Thursday, November 29, 2007

Conflicted but happy and Numb

Autumn Love
Autumn Love,
originally uploaded by cicidia.
Life of late has been a rollercoaster of emotions that has my poor aching head spinning around.
The last three weeks I have been dealing with my father's diagnosis of cancer. (See previous post) The diagnosis process with him has been a rollercoaster on its own. At first they decided he had Pancreatic Cancer, one of the most deadly forms of cancer you can get with only a 10% survival rate. Fortunately with the biopsy came good news.(If there can be any good news about having Cancer) and he was rediagnosed with Non-Hogkins Lymphoma which has a better survival rate of 30 to 60 % at least giving him a fighting chance.

Along with all this, I called Immigration to see if Jeremy's application could be expedited as we can't know how my father will do with this. I found out two days ago that the Expedite has been approved and we should be getting Visa information within 1 week to 14 days. So at last Jeremy will be coming home.

But, the wedding plans are being changed now, as with my father's illness we will not have as a big to do as we originally thought. Probably just him and me and the judge to "hitch' us up. All that really doesn't matter though. All I want is for Jeremy to be here with me. We can celebrate later at a more appropriate time.
So I am happy that Jeremy is coming home, but at the same time I feel I am taking advantage of my da's illness just to get what I want and need. In some ways it's not fair for my da to have to go through all this and not get his wishes too..
Sigh

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Life in the numb zone

Things have been rather difficult lately with all that has been going on in my life. Let me take you up to speed. First thing, I have been on upped meds for a month now, 2 40mg Citalopram, 3 Buropion 100mg, 1 400 mg Vitamin D,1 Bactrim Ds -16,1 B-12 sublingual 2500mcg, 1 Selenium 200mcg, 2 multiret folic 500, 1 hydrochlorot hcl, at night I am now taking instead of the quarter of amitryptylene… 1 ½ tab of trazadone which has been wonderful in helping me sleep without the hung over feeling I get from the amitryptylene.

Now for the stressful i.e.: potentially major depressing part. My father is 70. First two months ago my da had his second nose flap surgery due to some pre-cancerous cells on his nose. I teased him about just wanting a face lift About a month later my father went to have a cardio stress test and got out of breath so they stopped it. . So they ran some tests and found he was anemic so they prescribed iron pill, very strong ones to get his blood count back up. Two weeks later he was deer hunting with my brother in South Georgia and had a huge stomach ache. Evidently he had been eating for a few days and not getting rid of anything. But my da, stoic and stubborn (we’re Irish, it’s genetic) thought he could deal with it, but finally succumbed to pain. Fortunately my brother was there and saw how bloated he was and rushed him to the ER. Unfortunately for my Da he had an impacted bowel, presumably from the iron pills. 3 Enemas, milk of magnesium and an adult diaper later they sent him home. Needless to say it was a messy experience.

The Dr’s said for him to take fiber capsules and a mild laxative. They also wanted to run more tests to see exactly why he was anemic. When they examined the x-ray from the impacted bowel, the Dr back home noticed a shadow around my dad’s stomach area. He also noted signs of kidney and gallstone. Da has always had kidney stone problems and he is diabetic. He ordered a pet scan. It showed a mass around the area of my dads stomach but wasn’t very clear. So the Dr ordered a CT scan, with dye. Da was allergic to the iodine in the dye and so they had to put him on some steroids and have him in the hospital so they could treat him in case of anaphylaxis. Two days later they did the CT scan and while they were waiting for the results they did and endoscopy of the stomach and upper GI. He said the endoscopy looked good, no ulcer or evidence of a mass in the stomach or upper GI. But… then the CT scan came back…It showed a mass on dad’s stomach, and nodules on his pancreas, the spleen and the lungs. They suspected then it might be Pancreatic Cancer, one of the worst types of cancer that you could get with only a 10% survival rate.

Da has always had trouble with cysts. And because my da was running a fever, having night sweats and chills, there was a possibility of Lymphoma. So the Dr ordered a biopsy, but when he was sent up to get it done there was some major trauma patients that took precedence so he had to wait. But the next day he was taken in the afternoon, and though they had some trouble getting a biopsy from the mass due to the blood supply there, they got the piece they needed. They released my da Friday afternoon and told him that the biopsy would be ready today Wednesday 11/21/2007 we were awaiting the results.

Update: The Dr has determined that Da has Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Stage two type B, and it possibly can be cured!!!!!! They will have to biopsy the nodules but everything is a little lighter feel now. My Da just cried when he told him that because now he has a chance to fight

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Caged and Numbed

I have surrounded myself in a coverlet and knee deep in a messy house. I have no desire to leave. I don't feel as depressed as I have done but in the same sense, I have no drive to improve things or make them better. I have foggy ideals of details I would like to have around my house. But the actual innitiative is more than I can muster. My health isn't what I need it to be, the energy not there,my time limited to deal with my children and sleep and function on a semi-basic level. Its all I can do to convince myself to eat properly, when all I want to do is close my eyes and sleep. It feels like sleep should be the solution to my problems, when it really isn't. And I yawn all day. I take naps, I rest, I'm taking vitamins, and yet energy is just not there. I don't know what the solution is but I'm doing all I can with the Dr's to try and find a solution. Unfortunately that means more time off that I don't have to take. And still no news on the position I interviewed for 2 weeks ago.

My lunch coctail

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Only a shadow of myself

DSCN0815.jpg
DSCN0815.jpg,
originally uploaded by cicidia.
Things have been kinda rough lately for me. I have been suffering health wise for about a month. Just as I get over one thing another starts... sigh I have also been suffering from the lack of Jeremy being here. You could say I have been miserable.without him but it wouldn't come close. Still time marches on and wedding plans are still in process. If only Immigration would hurry up.
Money has been very tight And my ex has been screwing with the payments on the mortgage and I may be having to look for a place to live. I do not have the money to pay off what he owes. This is a neverending source of stres for me and one I shouldn't have had to worry about.
Someone has been messing with my Flickr account and I am concerned about being accused of things I haven't/wouldn't do.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Numbed or Normal

We pretend to be normal
We pretend to be normal,
originally uploaded by A V A.
Ava gave me her persmission to use this on my blog so the picture is hers all rights reserved.

Masking is something I have to deal with everyday and when I saw this pic by AVA on Flickr I saw that it imbodied what I feel most days.

Somedays I just go through as a blur only collapsing at home to reset my brain and to restart my evening with my family and cats. Other days, it takes all my energy just to get through them. I am not normal, a neuro-typical, an NT. Life as a generality is difficult for me. My coping of everyday noise, stresses. lights, sounds, people and socialities is not that good.

When I am alone is when I can feel most myself, at least for now. When J is here, I have different copes, different skills, help even. comprehension, understanding, all these things sadly lack in my life atm.

Somedays I am alone with my kitties, listening to my own heartbeat above the roar of the purr of my cats or the snores of one othem sleeping. Sometimes, my stomach leaps as if kicked by a ghost fetus and flips as though its turning in my womb though its been years since a baby has occupied that space. Although I realize this is just a fantasy I sometimes wonder will one ever again.

I laze with out the energy to lift myself up, not from depression, but lack of pure physical energy, and the strain it causes on my aging body. The anemia most days gets the best of me, and that in itself depresses me. I no longer wish to leave the comfort zone of my home, not wishing to expend what little energy I have to muster.
Cooking has become a chore to me when I am alone, unispired, unimaginative, undesired. (I can cook really well, just by myself it doesn't seem right) Not want ing to leave the nearness of the only contact i have atm with J.

Six months to a year... sigh

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Life lately

Enjoying the nutri-cal paste
Enjoying the nutri-cal paste,
originally uploaded by cicidia.
First this is second attempt to post this since my keyboard has been acting crazy.
There are many changes going on right now. The center manager who they hired to replace Gloria when se retired has only been there two months and has no clue about how to run a heath center, Bonnie, my boss, got promoted and they haven't replaced her. So work has been chaos. Couple that with the back to school rush fro vaccinations/jabs and you have hell in a basket.
The kitty in the picture nearly died this week with a bacterial infection. It has been touch and go for a coule of days but hopefully we are seeing the end of this. She has been through so much and I just have this need to make her know that I love her and want her to live happy and healthy. We've been through a lot together emotionally. She has bitten me out of fear and pain a couple of times, but now she doesn't even growl and I can pick her up and stroke her and she enjoys it.
My dad had to have cancer surgery on his nose again, At least he's getting a facelift benefit from it,,, I teased him.

And still no word from immigration on when my J will be returning to stay. I miss him more and more everyday.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Rightly numb...

Right...
Right...,
originally uploaded by cicidia.
Waiting is not one of my strong points....And try as I might time just seems to drag. I have taken some huge steps in my personal life these past couple of months such as starting Group Therapy for enpowerment, seeing a mental health specialist to be evaluated properly, started new and combined meds and raised dosage of olds meds, and filed my K-1 application for the fiance visa to bring J back to me.
My boss who has held me back at work is leaving next week, in the busiest part of the year... It will be hell around here until someone figures out how to make things coordinated around here. Since the center manager has only been here 2 months and isn't here more days than not, it is not likely that will happen anytime soon. And so far they have not posted or recruited anyone publicly for the position. But, they tend to be so sneaky around here, then they wonder why we can't trust what they say, almost like they have crossed fingers behind their backs! Paranoia?????