Surprise! (To Fulfill Demands For Further Information)

Last Friday I dragged myself out of bed, and ran to my neurobiology class to turn in a paper. I kind of dozed through the rest due to extreme fatigue. Afterwards, I ran home, fixed myself up, and went to a molecular biology review, and ran to the Student Health Center. My doctor, Lorraine, printed out a copy of my bloodwork results for me so I could see, and we went through them together.

Well, guys, guess what? Apparently, I have high cholesterol. This is unusual since I'm 19, skinny, and I eat healthy. We shrugged that one off though and attributed it to genetics. But guess what else? There is probably something going on with my thyroid. I know what a few of you want to ask... does this mean hypo- or hyperthyroidism? Hypothyroidism is most likely because we think my thyroid is underactive. Stupid lazy thyroid. We deduced this because the TSH levels in my blood were EXTREMELY high. Which we think means that:

1. My thyroid isn't doing its job, or in other words, isn't producing enough triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) like it should be. T3 and T4 regulate metabolism and energy and such. If there's not enough of it, I'll always be fatigued and lethargic, quite intolerant of cold, depressed, not able to remember things as clearly, dry skin, etc. Whoo. That's exactly my problem.
2. Sensory neurons in the hypothalamus in my brain detect that there isn't enough T3 or T4 in my bloodstream.
3. So my hypothalamus sends a signal to my pituitary gland to release more thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH).
4. TSH is supposed to stimulate my thyroid to produce T3 and T4, but since it isn't, the vicious cycle continues.

That is our theory. The primary symptoms we'd see if we're right is extreme fatigue and weakness and a few others. Hey... that sounds dreadfully familiar! So I think we're right. If we're wrong about that then I suppose something could possibly be wrong with my pituitary gland... I'd prefer that something is wrong with my thyroid. Obviously a tumor on my pituitary gland would... suck.

After finals I'm going to visit an endocrinologist and they'll perform more tests and we'll see what's going on. If my doctor and I are right? Then I'll probably have to end up taking thyroid hormone. Whoohoo. Possibly for just a few months, or possibly for the rest of my life. Wonderful, eh?

I suppose most people might come out of the doctor's office a little bummed to find something wrong like that, but I instead felt... relief. I have a little better idea about what is going on with my life. This, I like.

I get home to find my teeny little apartment a veritable mess (Really? This was clean last night!). Well, crap. I have a date coming over at four. Plus it should be cleaned because it's nasty. So I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned until it was 4pm and Jared showed up. He helped me finish the dishes, and then we went into our living room to watch the end of the movie we started last week on our date.

I noticed that although last time he sat a good foot away from me on the couch, this time he sat right up close to me. I allowed this and leaned into it, although I was still kind of cold and kept my arms folded. About twenty minutes into the movie though, I heard a big sigh from Jared. He said in my ear, "Jenna, you know, with your arms folded like that, I can't hold your hand." It was a good thing we were cuddling so he couldn't see me turning red. "Oh, sorry!" And I gave him my hand. And we held hands.

No, I wasn't expecting that. I might need to reevaluate what I know about Jared. Quiet, yes. Shy, not as much as I thought he was. Bold... erm, actually, yes. He just might be.

We finished the movie, and then looked through recipes until we decided what we wanted for dinner. He decided on shepherd's pie for dinner, and I decided on peach cobbler for dessert. We walked a few blocks to where his car was parked, holding hands, and went shopping for the ingredients we didn't already have. Then we came home, and held hands some more, and made dinner and dessert, and talked, and ate, completely cleaned up after ourselves, and after about four hours I told him I was really tired and needed to go to bed. He gave me a good hug and left, but not before I made sure he wanted to do something next Saturday. Which he did.

Saturday? Conference. I watched it on my computer in my pajamas with my hair all unkempt and such, because I only had the willpower to get out of bed just before it started. What I was not expecting was for Jared to show up immediately after the morning session to say hello.

Shannon was rubbing my shoulder when I heard a knock on our door and Shannon said abruptly, "Guess who I just saw walk by our window?"

"Jared?"

It was indeed. He walked in and I blinked in surprise.

"Jared! I'm... in my pajamas!" I said cheerfully.

He laughed. I got up and gave him a big hug. Who freaking cares if it's noon and I still look like I did when I rolled out of bed? I'm still gorgeous. Bahahaaa!

His excuse for coming was to get more peach cobbler. Although I had made A LOT, there was only a small bowlful left. I let him have it. He was shocked to find that although the two of us had completely cleaned the kitchen just last night, both sinks were now overflowing with dishes and the kitchen looked nasty again. Ridiculous, isn't it? He left shortly, because I admittedly was just about to get in the shower when he showed up... and I still needed to do so.

After watching the afternoon conference, I thought for a moment. The next scheduled time to see Jared is... Monday, at FHE (we recently and conveniently combined FHE groups). And today is Saturday.

...

Unacceptable.

Soooo... I pull out my phone, call him, and ask if he wants to go watch conference at the Manavu Chapel with me tomorrow. As expected, he accepts with a barely contained hint of glee in his voice. Yessssssss.

Well, Sunday comes, and this time I'm not in my pajamas, but in Sunday dress. He comes to pick me up, and we walk over together holding hands. We watch it and cuddle. During the closing song, he put his arm around me and I leaned in right where I could hear his heartbeat. A secret... I love looking at people's eyes, I love playing with people's hands, and I love listening to people's heartbeats. I like his heartbeat.

Sunday morning session ended and we exited the chapel... but Jared said, "Let's go on a walk first." Okay... we talk about random things for a while, but he seems to know EXACTLY where he wants to take me. I let him lead, but I have no idea where we are going. Finally though, we get up onto the lonely little red brick path on Maeser Hill. I think this was his destination, because he finally stopped asking/saying random things and said, "Jenna, I've never had a girlfriend before..."

I know exactly where he wants to go with this. "Well, I've never had a boyfriend." I paused just long enough to prevent an awkward pause. "So... you wanna date?"

"Yes," he said.

"Okay," I replied. "Let's do it."

Well I suppose that was the purpose of the whole walk and the red brick path, because he wheeled us around and we started to head for home. We didn't say much for a minute. And then he abruptly said, "So... I've never been kissed before either..."

I blinked. "... ... Me neither."

He turned to me. "Would you like to say we have?"

I thought: Ahhh! I just had my first hand-holding experience two days ago! And I've only been your girlfriend for approximately ninety seconds! You want a kiss? Already? Not that I'd mind, but isn't that a little bit fast-paced? Yikes, you're braver and bolder than I thought you were...

But my gut reaction was: Heck yes, I want to kiss you. So what actually come out of my mouth was, "Yeah." So we kissed once. And then decided we needed to try again. And then we walked home.

We got to my doorstep only to find Rachel making faces at us in the window, so I gave him a goodbye hug. I shut the door behind me, and Rachel shook her head disappointedly at me. "You should've smooched 'im."

I glared playfully. "I did. Twice."

[Insert chaos amongst roommates here, and me being forced to tell the story about twenty times until everyone has heard it.]

Jared and I went to the last session of conference, and cuddled a bit, and then he walked me home. I gave him a hug, a kiss, and a hug, and went inside. By that time I was so tired that I just kind of collapsed into bed.

The end thus far.
Love, Jenna.