10: Dr. Thrift

 

As an undergraduate student getting my bachelor's degree in Nursing, I remember saying, "I'm NEVER going back to school again."

I was done.

The bachelor's Degree in Nursing is one of the most demanding professional degrees you can pursue anywhere. The standard expected is profound. The reason for the standard is more profound. It's all about helping people. Don't let anyone ever tell you anything different about nursing.

You're here to serve when you're a nurse.

But I struggled mightily to earn a bachelor's degree. It was no easy task to learn what is needed to be a nurse, much less a good one. To be a good nurse takes time and a lot of patience. You can read my thoughts on motivation to earn a nursing degree in an article I recently published, You're Not Cut Out for This: Motivation to Succeed.

That article addresses some of the dilemmas I faced as I attempted to understand the course of my young adult life. Little did I know, though, some of those same issues would arise again about diabetes.

"Did you have a lot of patients? Did you have a lot of patience?" That is one of two questions my mom used to ask me when I began my career as a nurse. I'm working on a manuscript for another article I want to publish addressing these two questions and how important they were to founding my career as a nurse. But patience was at the heart of my issues from November 2021-May 2022.

I wasn't being patient with myself.

As mentioned, the A1c of 5.8 was no big issue, and by June 2022, I had reduced the A1c back down to 5.6. This considerable victory allowed me to settle down and focus on the tasks. In this case, finishing my Ph.D.

June 28, 2022, was the deadline for my Ph.D. final defense. I was over a month away from completing my Ph.D. when I got the news of the lowered A1c. This helped my mindset in so many ways. But it also helped me see that I needed to stop stressing over things beyond my control.

It has yet to be determined precisely how an A1c will respond. Now, if you eat things you shouldn't all the time, are constantly overindulging, never exercise, are pretty sedentary, and have a family history of diabetic concerns, then it shouldn't be a massive surprise that A1c issues might happen. I was shocked that I had an A1c of 10 on March 31, 2021, but I knew something was off. But the A1c of 5.8 is a fluctuation of sorts.

Your heart rate bounces around between 60-100 beats per minute. There's a usual ebb and flow as your heart pumps blood. You do get concerned if it ever remains at a rapid pace or prolonged, but ultimately if it resides between those numbers all the time, you're great. A1c results measure a timeframe of 3 months. So, during those 3 months, your A1c probably goes up and down some, but it shouldn't be drastic. A1c isn't static. The result after 3 months depends on what you have eaten, how much you exercised, and frankly, your mindset sometimes.

During that 3 months, you ate a few more sweets than you thought. Indulged in more food than you should have. Once you reach the age where your metabolism slows down, this could be a reason for the A1c rising slightly. This could seem normal when you have sugar issues like I do while taking Glucophage. Regardless, you can't completely control the ebb and flow of an A1c. That's up to how your pancreas and body are working. All you can control is what you eat and do and your mindset.

That's where I struggled, the mindset. But once the A1c result was 5.6, I realized I must stop doing that. Stressing had caused a lot of issues around that time. I worried about everything, from finances to work, school, sugar control, you name it.

With my A1c and heart in good shape, I only had to think about work and school. Progressing through June, I was nearing the culmination of 7 years of work. If you google the time it takes to complete a Ph.D., the result says initially 8 years, but a minimum of 4-6, depending on the sources used. My degree was falling in line with what most takes to complete because it is hard. People have asked me how I would compare a Ph.D. to a master's degree. I tell them there is no comparison. Ph.D. is much more complicated. The coursework for a Ph.D. is comparable to a master's degree coursework, but there's nothing else like it in the dissertation phase. You're going to work very hard. I compare my Ph.D. struggles with my bachelor's degree struggles.

Somewhere along the way, you must decide whether you want to do this? I had to do that for my nursing degree, and I had to do the same for my Ph.D.

Finally, on June 28, 2022, when my defense was concluded and all the questions had been asked, my committee finished deliberating, and I was back on Zoom face-to-face with them; my Chair looked at me and said, "Congratulations, Dr. Thrift."

That was the moment I knew it was finished. Everything that followed was just icing on the cake. On vacation that year at the beach, we watched people shooting fireworks up and down the shore. It was the 4th of July, and everyone on the beach was shooting them off. Except for me, for a change. I sat back, watching and smiling as my mom said, "They are doing this for you, son. A celebration for you being done."

Not just done with the Ph.D., but done with school FOREVER! I still have much to learn, mind you, but I won't be returning back to school for any degrees again. I'll save degree programs for my children to pursue if they so desire. But as far as degrees, I've done all I wanted to do. Like I said, I never thought I would return to school for any more degrees after my bachelor's, but life has a way of adjusting your priorities. I knew this all too well from the A1c issues too.

I didn't know what was coming next. Once you let down your guard and delight in reverie, the greatest of issues can arise sometimes. Sounds similar to A Christmas Story, right. In this case, it wasn't about the loss of a turkey. This time it was COVID.

Tune in next time for 10: COVID.