretty aggressive, and also seems to be a really good communicator.  He has already talked to a new endocrinologist about my diabetes and how it relates to my infertility, and is going to talk to him again and ask him to prescribe Metformin.  He believes that we will be able to reign my A1C back in with it, and I really, really hope he's right.  He said that, while I obviously have Type 1 diabetes, I am probably also insulin-resistant enough to qualify as Type 2. 

Even though all of this information is fairly predictable, I'm feeling a little discouraged.  I guess it's just hard to hear it all again. And again.  Annnnddd... again.  The nugget of encouragement today is that my doctor did not blow us off, tell us to come back when my A1C was impossibly low... he came up with a plan, and helped us implement it.  He wants to stay in contact with my other doctor and with us.  His desire to remain in the loop makes me feel like he is invested in us, and in helping our dreams of parenthood come true. 

Always,

Katie

The Cure for Homesickness

Just a quick entry today, to brag that I have the best best friend in the world.  There's this bakery in my hometown that makes LEGENDARY doughnuts, and I got a doozy of a craving for them last week... the day after my ruptured cyst.  Alas, this bakery is 8 hours away now, and my poor ovary would probably have mutinied if I'd tried to drive up there.  But I was soooo tempted!

And then, I get a notification that a package is waiting for me at the apartment offices... we picked it up right after my doctor's appointment on Tuesday, and... look what I found!!!!

My best friend got my two favorite flavors... boxed 'em up, and sent them to SC.  And they got here at JUST the right time to remind me that even though I'm lonely here (having not met anyone)... I'm loved.  

It's a good feeling.  I'll have a doughnut to that!

Always,

Katie

Merry Christmas!

So this is a little late, but I thought I'd share a little bit about our Christmas celebrations.  

Today, I took down our Christmas tree.  And I really don't feel all that bad that it's February 1!  Since we were in the middle of our move, we didn't decorate our Ohio house at all.  As a MAJOR Christmas person, it was a little sad for me, but we got to spend lots of time celebrating at our families' homes.  So, the season wasn't completely empty of twinkly lights and plastic pines.  

The first order of decorating business for me when we got into our apartment was to put up our tree.  Yes, it was December 31, but I didn't care!  We had an intimate, modestvChristmas - just the three of us -  and it was completely romantic.  It felt like a first married Christmas, in a "tiny" apartment, an old Walmart tree, no ornaments (since I accidentally left them on our stove in Ohio)... giving each other small (and in my case, some homemade) gifts, and snuggling.  I LOVE snuggling!  It was the most perfect Christmas ever, and totally worth waiting a week to have! And New Year's Day had so much significance for us this year - as it was really more like "New Life Day." 

Here is our tree... It's the one I had in my dorm room my last year of college, and it only cost me $35 back then.  It is a little worn out and wimpy - but hey! - the price was right and it's pre-lit!  

And this was one of my favorite gifts for Ethan this year - I commissioned custom-made ornaments by Cute-n-Clay (aka, my friend Rachel). 

Perfect for my adorably nerdy husband - "old school" Nintendo controllers, and the newer WiiMotes!  Rachel just started blogging, so go visit!  Besides ornaments, she makes figurines and cake toppers... with super-cute attention to detail. Check out her Etsy shop, too! 

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas season, and a great start to 2012!

Always,

Katie

What Do You Wear on a Day Like Today?

I was seriously freaking out looking through my closet this morning! I wanted to look young and vital, but grown up enough... pretty, but not like I'm trying too hard... confident, but flexible... smart, but not know-it-all... 

So, what do you wear to meet the guy you hope will get you pregnant?  

I mean, I met my husband and future baby-daddy wearing a mall cop uniform (in case you didn't know me back then, nope, this was not a Halloween costume)... but, that particular outfit was replaced long ago with blouses and jeans :-)  

That's right... today was our first appointment with my new infertility specialist.  We really, really like him... he is casual and unassuming but very sharp, which is a trait combination I can work with in a doctor.  In fact, he reminds me a little bit of my beloved Dr. A... who unfortunately wouldn't move to SC with us.  We asked.  Anyway, I think I spotted a little bit of a glimmer of excitement to work with an infertile type 1 diabetic... I have a unique combination of symptoms and conditions that doesn't come up every single day!  

He ordered pretty standard blood work on both of us, since it has been over a year since we did all of that at the Ohio fertility center... and gave me a script for some Provera to hopefully entice my dear Aunt Flo... who, it seems, decided to stay up north when we moved. After the lab work comes back, we'll go from there!  We're both feeling pretty optimistic.

One of the (accidentally) cruelest things well-meaning fertiles tell us is that "this is all God's timing, His will."  And even though we truly believe that God loves us, wants the best for us, and has a plan for us... it HURTS to contemplate WHY His timing and plan are causing us pain.  Why would he give us this desire to be Godly parents, raising beautiful, Godly children... then make it so hard, or even impossible? 

As we prepared for this move, we began to realize something.  Moving is hard.  It is a lot of logistics, a lot of hard physical labor, and exhausting in every sense of the word.  And that was to move two able-bodied adults and a tiny dog... a baby would have made that SO much tougher, as would a wife who was nearing the end of a pregnancy, or just starting out on one.  So the idea of not having conceived yet being a blessing is actually starting to make a little more sense to us.  Not that it doesn't still stink, but... you know.  :-)  

Always,

Katie

The Big Move

Okay, so the details behind that crazy, last-minute surprise move:  

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that my husband is a high school teacher... and maybe mentioned that he is pursuing an Ed.D.  He has reached the stage in his doctorate where he has finished all of the coursework and passed the comprehensive exam, and "only" has the dissertation left to complete.  So, knowing that he is about a year from completing the degree, he began scoping out the higher education employment scene, just so he'd know what he'd be getting into in the next year or so.  

To his (and my) amazement, he found a position for which he was wonderfully qualified!  It's at Anderson University, in South Carolina.  Anderson is a private Christian school, looking to expand their education program, and they had a rare, mid-year job opening in their secondary education department. 

It would be really tough to describe all of the things that let us know just how God had his hands all over this situation.  We learned of the opening sometime in early-mid November, flew out to interview on Black Friday, accepted the job a few weeks later, moved most of our stuff over his Christmas break from school (one big Penske load, and we towed my car behind us.  AWESOME!), flew home, he taught the last few days of the high school semester (til a Friday), piled a few stray essentials in his car, drove down that Saturday, and he was in college faculty meetings on Monday.  

With barely enough time to catch our breath, he went from this: 

to this:

I am so proud of my professor!  And so glad that he found a job with encouraging, Christian colleagues and mentors and students who WANT to be there... in a beautiful, thriving Southern town.  And so proud of US for taking the leap of faith and being open to God's direction - even when it was really, really scary! We are so excited about our "new life" together!

Always,

Katie

InstaFriday

 I'm joining in (for the first time) on the InstaFriday linky party at Life Rearranged.  Here are a few of my cellphone pics of the week!

After seeing this little darling on Pinterest, I decided I needed another pet.  (This was an iPhone screenshot, so I'm totally counting it as a cell pic.)

I adore my Charley, but he just doesn't fit in a measuring cup anymore. 

 My hubby and I had a WONDERFUL date this past weekend - we went to one of our new Southern favorites (Cheddar's Casual Cafe) and saw Beauty and the Beast in 3D.  Am I a lucky girl or what?

And, even if he doesn't fit in a measuring cup anymore, my precious Charley was a wonderful nurse on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I had another big, big ovarian cyst rupture, so I spent the afternoon in bed... and the evening in the ER.  I had a few other symptoms that made us a little extra nervous.  But, everything checked out fine :-)  This is Charley sitting on my chest, having just cleaned my face!

Always, 

Katie

Guess What...

Yep!  

It came as a huge surprise to even us, but Ethan and Charley and I all packed up and moved over 500 miles away from most of our family and friends, his job, and the towns where we were each raised.  And we did this in the span of about two weeks!

Later, I will fill you in on some of the details of our move, as well as some of the highlights of our crazy life that y'all missed during my extended (not entirely intentional) blogcation.  But for now, I thought I'd share the change of address cards we sent (today, actually) to most of our Christmas card list... since we totally didn't make time for Christmas cards this year!!

Thanks to Pinterest, and long before we had any inkling that this move might be happening, I found this idea for handmade paint chip address cards.  I have a slight major addiction to paint chips, and a huge collection that I have stolen borrowed obtained from Lowe's and WalMart, so I thought to myself, "Hey. It could happen.  One day when we're in our nineties, we may leave our sweet little honeymoon home and move into an assisted living facility and want to let people know where to find us.  I'll pin it, just in case." 

Whelp.  We're not ninety yet, and it's not assisted living, but... I'm glad I pinned these!  (PS: Anybody else on Pinterest?  I'm SUCH an addict!  Follow me!)

I adapted her design a little bit.  Mostly:

• I used business card specialty paper that I happened to have laying around for the actual address card.
• I used a wide paint chip for the background, and a contrasting color for the little strip.  I love that hers is an illusion, but I liked the idea of a little more color and I didn't have to worry about how many chips of which colors I had.  
• I did not tape down the white address part... and I only taped down the ends of the skinny strips.  Which means that my business card sized address card will come out of the bigger card and can be easily tucked in someone's address book, basket, whatever. :-)

Stick around - I'll post details, apartment fun, some goals for our new life, and maybe a recipe or two that make us happy people... haha!  

Always,

Katie

It's the Little Things... in the midst of some big things

Between my Clomid and the extra estrogen I'm on, I have been having a hard time keeping a brave face.  I have been sick, throwing up or getting pretty close to it... not sleeping, or having nightmares when I do sleep.  I had another rough doctor's appointment this morning, too... found out that we may not even know the extend of my infertility problems, and am looking at the possibility of surgery in another couple of months if I'm still not pregnant.  So, this week's "Little Things" link-up was too timely to pass up!  

I made these yummy cookies the other day... I got the recipe from the lovely ladies at Our Best Bites, and had to make them the same evening.  I also got to take them to my in-laws' house for a bit of a pitch-in dinner, which is another smiley thing :-) They are so easy, and cute... and don't require any rolling or flour-sprinkling.  Which always results in a huge mess on every surface of our home!  I used orange candy melts from Wilton, melted them in my little melter pot, and dipped the bottom of the cookies in.  Added jussssst a tiny bit of something extra, so the plain sugar cookies were less plain. :-)

Our brand new iPhone 4S phones came this week!  Wheeeee!!  These puppies are quick and powerful.  I thought the 3GS was amazing... this model makes it look like a rotary phone!!!!

I've been really into wide, stretchy belts lately.  They've updated a couple of my sweaters, and give me an instant hourglass!  Makes me feel a little prettier on days when the hormones make me feel like an ogre.

Speaking of ogres... watch out.  This next photo is me with almost no makeup and no glasses, bedhead, and a tear-stained face and tear-swollen eyes.

Ethan took this picture of Charley letting me hold him and cuddle like a baby, as I recovered after my appointment today.  Aren't I a lucky girl? :-) These are just a few o the little things that have made me smile through tears this week... how 'bout you?

Always,

Katie

PS: Linking up to my cousin, Lindsay!