(Long Overdue) Update

First of all, I apologize for the long (very long) delay in updating this LJ, not to mention the dearth of updates for several months before the last post. RL took over, in a rather unpleasant fashion, and this was one of the results.

So, a few different updates (long ones!)….

First of all, the major reason behind things:

Okay, the summer was a nightmare, health-wise. Things started at the beginning of May, shortly after my birthday, when I finally got a slam from the clue-stick and figured out that I’d been in a clinical depression since the end of last October. Bad enough, but having got hit by said clue-stick, I managed to get help to start pulling me back out. (And I seem to be doing fairly well by this point, so yay me! *grin*) It wasn’t interfering with work – just the rest of my life – so at least that was going resonably well.

Then (as some of you have heard – and I think I may have posted a comment about it on my last post), things went downhill. Yes, further.

It started the morning of Monday May 21 (yes, I remember the exact date), at 5am (yes, and the time) while I was busy at work doing the last patrol of my shift. I suddenly felt incredibly dizzy, and found myself weaving somewhat while I walked. So not fun. I got through the rest of that shift okay, but cancelled my shift that night. By Wednesday afternoon I was an total mess (in part due to dehydration, because I couldn’t even get out of bed at all Wednesday to get anything to eat or drink), and ended up going to the Emerg that night. (Even had an ambulance take me. *sigh*)

The doctors couldn’t find anything, so told me it was most likely either some sort of vertigo or a virus (which apparently can’t be detected by blood tests…). Their recommendation was to rest, drink plenty of fluids, and it should be gone in a few days.

So, take off work the rest of that week, miss MediaWest (which I had been really looking forward to), and I informed my boss I should be okay to be back to work the night of Tuesday the 30th.

By then, the dizziness wasn’t too bad (though it still wasn’t good) – but a worse problem had cropped up: I was having problems walking. My legs weren’t doing a terribly good job of holding me up for longer than about ten minutes at a stretch, and I was walking at maybe about a third of my usual speed – with a cane.

Well, a security guard has to be able to respond swiftly in an emergency – which I couldn’t do, with my legs acting up this way – so my boss suggested that I go on “sick leave” (aka short-term disability) until this got figured out and I got better.

We got into June, still with no idea what was wrong, and my legs were getting worse. Then someone suggested it might just be Multiple Sclerosis (which was a definite possibility, because my aunt suffers from it). My doctor arranged to have an appointment with a neurologist… but, well, Ontario Health Care being what it is (i.e. long wait times), the appointment ended up being for Oct. 17. (Actually, it then got moved to Nov. 1, but also got turned into a follow-up….)

So, having mentioned this to my parents, they suggested I come down – my mom’s doctor could arrange for me to have an MRI, see a neurologist, and have a few other tests done, all in one week. (Yay for the second tier of Costa Rica’s two-tier health care system!) And he did.

So, by June 22nd, we finally had some answers. No, not Multiple Sclerosis (to everyone’s relief). It seems the myelin nerve sheaths in my legs were damaged, most likely by whatever virus caused the aforementioned dizziness. Luckily, this could be treated.

So, I was off work (and getting bored sick by the end of it!) until the end of August; the estimate for my legs to be 100% again was the end of September, but the doctor figured that by the end of August I’d be well enough to go back to work. And you have no idea how glad I was by that time to do so….

So, I’ve now got a test scheduled for the beginning of December to confirm that my tibial nerves are fully functional again. But hey, I can walk, so I’m happy!

And then, there was the big family wedding, as mentioned in my second-last post:

The wedding was held on Saturday August 4th in St. John’s, Newfoundland (which is where my mom’s family, as well as my brother and new sister-in-law, live). Because I’d booked my flight before the above health problems hit, I was only there for five days (and, unfortunately, ended up sick for some it – the virus that caused all the summer problems was an inner ear virus, we think, and the pressure changes due to the flight resulted in another attack of dizziness).

My sister and I arrived down on the evening of my mom’s birthday, as a surprise (she and my dad didn’t expect us until the next evening). Everyone except my mom and dad were in on the surprise, including my youngest cousins, and they’d all managed to keep it a secret for over three months! It was a very pleasant surprise for her, and that made it pleasant (and worth the secrecy) for us as well.

The pre-wedding things… weren’t the best, unfortunately. Things were rather stressed. I wasn’t as much affected (since there wasn’t much I could do, except hanging around!) as the rest of the family, but even so, I could still feel the tension.

Despite that, however (or maybe because of it), the wedding itself went well. I even managed to get through the ceremony without the use of my cane – which, since I was one of the bridesmaids, was important to me. (I paid a bit for it later, but it was worth it.)

So, now I have a new sister-in-law. It’s still a bit strange to me to remember that she’s actually my brother’s wife, rather than his girlfriend/fiancée, but I’m getting used to it.

And finally, one more update before the end of this post:

I haven’t written very much since my last update. Not only do medical problems sap one’s creativity, a bored tag0 does not a good writer make. *sigh* And then, once things started to get back on track with my health, I discovered that one of my new muses (in typical KaitouKid fashion) was more interested in generating PlotBunnies than in actually having them go anywhere. Over the past few months, you wouldn’t believe the number of story beginnings I’ve ended up with for Detective Conan / Magic Kaito. Hopefully, I’ve finally managed to narrow him down to concentrating on one or two.

I’ve also got a bit of a start (a bit of one) on my first (real) original SF novel. (Meaning I’ve developed a bit more of the plotline, as well as figured out most of the physical details of the planet and got some more done on the main characters – and written the first half of the prologue.) What I’m going to try to do now is challenge myself to a “half” NaNoWriMo – basically attempt to write about 25,000 words of this story between now and the end of November. I didn’t actually join NaNoWriMo (maybe next year), but half of November is left, so….

Unfortunately, at the moment, I have no idea when the next part of any of my stories will be up (I have Chp. 5.1 of Rurouni Battôsai / Edge of the Blade written, but I don’t want to post it until I’ve got more than just the first half of Chp. 5.2 written). Sorry about that….

Well, that’s all for now. Will try my best to post more frequently (and keep any interested friends apprised of my progress on my “half-NaNoWriMo” personal challenge).

Later, all!

😉 tag0

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