I know, I know, I am terrible. Here's what happened...
In July my husband went to the Optometrist. From there, everything descended into chaos. He had a detached retina. Then the mad scramble to get him a primary care physician, so he could be referred to an opthamologist to reattach the retina before it came off completely. So by the end of August 2023, he had eye surgery to reattach the retina.
That surgery involved leaving a drop of oil in his eye to hold the retina in place while the stitches healed.
Another month goes by and now it is September. He is on disability. He is also miserable because while his eye is healing he has to sleep on his stomach. He gets very little rest, which means I get very little rest. On top of it, our very large dog has been diagnosed with Cushing's disease so his meds are more expensive than my husband's meds.
Also my husband, for whatever reason, cannot put his own eyedrops in, so I am not only the eyedrop mistress, but am keeping track of the weird schedule (6 drops per day for a week, then 5 drops a day, and descending downward until he has a follow- up.
October follow-up, then because things look like they are taking a while to heal, another follow-up and oh-by-the-way there's a cataract in that eye which will need to be handled, as soon as we set up the follow-up surgery to remove the eye bubble.
End of November, the bubble surgery removal happens. As he is coming out of recovery the nurse mentions another oh-by-the-way - his heart stopped during the procedure, but - obviously - we got him back and finished - he really needs to get his blood pressure checked.
December he gets his blood pressure checked and it turns out he is close to stroke or aneurism and it is imperative to get it under control. Another oh-by-the-way when the doctor notices an odd patch of skin on hubby's neck. It's cancer. More meds and now daily BP measurements. The dog's meds are STILL more expensive than my husband's meds.
January, husband's BP is under control, so he schedules the cataract surgery. And schedules the skin removal surgery and additional biopsies. Cataract surgery happens and a new artificial lens is put in place.
Skin is removed from neck, but oh-by-the-way that skin on his arm looks odd, and another biopsy.
February check up - eye is not healing as quickly as they had hoped. Skin on neck is looking good.
March arm biopsies also cancer, need to schedule another day surgery for removing that skin.
April - eye is still not healing as quickly as they hoped, now talking about a cornea replacement. Arm skin removal happens, and we get the all clear - no more skin cancer is evident. Husband returns to work, even though eye sight is not great - he's a medical imaging engineer...he keeps MRIs and CT Scanners and some Xray machines in good working order for a company that provides these services nationwide. They, of course, have him travelling as soon as he is able to work again, because the talent pool for what he does is very very small.
Also in April we find out that the Vet misdiagnosed the dog, nearly killing him as the meds were starting to cause his adrenals to shut down. Caught it in time, but he is losing the use of his rear legs (which we are hoping with therapy and a stricter diet, he can rebuild the strength in his back legs).
I am just generally in pain daily - I have arthritis and sciatica and migraines and sometimes vertigo. But still I am the caregiver and chief of the household.
I did manage to help a couple of friends to set up their non-profit and am the corporate secretary and on the board of directors for that - Creative Roots Foundation. And also managed to finish a commission that I got through facebook - which was wonderful.
I am hoping to sell more of my upcycled crafts, but only time will tell. Especially, since my husband really should be retiring soon.
So that's the story of why I haven't done anything on this site in ages. I will try to be more regular now. (Famous last words, I am sure.)