anahorvath.com

Category: Life

  • I Have PCOS

    PCOS

    Hi everyone! Sorry for missing last weekend. It was a bit crazy! It was good though, so nothing too crazy is going on in my life. This post may be a bit personal and if you’re not that into health-related content, then maybe you come back next Sunday! Please do what’s best for you. I will be talking about some stuff that relates more to the female body also, so again, if that’s not your thing, that’s totally fine! So this past week, I was informed that I have PCOS, or polycystic ovarian syndrome. I just wanted to take this time and dedicate this post to reflecting on that and sharing a bit about it.

    According to the Office of Women’s Health from the US Department of Health and Human Services, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is:

    a common health problem caused by an imbalance of reproductive hormones. The hormonal imbalance creates problems in the ovaries. The ovaries make the egg that is released each month as part of a healthy menstrual cycle. With PCOS, the egg may not develop as it should or it may not be released during ovulation as it should be.

    – Office on Women’s Health in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

    As a result of failed ovulation and improper development of the egg, this can lead to the formation of cysts (which can vary in size) in the ovaries. In some women, this can be painful and in others it may not bother them. Some women don’t even actually develop cysts and may still be diagnosed with PCOS. And when referring to “hormonal imbalance”, the Office on Women’s Health is referring to high androgen (“male” hormone, even though women do naturally have a small amount of these) levels and high levels of insulin. Again, not all women with PCOS present with both high androgen levels and high insulin levels, but this is typically the case. Typical other symptoms or signs that a woman may have PCOS include but are not limited to hair loss, weight gain or having a difficult time losing weight, increased presence of facial hair, acne, and/or irregular/non-existent periods.

    Before I discuss my own personal experiences, I would just like to say that by no means am I a doctor. Just because I experienced one thing doesn’t mean it will hold true for everyone, so please keep that in mind. I speak only for myself when I say what I’m going to say. 😉 When looking at my case, my biggest issue was my extremely irregular period. And when I say irregular, I mean that it would typically come every 2-3 months and if I was lucky, it might show every month like it is supposed to. Yes, I did breakout more around the time of my period but I figured that was normal. When my period skipped, I experienced what I thought was cramping/pelvic pain, and I thought it might come and then it never did. I did experience some hair loss beginning when I was about 15 or 16 but I feel that might have been related to going on a steroid inhaler for an extended amount of time. I don’t think I’ll truly ever know if that was correlated though, because my hair is growing much thicker and faster than it ever has now (and I’m SO thankful for it!!).

    In an attempt to treat what I thought was just irregular periods, I was on birth control for about a year. This did help regulate my period but I began having heart palpitations. The longer I was on the pill, the more frequently I had palpitations too, which was concerning. As a result of that, I came off the pill and thankfully the extra heartbeats or lack of a heartbeat came to a stop. I thought that maybe a year of regulation on the pill would serve as a jumpstart for my body. Maybe my hormones had finally figured it out. But oh boy, WAS I WRONG. I understand that birth control can do strange things with your hormone and that some women don’t see their period for a year after coming off of the pill, but something just felt wrong. My period did not come and I was just concerned.

    So, I ended up finding an OB/GYN in my area and I shared everything with her. After discussing some things with her, I had an ultrasound done and two separate blood tests. During the ultrasound, we were looking for the appearance of cysts in my ovaries. They were there. During the blood tests, she was looking to see what my follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels were like. She checked other hormones, but these were two key ones. My LH was higher than my FSH which on a very basic level means that my ovaries would be unable to ovulate properly, hence so many missed periods. In a normal case, on the third day of a woman’s period, FSH and LH should be at a 1:1 ratio. Again, my levels did not look like that.

    At this point, my OB/GYN was pretty confident I had PCOS, but I had my second blood test done to confirm that it was PCOS and not some other disorder/disease that mimics polycystic ovarian syndrome. I had a full lipid panel done in addition to having a diabetes screening, and had a few more hormone levels checked. From that blood test, my diagnosis was confirmed.

    Prior to officially knowing what was going on, there was a lot of uncertainty. I fear the unknown and it was honestly troubling and frustrating not knowing why my body wasn’t working right. I had done some research on PCOS prior to being told that’s what I had and it was a bit scary reading some stuff. The biggest red flag that came to me was the word infertility. Every source I combed through mentioned that it may be more challenging to have kids and that was disappointing to me! But, from what I learned with my OB/GYN and the ultrasound technician and with further research, PCOS is the most common, but treatable, cause of infertility in women, which was incredibly encouraging.

    I think it’s important to note that prior to getting a diagnosis or a result, it’s okay to feel scared and unsure. But, you shouldn’t allow yourself to jump to conclusions and get all worked up over something you don’t really know much about yet. You need to educate yourself and properly do your research to look for solutions and a brighter perspective. Yes, there is no cure for PCOS but there are ways to manage it. Yes, there may be a slight challenge with fertility but I know that it is extremely possible to have healthy, normal pregnancies even with PCOS and that penalty of women been through that. Yes, there might be a lot that I still don’t know about this condition that I have but it will not change how I function as a person. If anything, it will help me be more in-tune with my body and see what all I am capable of in attempting to become the best version of myself.

    I’m just going to continue working out, eating healthy, loving food (because who doesn’t?!?), and loving life. Have a wonderful week everyone! ❤️

  • My First Interview with a Dental School!!

    Hi everyone! I hope you had a beautiful week. This week was a good one for me. I had my first exam for a class on Friday last week and I’m currently getting ready to go into my first interview with a dental school. I’m so excited to announce this and feel incredibly honored to say that I have received an invitation to interview with Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC!

    I applied to five schools overall: Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC, Texas A&M College of Dentistry, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC College of Dentistry), Creighton University School of Dentistry, and University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine. I would be an amazing opportunity to attend any of these schools and I feel so excited and encouraged to have received even one interview. In addition to this interview, I actually also heard back from University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, and I will be attending their interview this upcoming week as well.

    Regarding my interview with USC, that begins today at 2 pm. I will be doing a written assessment and MMI interview which I believe will involve a variety of questions regarding difficult situations and scenarios. I will be limited in the time I have to prepare my answers and then deliver them so that my answer is the most candid answer I produce. I will be very curious to see what I am asked! As far as I know, I will not be interviewed directly by their admissions committee, but they will review all of my answers. I then have an admissions presentation to watch today as well. Tomorrow I will complete my interview with USC in a group setting. I look forward to the opportunity I have with USC and regardless of the outcome, it is so encouraging for me to have had the chance to interview with a school like Herman Ostrow.

    Before I received both of my interview invites, I was really starting to doubt myself. I’ve always known that I’m smart. While I don’t always admit it, I would really consider myself an incredibly hard-working, persistent, and intelligent person. But when you apply to dental school, you’re not the only hard-working, persistent, and smart person in the room. I started to worry that maybe I’m not good enough and I started to think that maybe I would never hear back. God works in funny ways though. The night before I received my interview invitation from USC, I sat in my apartment crying as I looked back over my application status, seeing that nothing had changed. Yes, I understood that it would take awhile for me to hear back from schools or that I may never hear back. But with that being said, I had read over a forum for prospective dental students that mentioned that all the schools I applied to with the exception of University of Colorado had supposedly already been sending out interview invitations since late July. I thought that maybe I was behind. Maybe I really wasn’t good enough. And then a little glimmer of hope appeared the next day after I got back from my morning classes. I received the good news from USC.

    interview with a dental school

    If I have learned anything during this dental school application process, it is that this process is my own journey. While other people may find it helpful to others to let them know when they’ve received interview invites or even helpful to their own confidence to brag to the world about what all they’ve got going for them, then more power to them. I’m going to take this journey as my own thing. I’m going to be thankful and grateful for every opportunity I get. Of course I will support people I know that are along for the same ride; they deserve all the best!! But maybe I also deserve the best. I have worked so hard to get to the point I have and I hope I get the chance to see that hard work pay off.

    I’m gonna go give this interview with a dental school my all now and keep you all updated on how it goes now. Have a great week everyone! And to those of you also applying to dental school or even medical school or some other graduate program, keep your heads up and keep chasing your dreams. We can do this. 🙂

  • Adventures in Squirrel-Sitting

    Hi everyone and Happy Labor Day weekend. I hope you get to enjoy a nice three-day weekend like I do. Tonight, we found a really young (and hopefully healthy!) baby squirrel on our driveway. While there isn’t much for me to say now, I can tell you a few things:

    My dad was going out to pull in his truck and he noticed this little blob near the garage. He thought it was a hamster at first, but low and behold, it was a baby squirrel. He brought my sister and I out, and after a few minutes, I decided to call Animal Control to see what we could do. The little baby wasn’t moving much but he was definitely breathing and didn’t look injured. If anything, he just looked sleepy.

    baby squirrel

    Animal Control came after about 15 minutes and the officer helped move the little squirrel from the garage (which he wiggled into) and into the grass so she could check to see if he was injured. Again, we saw that he was okay, just very young. He clearly still wasn’t too strong for walking, although he did attempt to climb the tree in our front yard. After telling us that she couldn’t take in our baby squirrel, she provided us with a bucket and towel to keep him in over night. And that’s where this ends for now! I’ll update this post tomorrow and keep you all posted on how our sweet little new friend does!

    UPDATE!!!

    Hi, everyone. This is Ana writing to you all on Monday (9/6/21) with an update on our little baby squirrel situation! He made it through the night for one, so that’s great news. Second, he now has a name and his name is Chip. 🙂 Third, we attempted reunification (meaning we tried to call out for a mama squirrel using a looping baby squirrel sound that was set near the bucket he was chilling in) and it didn’t work. So, we aren’t sure what happened with Chip’s mom, but regardless, he needed a new place to go. When we met with the Animal Control officer yesterday, she had mentioned a wildlife rehabilitation center that we could reach out to for guidance. I called in the morning to see what to do with Chip and they were the ones to first help me try and reunite our baby squirrel with his mama. After that failed, they recommended we bring him in. Now as I write this, I can say that Chip is hopefully now in a safe place surrounded by people who will know what to do and help him get big and strong and then eventually go back to the wild.

    This video that you see on the left is little Chip all snuggled up in the towel provided by our local Animal Control. I took this video this morning (also don’t mind me baby-talking to the little guy haha). All he has done since we put him in the bucket is sleep. He loves snuggling with his tail lying over his face or with his paws resting on his nose. While I’ve definitely tried to give our little baby squirrel his space, I’ve wanted to check on him from time to time to make sure he’s still breathing and is doing okay. I really hope he’s going to be okay.

    While I only knew this little squirrel for less than 24 hours, I became so attached. This is going to sound so weird, but I hope that our sweet little Chip has the most wonderful life a squirrel can ever have. He brought the shortest, sweetest, and most random little adventure to my family. Chip, every squirrel I ever see, will now always remind me of you. 🙂 You were one cute little guy.

    Have a good week everyone!

  • Last First Day of School! Last First Day of School!

    last first day of school

    For those of you who don’t know, I’m graduating from Colorado State University this fall! Needless to say, I am VERY excited. So, this past week, I had my last first day of school. Or at least, my last first day of undergrad.

    I’m taking thirteen credits this semester in addition to tutoring anatomy eight hours a week. I’m taking human nutrition, pathology, genetics, and my senior honors seminar on the Cold War. Things were off to a pretty good start this week and I’m very excited to see where things go this semester.

    We are required to wear masks within all university buildings and there was a vaccination requirement in order for us to take classes this semester (unless we wanted to be tested twice a week and fill out exemption paperwork). I’m just hoping that I can have a semi-normal graduation at the end of this semester and walk away with opportunities for dental school.

    While this may be my last first day of undergrad and I’m considered a senior and “big dog” on campus, I’m really not feeling that. In my honors seminar this past week, a couple of the other students were mentioning that the senioritis is kicking in hard and it made me laugh hearing that again. I remember when everyone brought that up in high school and then, I could agree. Now though, I’m ready to kick things into high gear and just get going. I’m looking forward to a good semester and I’ll keep you all updated on how things go. For now, cheers to those of you also celebrating your last first day of school, have a great week, and go Rams!!

  • Colorado Springs Trip!

    Colorado Springs Trip!

    We had family in town this past week and for one last little getaway, we decided to spend a couple of days in Colorado Springs. I can’t recall ever truly vacationing in my home state, but from this experience, I found that it is so much fun. And more importantly, I got to spend time with family that I haven’t seen in over a year which was so special.

    We met for dinner in Colorado Springs on Monday night. The entire trip was a celebration of my aunt and dad’s birthday. No, they are not twins, but they do have the same birthday, just three years apart. So on Monday night, we celebrated my dad’s birthday with a barbecue dinner since he couldn’t be with us on his actual birthday. A bunch of meetings and conference calls were on his birthday agenda. We also went swimming that night which was a lot of fun. I haven’t been swimming in the longest time and it was really fun to goof off for a few hours.

    Tuesday, the 10th, we drove up to the Cave of the Winds. I had never been in a cave prior to this experience so I was a bit nervous about feeling claustrophobic or trapped but those feelings never came to me which was great. While I have heard that this cave system is nothing compared to the Carlsbad Caverns, I feel like it was a great introduction to what our world looks like underground and it’s pretty cool! Some of my favorite formations that we got to see were this one called E.T. and another referred to as Romeo and Juliet. I also learned that you can better remember the difference between stalactite and stalagmite by knowing that stalactites hang on TIGHT to the ceiling and you better watch your feet otherwise you stalagMIGHT stub your toe. 🙂

    After Cave of the Winds, we went to the Broadmoor to walk around and eat at one of my favorite restaurants in the area, The Golden Bee. It has this really cute English pub vibe to it and the entire restaurant is bee-themed. Like even the wallpaper in the bathroom has little bees on it. My favorite part though, is getting a little bee sticker thrown at you when you first sit down at your table. This was my aunt’s choice for her birthday meal and it was so special to get to share that with her at such a fun restaurant. I had a very yummy pulled pork sandwich for lunch that day. 10/10 recommend!!

    Colorado Springs

    To round out August 10th, we then went to the Olympic and Paralympic Museum which I believe opened fairly recently. While the museum was incredibly cool and inspiring, it is much more interactive than I would have liked. There were a lot of kids everywhere and it was just a bit busy for my liking. I really did enjoy getting to see the Olympic torches and medals though. Very cool.

    On August 11th, the next day, my dad was able to join us again and we spent the morning at Garden of the Gods. Boo, my dog, got to be there as well, and we all had a lot of fun. I think Garden of the Gods is such a breathtaking and incredible feat of nature. Also, the last time my family and I visited Garden of the Gods, I was in a cast, so this time DEFINITELY beats the last time we were there.

    After our time at the Garden, we drove to Old Colorado City, which is a cute, older, little touristy town that is technically considered a part of Colorado Springs but it used to be its own town that served as a supply stop for miners headed to find gold. Around lunch time, we stopped at the Colorado Mountain Brewery where I had the most colorful and yummy salad I’ve had in a while! The service was great in addition to the food too, so if you’re looking for good food in that area, check it out.

    Colorado Springs

    Fully energized, we then visited the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo which is AN AMAZING ZOO OH MY GOODNESS. Right off the bat, you come to find that the animals are so so so close to you and that there’s a lot you can do to interact with them. You can feed the giraffes lettuce (which I totally paid $3 for!!), you can feed the elephants apples and celery (I think?), and much more. To be able to interact with animals like that is so special and I feel like it increases awareness about caring for our planet so we can keep amazing animals like those around for a long, long time. While feeding the giraffes was probably my favorite thing that we did, I also really enjoyed getting to see the zoo’s baby hippo. What. A. Cutie!

    The next day, we brought my aunt and uncle back to my hometown and we spent that day driving for the most part but then just relaxing once we got home. Boo and Bobo were sure glad to have us back.

    Friday, we visited the Denver Botanic Gardens. I have been in the past, and while I did enjoy it then, this time was even better because things were actually blooming and very much so alive. It was great to get to walk around and see all the pretty flowers and plants. My sister and I also managed to find this bamboo forest area we hadn’t seen before so that was fun to find! To end a pretty good day out, we grabbed Crumbl Cookies and celebrated my aunt and dad together. Family is so important to me and to be able to share moments like those that we did mean the world to me.

    We said goodbye to my aunt and uncle yesterday morning and since then, life has been pretty quiet and chill again. It was so good to spend so much good time with my aunt and uncle again and I look forward to our next get-together. There will be lots of game nights and dance offs and stories and giggles, just like always. 🙂 Colorado Springs, thanks for a good time! Have a good week everyone!

  • Feel Better Soon, Boo

    So this past week, my eleven year old silky wire-haired dachshund, Boo, visited the dentist. Ultimately our sweet little boy had to have three teeth pulled. For reference, he now has 12 teeth left. Mini dachshunds like my dog are apparently predisposed to gum disease and bad teeth also, which is something we have found out the hard way with my two dogs, Marty and Boo. The biggest thing with this appointment though, was closing the fistula that had developed as a result of the decay that had occurred on the bone surrounding the teeth he had pulled at his last appointment.

    Boo

    It’s really important that it did close because that fistula was a pathway between his nose and mouth that wasn’t supposed to exist. Closing it would seal things off again and hopefully provide Boo much more comfort and prevent anything from getting into his nose that shouldn’t. Thank goodness the vet was able to close the fistula and Boo has recovered well since his appointment. He went in on Tuesday and with it now being Sunday, that is about five days since his surgery. He is eating well, sleeping well, and seems to be in pretty good spirits.

    I don’t know about you all but it makes me sad seeing my dog in pain. Boo whimpered a decent amount after we brought him home and the following two days after his surgery and all I wanted to do was snuggle him and cuddle with him to give him some comfort. It’s encouraging though to see that he is doing really well and I hope he continues to improve and that we don’t have to visit the doggie dentist anytime soon.

    So if you could send some positive thoughts my way for Boo, I would really appreciate it as he continues to improve and recover. Boo has been such a special part of my life and I’m so happy to have such a sweet little man to enjoy the world with. Feel better soon, Boo!!

  • A Brand New Name!

    So you might have noticed, but after seven years, my blog has a brand new name!! Welcome to According to Ana. 🙂

    I’ve been thinking about changing the name for quite a while now, but just recently it felt like the time to do it. The blog is now seven years old and it just felt like time for a change. It also felt like the time for a good makeover. I hope you’re all liking the new format just fine! Same goes for the name! If you happen to find any weird bugs or link issues, feel free to reach out and I’ll see what I can do about it. The last time I updated the format here, things got a little wonky with some of the links and pictures, but it’s an easy fix. 😉

    This past week I finished one of my summer classes, worked out, and spent a lot of good time outside. There goes another week of this summer! It’s crazy how time flies when you’re having fun. This past Sunday, on the Fourth of July, it was great to be able to spend time with my family watching the fireworks again. My hometown did a great show. Exciting little story with that actually: they had to break the fireworks show up into two parts because halfway through, something exploded on the ground and for the safety of the crew handling everything, they stopped the show, contained that, certified that the rest of the show was good to go, and then continued. My family and I had left after the first half, only to realize that they were continuing by the time we were almost home and lost our great seats. We still got to see the big finale though and it was great. 🙂 I’m just glad everyone was ok!

    Again I hope you all like the new name and I’m excited for this fun little change! I hope you all have a wonderful week and I’ll see you next Sunday!

  • My Dental School Applications are In!

    dental school applications are in!

    This is something I definitely could have posted about last week, but my blogaversary was a bit more important, especially considering that I forgot it the year before haha! This is pretty exciting too though and based on the title of this post I bet you can guess it. My dental school applications are all in!

    This has been another big milestone in my journey of wanting to go into orthodontics and I’m really excited to have finished my applications! The whole application process was a bit confusing to me at first but I think I got it now. You basically just apply a full year before your want to go to dental school and preferably you submit your applications on the day they first open to be submitted, June 1st. Then the schools send you any supplemental applications they have and you do those and then you’re all set! And then if all goes according to plan, I’ll go to dental school for four years and do well and then apply to orthodontics programs which tend to be another 2-3 years of school and then I can practice orthodontics. I’ve potentially got a really long road ahead of me but I’m ready for it!

    Something that I’ve found stressful but also somewhat fun about the entire process is seeing the status of my applications. Just recently, two of the schools I’m applying to notified me that they began reviewing my applications! I’m looking at five schools and I’m really really really just hoping I at least get into one of them. I have applied to Texas A&M College of Dentistry, Creighton University School of Dentistry, University of Nebraska Medical Center School of Dentistry, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry (University of Southern California), as well as the dental school in my home state of Colorado which is the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine.

    I get a lot of questions about my top choice for dental school and that’s been floating between Creighton, Nebraska, and Colorado for a bit now. Like I said before, I’ll be thankful to get into one and if that’s the only school I get into, I’d be glad to go anywhere. If anyone wants to hear more about the application process for dental school or wants some advice and more info on the application itself, please reach out! I’m more than happy to help. Have a great week and let’s see how all this application stuff goes!!

  • Another Year, Another Blogaversary

    So last year I missed my own blogaversary and that was a little sad. In all the world’s chaos, I just skipped right past it, oh man. Not this year though! Today, or at least within a few days of me posting this, anahorvath.com turns SEVEN!! That’s so crazy to me.

    First and foremost, I wanted to say thanks for being here! I’ve really enjoyed this blogging journey and I’ve really had a lot of fun sharing my life and my advice with you all. I hope it’s something you’ve enjoyed too. 🙂 A blogaversary is kind of a fun little day for me. It’s not the biggest thing in the world but it reminds of the day something really fun and special began for me: this blog and my website in general!

    another blogaversary

    Something I’ve been doing a lot lately is going back through some of my really old posts. I’ve come a looooong way as a writer, let me tell you. At the time, I definitely thought that writing was something good and life-changing, but now looking back on it, little freshman in high school Ana had a LOT of work to do. If you’re ever interested, a good chunk of my really old posts are still up, but I’m not sure how much longer I’ll leave those up. I’ve been cleaning out some of my really old posts, just to keep my blog looking a little cleaner and it’s been comical to read through my old stuff. A fun trip down memory lane too!

    So here’s to more years of anahorvath.com!! Please feel free to reach out if you want me to write about something or even if you just want to say hi! I’d love to hear from you all. Feel free to check out my contact page and reach me there or find me on Instagram at anahorvathh (yes there are two H’s!) Have a great week and I’ll see you next weekend! 🙂

  • The End of Another Semester

    another semester

    And just like that, we are at the end of another semester of school. Wow. I have now finished my last spring semester of undergrad school. Crazy!! I apologize for being gone for a while again, but with the end of school and so much going on personally, I needed to focus on much more. But now I can provide some updates!

    My semester finished better than I would have ever imagined. My GPA for this semester was a 4.0 (FINALLY!!) which I feel I really really deserved. I had a really hard semester academically (mostly because my professors were awful but that’s another story) and I worked my tail off to make sure I knew what was going on. So that’s pretty exciting news! Summer has also started and yes, I am taking summer classes. The end of another semester just brings the start of another and it never ends haha. I just need to finish up three business courses this summer and then I will be done with my business minor!

    On top of that, I turn in my application to dental schools on Tuesday. Pretty scary, but pretty fun news too. I’m applying to five schools: one in Colorado, two in Nebraska, one in California, and one in Texas. I’d be happy to go to any dental school I get into, but I’m personally really pulling for the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine. That would be nice and close to home.

    In more random news, I can now squat more than I weigh. Yesterday I got a new PR and squatted 160 pounds. We’re getting strong out here, people. I’ve really enjoyed working out and feeling myself get stronger and stronger. It’s very rewarding.

    Other than that, things have been pretty chill. It has been good to be home with my family and Boo and Bobo. I’ve been able to plant some very pretty petunias and pansies in my backyard with my mom. We even made a very cute little tribute area to Marty. It looks very nice. So in general, life is good! I hope you are all well and I hope to see you next weekend.

    Remember that this weekend, is more than just a long weekend. Today and every day I am thankful and grateful to those who have served us and continue to do so. You should be too. See you all next weekend.