Week Seven

Kendall really enjoyed her freshman year of classes. Taking classes part-time was a great option for her because she was able to just get a feel of the time commitment for each class and how college classes are run. Kendall, Susan and Leroy sat down at the end of her freshman year and planned out Kendall’s future. One thing that is really beneficial for Kendall is that if she has short-term and long-term goals she is able to maintain her focus better. They came up with a list and decided that Kendall would register as a full-time student in the fall of her sophomore year. Susan and Leroy were very excited about it and they were excited that she wanted to stay at home to live. They realize how much Kendall has grown. She went from being a child with severe attachment issues with her parents to an adult who thoroughly enjoyed her parents company. This really made Leroy and Susan proud of their parenting. In addition, they have noticed how her behavior has been better than it ever has. They believe it has to do with maturity, really enjoying what she is doing, and new friends she has made in college.

Kendall takes the advisor’s advice and decides to get her personal training certificate. She does this in the summer before her sophomore year. She attends the classes and loves it. A lot of it is hands on learning and that is how Kendall seems to learn best. She exceeds all expectations in the class. In addition, she realizes how much she loves fitness and nutrition and she finally feels like she has found her niche.  The personal trainer who runs the course notices how energetic Kendall is and how well she does with other individuals and he offers to let her work part-time as a trainer in her newly opened gym. Kendall is ecstatic about this opportunity and takes him up on his offer. This is a great way for her to earn and save money for after college. When Kendall gets home and tells her parents the good news they decide to take her to her favorite restaurant and celebrate all of the success and achievements she has made within the past couple of years. The people working at the gym and the individuals who are members of the gym just love Kendall. She gives great advice, tries to find ways to achieve their goals, and is very encouraging. Kendall continues to work their throughout college and she actually becomes one of the most popular personal trainers at the gym. The constant exercise and productive work has really helped Kendall release some of the extra energy she gets due to her diagnosis of ADHD.

The last few semesters of college became very difficult for Kendall. She was stressed with work and she also noticed how her classes became longer and more difficult. This meant that in order for Kendall to do well in her classes things needed to change. She talked to the special services coordinator, Mrs. Evans, and she allowed Kendall to make some adjustments to her class time and test time in order for her to succeed. Mrs. Evans notified Kendall professors that Kendall would need breaks every 40 minutes to go walk around so she did not become so antsy that she would act out or she would not pay attention. In addition, Kendall was able to get increased test time. A lot of the time, the amount of questions and the time restraint stressed Kendall out and she would become very agitated. This increased allowance of time would allow Kendall to relax and read thoroughly through the test and answer the questions adequately. These minor changes ended up being very beneficial to Kendall. She graduated in the top 5 of her class and seemed to be doing extremely well.

Now Kendall was done with classes and she is now a certified nutritionist. Kendall applied for jobs all throughout the area. She increased her hours at the gym until she found something she enjoyed more. Kendall was working out much more and seemed to be doing great. Therefore, Kendall thought it would be okay to stop taking her ADHD medication without telling anyone in her family, her doctor, or her friends. This seemed to negatively affect Kendall in many ways and she experienced many side effects. Luckily, Kendall’s mom noticed after about two weeks the increased symptoms and she questioned Kendall about whether or not she had taken her meds. Kendall was honest with her and told her no. Susan was extremely worried and took Kendall to the doctor right away. Kendall admitted to her parents and the doctor that is was a rushed decision that she did not take the time to think about and she apologized for not talking to her parents about it before. Luckily, Kendall was not permanently affected in anyway.

Kendall continued to work at the gym full-time until she was 25. By the time she was 26 she had finally found a job full-time at a local hospital. She was offered great pay and good benefits. From all of the money she had been saving from working at the gym, she was able to move out of her parents’ house and into a studio apartment. Kendall was really excited about finding a job and becoming much more independent. In addition, she was able to fit a few hours in a week working at the gym. She finally had felt like her life was coming together. Kendall enjoyed seeing clients and adjusting food intake and working with patients with dietary restrictions. However, Kendall seemed to be suffering more with the symptoms of her ADHD. Because she felt like she didn’t need to medication as much, her doctor had lowered her dosage. But, with her new job, she was not getting that constant exercise she was able to do with her job at the gym. Sitting in her office with clients was very difficult and filling out paperwork seemed to become more and more of a struggle. However, she really loved her job. So, she needed to find a way to control her ADHD while in the work setting. By 27 years old, her dose of her ADHD medication was increased and it turned out to be very successful. She also would take a laps around the hospital in between clients so release some energy. By doing this, Kendall was able to get to know a lot of the employees at the hospital. She was talk with some as she was walking by and this really made her love where she worked.

One of the people who Kendall met through her laps throughout the hospital was a male nurse practitioner named Cody. Cody was 29 years old, the same age as Kendall. They had started out as good friends and both seemed to develop feelings for one another as they got to know each other and spend more time together. Cody also suffered from ADHD growing up and is still struggling with the symptoms to this day. This was something they ended up bonding over and Kendall had finally felt understood with the frustrations she had always felt growing up. Kendall and Cody ended up dating for the next two years. At 31 years of age, Kendall found out that she was pregnant. She was completely shocked and scared but very happy because she had known from the time she had met Cody that he was the one. However, Kendall and Cody were not married and had not even talked about marriage. Susan and Leroy were ecstatic when they had found out that Kendall was pregnant and they were going to be grandparents.

This new milestone in Kendall’s life left her feeling like she had no idea what she was going to do with her life. Does she take a maternity leave or quit her job? Should her and Cody get married before they have the baby? Is it a boy or a girl? Questions circulated throughout her mind all day and finally her mom made her realize that life doesn’t always need to be planned out and it’s okay to have questions unanswered. The most important thing Kendall needed to do was relax and not stress because it could negatively affect the baby. Now, Kendall was finally very excited and ready to have a baby.

Decision point: Does Kendall work until she has the baby and then take a maternity leave for a couple weeks or does she decide to quit her job to stay at home to raise the baby?

Questions:

1.       What are the negative effects of stopping a medication completely instead of gradually weaning off of it?

2.       How could this have affected Kendall socially and emotionally with her family and friends?

3.       What is the average pay of a full-time personal trainer? What is the average pay of a full-time nutritionist?

4.       What type of settings can a nutritionist work? What is the post popular setting? What is the job outlook?