You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have ...
... a theme song to an 80's sitcom?
*waves hello to everyone*
It feels like it has been a long time since I have talked to a lot of you, and I thought I’d post a general update on my end and hopefully catch up with some of you more in the comment section if you feel like saying hello. First of all, I want to say that I *do* read my LJ, so I’m not as out of it as it seems, but it’s hard for me to touch base with everyone, and for that I apologize.
This has been another rough year here (man! Are things ever going to lighten up?). It’s been a year since my dad died, and things have changed a lot in that time, and part of that is why I haven’t had as much time online. The big things are that my mom moved in with us and I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is a problem with my connective tissues. I knew I had it, but I’ve ignored it, and it was to the point where I was really starting to have problems with my daily function.
So, I have a very severe form of this syndrome. My joints and skin and veins are all very fragile, and I have been basically falling apart, literally. The veins in my hands and feet have been spontaneously rupturing, and I have had to go in for a heavy round of OT and PT, where they discovered that pretty much all of the joints in my body are either out of joint or they dislocate on a constant basis. So, all of my ribs are dislocated, and even if they relocate them, they come right back out every time I breathe. No one knows what to do to treat this. So I have had to wear all sorts of custom-made braces, but those break my skin, and it’s been just ARGH! Very frustrating for everyone. I’ve had to try to re-learn everything this year, from how to sit to how to type, and I don’t know that I have ever had a more physically frustrating thing to accomplish.
I don’t say any of this to complain, but just to let you know where I’ve been and what’s been taking up my time. I know I’ve let a lot of correspondences fall off this year, and I don’t want anyone to think that I don’t value you. I feel like I live at the hospital now, and when I’m not there for myself, I’m there for my son, who has special needs. Those of you who know me know that that is a constant and evolving struggle, and something that I worry about all the time.
I happier news: my oldest child is going into high school this year, which is really hard to believe! I attended my first steam punk convention in May (in full costume) and it was a lot more fun than I expected. My sister got a promotion and she got her own office, so I was really proud of that and happy for her, since she loves her job and I am really pleased to see her making a success of her work. As for me, I just signed my first contract with a publishing house, so this year you will be able to see a story of mine in a hard-cover book. And I am shortlisted with another publisher! So things are picking up for me as an author, which makes me happy.
I’ll be honest: I have a lot of challenges ahead of me on the horizon. I recently got the news that my left hand is losing function, and there isn’t much to be done about it except to just accept it. I have to decide whether or not to go through something called “prolo-therapy”, which is series of injections into my sacrum, which will build up scar tissue and help stop my pelvis from dislocating. All of this is hard for me to accept, since I don’t want to be increasingly disabled and in pain, especially since I am a caregiver in my own right. But it helps to talk to you guys, to tell you that I’m still here, and I am reading what’s going on with you even if I don’t/can’t often comment. I know that doesn’t seem like much use, but so many times I read from so many of you that you feel alone or that no one is out there listening, and I guess I just want you to know that you aren’t as alone as you feel, even if I can’t always let you know that at the time. There’s always someone on the other side of the screen, I just can’t tell you as often as I’d like. This is me telling you that now, and I hope you think of that when you are down, and maybe it will help. So I hope you all are doing well, and take care of yourselves, okay? I know I have some new fellow authors out there, some karate champs, some people who are trying to set running records, some people going back to college this fall, some people moving soon, some people who JUST moved and were worried about it, Some people who were robbed (!) some people whose sons moved out and they are sad, some people whose grandmas are sick, some people who are wondering if their T-shirt design passed muster (it totally did), some people burned themslves with a soldering iron, some people whose family never eats the dinner they cook and tons more. I’m sending big hugs to all of you from the north today, and I’d love to hear your news, big or small!
*waves hello to everyone*
It feels like it has been a long time since I have talked to a lot of you, and I thought I’d post a general update on my end and hopefully catch up with some of you more in the comment section if you feel like saying hello. First of all, I want to say that I *do* read my LJ, so I’m not as out of it as it seems, but it’s hard for me to touch base with everyone, and for that I apologize.
This has been another rough year here (man! Are things ever going to lighten up?). It’s been a year since my dad died, and things have changed a lot in that time, and part of that is why I haven’t had as much time online. The big things are that my mom moved in with us and I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is a problem with my connective tissues. I knew I had it, but I’ve ignored it, and it was to the point where I was really starting to have problems with my daily function.
So, I have a very severe form of this syndrome. My joints and skin and veins are all very fragile, and I have been basically falling apart, literally. The veins in my hands and feet have been spontaneously rupturing, and I have had to go in for a heavy round of OT and PT, where they discovered that pretty much all of the joints in my body are either out of joint or they dislocate on a constant basis. So, all of my ribs are dislocated, and even if they relocate them, they come right back out every time I breathe. No one knows what to do to treat this. So I have had to wear all sorts of custom-made braces, but those break my skin, and it’s been just ARGH! Very frustrating for everyone. I’ve had to try to re-learn everything this year, from how to sit to how to type, and I don’t know that I have ever had a more physically frustrating thing to accomplish.
I don’t say any of this to complain, but just to let you know where I’ve been and what’s been taking up my time. I know I’ve let a lot of correspondences fall off this year, and I don’t want anyone to think that I don’t value you. I feel like I live at the hospital now, and when I’m not there for myself, I’m there for my son, who has special needs. Those of you who know me know that that is a constant and evolving struggle, and something that I worry about all the time.
I happier news: my oldest child is going into high school this year, which is really hard to believe! I attended my first steam punk convention in May (in full costume) and it was a lot more fun than I expected. My sister got a promotion and she got her own office, so I was really proud of that and happy for her, since she loves her job and I am really pleased to see her making a success of her work. As for me, I just signed my first contract with a publishing house, so this year you will be able to see a story of mine in a hard-cover book. And I am shortlisted with another publisher! So things are picking up for me as an author, which makes me happy.
I’ll be honest: I have a lot of challenges ahead of me on the horizon. I recently got the news that my left hand is losing function, and there isn’t much to be done about it except to just accept it. I have to decide whether or not to go through something called “prolo-therapy”, which is series of injections into my sacrum, which will build up scar tissue and help stop my pelvis from dislocating. All of this is hard for me to accept, since I don’t want to be increasingly disabled and in pain, especially since I am a caregiver in my own right. But it helps to talk to you guys, to tell you that I’m still here, and I am reading what’s going on with you even if I don’t/can’t often comment. I know that doesn’t seem like much use, but so many times I read from so many of you that you feel alone or that no one is out there listening, and I guess I just want you to know that you aren’t as alone as you feel, even if I can’t always let you know that at the time. There’s always someone on the other side of the screen, I just can’t tell you as often as I’d like. This is me telling you that now, and I hope you think of that when you are down, and maybe it will help. So I hope you all are doing well, and take care of yourselves, okay? I know I have some new fellow authors out there, some karate champs, some people who are trying to set running records, some people going back to college this fall, some people moving soon, some people who JUST moved and were worried about it, Some people who were robbed (!) some people whose sons moved out and they are sad, some people whose grandmas are sick, some people who are wondering if their T-shirt design passed muster (it totally did), some people burned themslves with a soldering iron, some people whose family never eats the dinner they cook and tons more. I’m sending big hugs to all of you from the north today, and I’d love to hear your news, big or small!