General News
Well then. It’s been “a minute”, as people seem to be saying now. I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the harder it is to keep up with the current vernacular. A co-worker of mine and I were looking up “yeet” the other day, which we both agree is just an odd word, and moreso since it has completely different meanings depending on whether you use it as a verb or not. Language is weird (fun, but also weird).
In any case, since my last post (over a month ago – wow!) I’ve had eye surgery to remove scars from my cornea, which resulted in a week of not being able to use backlit screens at all, and somewhat blurry/difficult vision for the past three weeks as well. This week will be my one-month check-up, and hopefully there will be more improvement than there was last week. It will be awhile before I can update my prescription, so I’m dealing with the wrong prescription for this eye now as it continues to heal, and I’m still having to use eye drops every couple of hours, which is…onerous. It’s just a waiting game though now, as my eye keeps healing and eventually stabilizes at something more usable (hopefully). Fingers crossed.
I also had a CT scan for some lower abdominal pain I’ve been having, and that caused some major drama when the radiologist decided I had early mild appendicitis. My primary doc told me to go to the ER right away to have my appendix removed, and I did, but the surgeon said she really didn’t think my appendix was infected, but that the problem was a “redundant colon” (which just means it’s longer and twistier than a normal one, and prone to chronic constipation). So she sent me home with a laxative, and my primary doc was still worried about appendicitis, so I’ve been on two weeks of a strong combo antibiotic “just in case” the ER surgeon got it wrong.
Needless to say, the antibiotic has been messing with my digestive system, so that the things I’m supposed to do to help “fix” the digestive problems just make everything worse with the side effects from the antibiotic. By the time you read this, I’ll have finished the antibiotic, and I’ll re-adjust my diet and see if that helps my digestive issues and stops the pain. My doc says there’s a chance that if it is my appendix, it will get worse later and I’ll still have to have it removed, so gotta keep track of the pain in that area regardless going forward. But if it isn’t my appendix, I should be able to manage my issues with diet and exercise, for the most part.
I tell you what – the older we get, the higher maintenance our bodies become, whether we like it or not. I’m pretty sure the antibiotic (or the diet I need to keep to deal with the side effects) and less exercise recently is making my hot flashes worse too. Fun times.
But, I’m still kicking, there’s nothing majorly wrong with me, and I can see well enough to work and read and write. So, nothing to do but keep moving forward and deal with everything as well as possible on a day-to-day basis.
Blogging has obviously taken a back-seat lately, but I think things are settling down enough that I’ll be able to do this regularly again. I’m getting back to writing, finally, and a couple of editing projects I put on hold as well.
So…impending medical bills aside, things are looking up, and I feel pretty good about the approaching new year.
I do have a very impressive “to do” list for my publishing imprint, as most of my original book covers are now too small, and have to be redone in a larger size, so I’ll be working on that soon here too. Luckily, I’m all paid up with my stock photography site subscription, so it’s just a matter of finding images and taking the time to create cover templates. I may be using some vacation days for that…but since all I’ve been using is sick time lately, I have plenty of vacation days that will need to be used up by March (or I’ll lose them).
In any case, I’ve survived the last month, and all indications are that I’ll be kicking around for a long while yet, so…time to get back to my normal routines. And find a place for the Christmas tree this year.
Watch this space – I have plenty of tales to tell and things to pontificate about, if you care to read along.
Support your author:
This House of Books (my local bookstore!) | Bookshop.org
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | iBooks | Audible