[Dutch Lock Down Day One Hundred Eighty Eight]
I mean, if you can’t solicit YouTube subscriptions on your own blog, where can you?
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel because the link is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs4OeYtPTy-PkZmPEceEsdw/ and I’d like it to be https://youtube.com/u/RainLeander and you have to have one hundred subscribers to have a pretty link.
And I want a pretty link.
But first the news?
Except there is no new COVID news on https://www.dutchnews.nl/ or https://nltimes.nl/ or https://www.iamexpat.nl/news-netherlands – the only three English language sites I know of for the Netherlands.
TL;DR COVID numbers are shooting up, the Dutch people are sick of being restricted, the Dutch government is starting to freak out, and testing is a dumpster fire.
I *think* I figured out yesterday’s pregnancy scare.
Without any definitive proof, of course.
No, I haven’t taken a test.
Damnit.
Last night the hot flashes got BAD.
Like have-to-sit-down-and-mindful-breathing bad.
Like so-bad-I-took-my-temperature bad.
The only difference between now and a year ago is that I *know* I’m in the midst of peri-menopause. Last year I thought it was panic attacks. Which is scary. And stressful. And guess what makes hot flashes worse. When you’re scared. And stressed.
#GoodTimes
The super intense hot flashes plus my body acting as though it’s pregnant tells me the hormones are wiggity whack (yes, that’s the technical term) which tells me that the hormone replacement therapy is finally out of my system which tells me it’s time to get blood work done.
Wait, but what?
Okay, remember that shitty day with IT?
The TL;DR is that I was to go off hormone replacement therapy for a month or so then get blood work to compare the hormone levels to last year’s test to see … something?
How far along I am? (Not possible.)
How much more I have to go? (Also not possible.)
If peri menopause is over? (Not detectable via a blood test.)
It seemed logical at the time plus … oh em gee, I should probably give you a TMI warning cause I’m about to talk about hormones and menopause and BLOOD, but that’s all you’re getting here, we’re diving right IN!
Plus, once I stopped taking the pills, I had my period for ten days or something and then I felt absolutely DIVINE.
I seriously thought the hell that was peri-menopause was over. Because I didn’t have hot flashes anymore. Or depression. Or sleep issues. Or night sweats. Or anything else I used to have even a full month after I stopped taking the pills.
Until yesterday.
I’ll call the doctor in a few hours to set up the blood work.
I’ll let you know how it goes.