A personal aside…

Part of the reason I have been so inactive lately is a series of unfortunate medical events in my family. In May, I had to leave FanimeCon early because my boyfriend became very ill. It turned out that he had gallstones and some other complications. He needed surgery. At first we were unsure about medical coverage, but by some small miracle it got worked out. We had to make strict changes to our diets and our activity levels to abate the problem long enough to get it sorted.

As I was supporting him, I started noticing his symptoms were very similar to the ones I’d been having for two years. Despite a trip to the ER two years ago that cleared me of any gallstones, I convinced my doctor to send me in for a special test that measures the function of my gallbladder. It came back as functioning at less than 10% — my gallbladder was failing to work. The very week I was caring for my boyfriend as he recovered, I scheduled my own surgery for September.

The day of my surgery came, but mid operation I began to bleed profusely. The surgeon canceled the operation and closed me up. I have spent the last month in and out of labs trying to find the source of my bleeding issues, while my gallbladder continues to make me sick on and off. The only anomaly I have had consistently is a low platelet count (platelets help your blood clot), but it was never low enough to be in the danger zone. My doctors have ruled out all possible problems and cleared me for surgery in November.

I have been very drained and frustrated from this ordeal. My gallbladder not working makes digesting a lot of foods very difficult, and in general causes me random pains (like being kicked in the ribs or being poked with a hot stick under my ribs) and nausea. It’s been all I can do to keep up on my chores on top of my day job. I usually only have enough energy to come home at 6pm and watch marathons of Chuck until bed.

Hopefully after Thanksgiving things will start to get better for us and I’ll stop being such a lazy flake. Now that I have been cleared for surgery and can see a hopeful end in sight, my spirit has pepped up a bit and I hope to return to writing more regularly. 🙂