 So this is why I've been so quiet...
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Apr. 11th, 2018 @ 09:19 pm 
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I should probably mention why I've been basically gone for the last several years.
Basically I've been sick.
Summary:
Several years ago there was a nasty flu strain going around, and I caught it, and I was really really sick.
And then the flu sort of got better, but I still had a really nasty vicious cough that was bronchitis for a few months.
And then I still had a bit of a cough but the really nasty part was that I had a bad fever for about a year.
And I spent so much time sick and immobile, it seems, that I developed diabetes.
And then I was really sick for a while because it turns out if you have too much diabetes medication, that can also make you very very sick, and I started out on a dosage that was supposed to be we'll see how your blood sugar goes on this dosage and get an idea of how much to increase it from there which turned out to be okay so we'll cut that dosage in half.
Craziest thing about diabetes: I kind of have to eat more than I did before, but I am eating better because the government paid for me to see a dietitian. However, if I skip meals, eat late, or forget to eat, I am now very very sorry I did that.
This combined very badly with getting gastro last year. It was pretty bad. After I passed out and possibly had a momentary seizure, we went to the hospital, where I had to stay overnight to be reviewed by a cardiologist, because both the ECG and blood tests were showing I'd maybe had a heart attack.
I hadn't, but it turns out of you're sufficiently dehydrated that your blood is basically sludge (the doctor needed real effort to draw blood for the test) your heart panics a bit and sends out the same distress markers it does for a serious heart attack.
They gave me like four litres of IV fluids and I still didn't even need to pee.
And I still have a cough. Which has been getting worse. I'm on a hefty rotation of asthma puffers at the moment, but I still have to sleep propped somewhat upright or I can't breathe, and if it doesn't improve dramatically in the next week the next step will be to see a respiratory specialist.
Also to see if there were certain problems I had a chest CT and there's a lump in my lungs that I have to get checked again in a few months in case it's cancer or something.
And for the past several weeks I have had shingles.
Having shingles is incredibly annoying, and I would probably have lost it in some fashion by now except ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) velithya found a capsaicin-based cream that induces a very mild burning sensation, which counters the neuralgia symptoms, which is great.
Although I also discovered just last night that if you used the cream and then washed your hands thoroughly like you're supposed to but then apparently touched your skin again without realising it, and then you rub your eye, then your eye will have extremely strong opinions about just how "mild" that burning sensation is. (Fortunately, after flushing my eye out with copious amounts of water, it turned out that while my eyelid was very, very upset with me, the stuff didn't seem to have got on my actual eye at all.)
So that's what's been up with me. I've just been sick.
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| From: | lilysea |
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April 11th, 2018 04:19 pm (UTC) |
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Oh ye fishes and little gods.
That is A LOT of being sick. :(
And I've been chronically-ill since 2010...
Here's hoping things improve a bit from now on. ^_^
![[User Picture Icon]](https://v2.dreamwidth.org/3974986/75896) |
| From: | sami |
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April 12th, 2018 04:21 am (UTC) |
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I am hoping!
The hilarious part though is that I realised after I posted that I left out some things because I was only recapping the major systemic illnesses.
IT HAS BEEN FUN TIMES OF FUN TIMESNESS
![[User Picture Icon]](https://v2.dreamwidth.org/5353432/1852929) |
| From: | sovay |
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April 11th, 2018 05:22 pm (UTC) |
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So that's what's been up with me. I've just been sick.
I am glad you're alive. I don't say that flippantly. That's a lot of sickness to deal with. I'm impressed with the shingles cream.
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| From: | sami |
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April 12th, 2018 04:23 am (UTC) |
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I'm glad too! Although possibly the most horrifying part of typing that all out was hitting post and then remembering the things I left out, like, "Oh hey, also there was that time I fell and hit the wall and got a concussion and also hurt my wrist and my wrist took most of a year of OT to get functional."
It's been the kind of period of time where you're just keeping track of the major, systemic illnesses by the end.
Well that is what I would call a lot and my mum would call the wars.
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| From: | sami |
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April 12th, 2018 04:24 am (UTC) |
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Mine too.
And while I was typing it I forgot to mention things, like, "one time I fell and got a concussion and hurt my wrist and my wrist took most of a year of OT to be anywhere close to normal again"
and by then I had RSI in my *other* wrist from compensation, so I kind of have a defense for absence in 2017 because I couldn't really type.
But I hit the *main* illnesses, so, there's that.
That's just overwhelming.
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| From: | sami |
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April 12th, 2018 04:45 am (UTC) |
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It sucked so, so much.
Especially because I have ADHD and I *need* to be Doing Things, but I also had a concussion, which meant for a while things like "reading" were not available options.
At that point, though, my right wrist was still fine, so I remapped the keybindings for Stardew Valley to be playable one-handed, and played really a lot of Stardew Valley.
All the sympathies. I, too, had a serious bout of 'probably 'flu' in (I think) 2007, and I've never fully recovered. I've had an asthma diagnosis (with a year worth of medication changes last year), a couple of other things dealt with, and even still I'm not well. But your list makes me feel like I've had a reasonably simple run of it.
And the lump in the lung -- terrifying. I had a chest pain incident where the only thing they found was a lump in the lung, and then I had to wait six months for them to decide whether it was ignorable or not. I got lucky (no change in size), but another friend has ended up having surgery Just To Be Sure. I hope yours is also benign.
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| From: | fayance |
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April 16th, 2018 10:48 pm (UTC) |
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My goodness, hope you start to get some measure of good health back and start to really feel better soon! Since my only son died almost 3 years ago my health has really tanked; started out as a side effect of pure grief, I guess, but then just settled in to becoming all these added complications, as well as gaining lots of weight which makes me feel absolutely awful, sigh. But due to heart stress tests and the cardiologist telling me NO even halfway strenuous exercising, I am having a hard time getting that weight back off, even with diet changes. Being in the midst of menopause and the death of all my hormones hasn't helped! But geez, I can't imagine all you've been going through, and my sympathy goes out to you. Hang in there and I'll be sending you 'good health' vibes!!
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