O HAI THERE
Hi!
So, my last post was July 2. That's been a long damn time! This is what my life's been like the past four months, and why I haven't spent much time on LiveJournal. I've been pretty active on Tumblr and twitter, but for the most part, I haven't felt like sitting down and blogging about my issues or anything like that.
On July 20, my husband, Roy, was admitted to the hospital with congestive heart failure. He'd been battling what we'd thought was bronchitis and possible pneumonia for the previous months, and he'd been prescribed antibiotics, inhalers and a nebulizer. Then his legs swelled up alarmingly overnight and we took him to the walk-in clinic where they did some tests and it was determined that he was in heart failure.
He was admitted to the hospital, where he stayed for eleven days and had many, many tests done. One of them was an echocardiogram, which told them that Roy's heart had an ejection fraction of 10 to 15 percent. A normal heart's EF is 40-50% or so. The doctor hoped with medication to get it up to around 30% within three months.
What he has is cardiomyopathy, which means he contracted a virus that went to his heart and weakened the muscle.
Roy's doctor told him he can no longer work so we've pursued Social Security Disability and other benefits.
He had another echocardiogram and his EF is around 30%. Last Friday, November 1, he had a pace-maker/defibrillator put in, and today we're going to go for a follow up and get the staples taken out. My 33rd birthday was a few days later, and Roy making it through with only a little hiccup was the best present ever.
So our lives have changed quite a bit, and we're just started to work out a new normal.
As terrible as this has been, it could have been a lot worse, and now I have him home with me all the time. We used to work opposite ships and not see each other much except for our days off, but now we spend a lot of time together. This also means I'm rarely alone, which has been a big adjustment for me. All My Shows are now Our Shows and he has His Shows that are also now Our Shows. Like . . . Duck Dynasty and Chopped and Kitchen Wars. :/
We have two adult cats but we also got a kitten to keep Roy active and paying attention and mobile while I'm at work! Roy named her Arya after his favorite character from Game of Thrones.
And I've been teaching myself how to knit via YouTube! It's fun and frustrating and relaxing and maddening.
As for my fandom life, like pretty much everyone else I've migrated over to Tumblr and I'm fairly active on twitter and instagram as well. There've been a few people I've met over the past few years through TVD that have helped keep me connected to the fandom and given me a distraction the past few months, along with their support. Both fallinangelz21 (Mariah) and ladyhawke8080 (Pilar) have been amazing, they've spent endless hours with me on the phone this summer discussing Nian and Delena and hopes for Season Five and being fangirls with me. If I don't answer Pilar she leaves me the bitchiest voicemails ever, and Mariah's begun writing another sequel to Self-Inflicted Wounds and Down a Crooked Path so we talk about that and she laughs at me when I want to know but I do not want to be spoiled but yes I do.
And over the past year and a half linsell_farm (Heather) and I have become really close - before I got swamped with medical bills, we'd made plans to meet at a TVD con in Chicago next May and spend three days together exploring the city too. We've been Skyping a few times a week for a long while now but she's especially been a big support for me during the last several months, and I don't know what I'd do without her. <3 She watches our shared shows later or on a different day then I do, so I randomly get a burst on a Tuesday about The Good Wife and then we don't even use whole sentences, like this -
Fandom and the friends I've made through loving TVD/Ian/Nina have helped me keep a hold on my sanity by giving me a much-needed escape to talk about stupid fangirl shit, like Ian's haircut or the weird tips of his ears, or Nina's phenomenal job playing Elena/Katherine/Amara so differently, or Paul being So Done with TVD.
So thanks, you guys! There's several of you that I haven't named, but I do still come check out everyone's opinions after the eps air, I just haven't commented much. I do want to try and start commenting and posting more often, because for one thing the show is sooooo good right now and Tumblr isn't designed for lengthy ep reviews or anything. And there's been some great fic out that has blown me away, so I also want to update my recs.
:)
So, my last post was July 2. That's been a long damn time! This is what my life's been like the past four months, and why I haven't spent much time on LiveJournal. I've been pretty active on Tumblr and twitter, but for the most part, I haven't felt like sitting down and blogging about my issues or anything like that.
On July 20, my husband, Roy, was admitted to the hospital with congestive heart failure. He'd been battling what we'd thought was bronchitis and possible pneumonia for the previous months, and he'd been prescribed antibiotics, inhalers and a nebulizer. Then his legs swelled up alarmingly overnight and we took him to the walk-in clinic where they did some tests and it was determined that he was in heart failure.
He was admitted to the hospital, where he stayed for eleven days and had many, many tests done. One of them was an echocardiogram, which told them that Roy's heart had an ejection fraction of 10 to 15 percent. A normal heart's EF is 40-50% or so. The doctor hoped with medication to get it up to around 30% within three months.
What he has is cardiomyopathy, which means he contracted a virus that went to his heart and weakened the muscle.
Roy's doctor told him he can no longer work so we've pursued Social Security Disability and other benefits.
He had another echocardiogram and his EF is around 30%. Last Friday, November 1, he had a pace-maker/defibrillator put in, and today we're going to go for a follow up and get the staples taken out. My 33rd birthday was a few days later, and Roy making it through with only a little hiccup was the best present ever.
So our lives have changed quite a bit, and we're just started to work out a new normal.
As terrible as this has been, it could have been a lot worse, and now I have him home with me all the time. We used to work opposite ships and not see each other much except for our days off, but now we spend a lot of time together. This also means I'm rarely alone, which has been a big adjustment for me. All My Shows are now Our Shows and he has His Shows that are also now Our Shows. Like . . . Duck Dynasty and Chopped and Kitchen Wars. :/
We have two adult cats but we also got a kitten to keep Roy active and paying attention and mobile while I'm at work! Roy named her Arya after his favorite character from Game of Thrones.
And I've been teaching myself how to knit via YouTube! It's fun and frustrating and relaxing and maddening.
As for my fandom life, like pretty much everyone else I've migrated over to Tumblr and I'm fairly active on twitter and instagram as well. There've been a few people I've met over the past few years through TVD that have helped keep me connected to the fandom and given me a distraction the past few months, along with their support. Both fallinangelz21 (Mariah) and ladyhawke8080 (Pilar) have been amazing, they've spent endless hours with me on the phone this summer discussing Nian and Delena and hopes for Season Five and being fangirls with me. If I don't answer Pilar she leaves me the bitchiest voicemails ever, and Mariah's begun writing another sequel to Self-Inflicted Wounds and Down a Crooked Path so we talk about that and she laughs at me when I want to know but I do not want to be spoiled but yes I do.
And over the past year and a half linsell_farm (Heather) and I have become really close - before I got swamped with medical bills, we'd made plans to meet at a TVD con in Chicago next May and spend three days together exploring the city too. We've been Skyping a few times a week for a long while now but she's especially been a big support for me during the last several months, and I don't know what I'd do without her. <3 She watches our shared shows later or on a different day then I do, so I randomly get a burst on a Tuesday about The Good Wife and then we don't even use whole sentences, like this -
Fandom and the friends I've made through loving TVD/Ian/Nina have helped me keep a hold on my sanity by giving me a much-needed escape to talk about stupid fangirl shit, like Ian's haircut or the weird tips of his ears, or Nina's phenomenal job playing Elena/Katherine/Amara so differently, or Paul being So Done with TVD.
So thanks, you guys! There's several of you that I haven't named, but I do still come check out everyone's opinions after the eps air, I just haven't commented much. I do want to try and start commenting and posting more often, because for one thing the show is sooooo good right now and Tumblr isn't designed for lengthy ep reviews or anything. And there's been some great fic out that has blown me away, so I also want to update my recs.
:)