Didja miss me ? (hugs !)

Current Mood : Grateful and joyful

Whew ! I'm back ! Gonna take me a while to get back into the swing of things, but I hope to be back up and running soon. Heaven knows I'm at least 200% better than I was just a month ago - and what a month it's been ! 

Here's a brief summary of what's gone on if you're interested - I figure a day or two of this and I'll be back to my usual shallow doll-obsessed self, so if this isn't your bag, I don't blame ya, and completely understand if you skip this whole entry. But for the interested here goes. 

We finally had the time and money for my follow up appointment about that infection I picked up on my leg. I got to see my practitioner - who pretty much ordered Beloved Hubby to get me to the ER. Not about my leg, that was healing fairly well. I was instead retaining so much fluid, parts of my stomach area were going hard, possibly due to sepsis. Scary. 

The local ER admitted me almost on the spot after a blood test and an X-ray. Turns out, my old friend peripartum cardiomyopathy had come back, with a vengeance. And I was working with a serious miscomprehension about that particular malady of mine. What I got is basically pregnancy-related heart failure, mine developed when Dearest Son was still natal. I thought, with the prescriptions and care, my heart might not recover totally, but it wouldn't get any worse. Especially if I never got pregnant again, which was not the case here, either. 

It can get worse. Slowly and barely detectably, as mine did. My poor heart has expanded again, and was barely beating, so my fluids pooled up something awful. How awful is this - in a month, including nearly two weeks of intensive hospital care, I lost 63 pounds. And I was not doing any aerobics here. 

We got it mostly taken care of at the local hospital, and once they saw our taxes, it was paid for by Medicare - or possibly the Veteran's Administration. I was transferred to the VA hospital after a week at the local one, and I'm still getting follow-up care there. I may have to have a device installed to help my heart, and I'm on six prescriptions now, instead of four, but I feel fantastic ! 

I guess you can count the oxygen as the seventh prescription, especially since it's done wonders for me. The local ER put me on a breathing tube early on, and I've been sleeping like a rock ever since. Yep, I'm still on one, the VA arranged a subscription oxygen delivery service before I left the hospital. I have three sizes of oxygen tubes - and an air exchanger for home use that saps the oxygen out of the air. I still fall asleep if I'm still too long, but Beloved says I'm still at least a year behind on sleep ! 

He's been so wonderful throughout all this. And both our local hospital and the VA have treated me kindly and respectfully, even when I've been almost shaking with worry and fear. I was a pretty good patient, though - I was nearly always asleep ! 

There's more going on, but this is long enough already. Tomorrow, you get to hear about the yard sale and the move - it's a doozy ! Then it's back to Monster High and sewing tales before you know it. 

Thanks for all your get-well wishes. They helped ! And I'm glad you've come back to check on me. I'll try to be fun and silly again just as soon as possible !