Jan Nine. in These Foolish Things

Tomorrow is my dad’s 85th birthday!

He had a rough day with my mom today. After she was diagnosed with a massive pulmonary embolism in July, she had a small procedure called an IVC (Interior Vena Cava) Filter Placement. It’s a procedure to make sure more blood clots don’t travel to the lungs. It’s a pretty simple procedure, even though it sounds super scary. It’s similar to when I had my chest port placed before I started chemo.

So she had this procedure reversed today at the orders of a couple of her doctors. I honestly don’t know if I agree with this decision, seeing as nobody really knows if she has more clots floating around her body…

But nobody listens to me anymore because I’m bitchy about getting mom and dad some HELP.

Regardless, Mom and Dad spent all day going to the hospital and having the filter removed. They are both exhausted.

Dad was all apologetic when I called, telling me he hadn’t had time to get to the list of people he’d put together to call about getting some help (side note: I’ve begged him to let me help him with his list - I can make those calls!), but I told him not to worry and to take the whole day to HIMSELF tomorrow…rest, enjoy, go to Denny’s for the free birthday breakfast!

I do hope he gets some peace. He’s been killing himself trying to keep mom alive.

Meanwhile, I’m staying alive myself, I hope.

I had a teledoc appointment yesterday with my PCP, who’s also a personal friend. I gotta be honest. I don’t really want to see him anymore. And I bet he really doesn’t want to see me either. He’s now misdiagnosed my colon cancer as hemorrhoids and misdiagnosed my skin cancer as an epidermoid cyst.

This time I told him I was having issues with what I think is my right eustachian tube. I think it’s been causing my vertigo, among other things. And remember, I had a carotid artery dissection that left me with a brain aneurysm. Do you know what he advised?? FLONASE. Nasal spray. Really??

I need to find a doc who is much more cautiously optimistic about me - emphasis on caution. As in, have a degree of suspicion instead of blowing everything off!

Today, after 9 days into my 75 Hard Challenge, I finally weighed myself. I now weigh as much as I did when I finished chemotherapy…which is much more than I want to be, but about as much as I expected. I swear, when you have injuries and diseases and have major surgeries and treatments, then go through the emotions, then move to a new city and start a new job and stress the fuck out, it wreaks havoc on your mind, body and soul…but outwardly, mostly your body.

And I knew I’d fallen far, far from the wagon a while ago (months and months, though I tried to reign it in a little), and I really needed something to push myself back on. This is it. This is doing it. I’m so happy to have found my regimen again.

More details from that to follow. Need to get a few things done and then hit the hay.

Have a lovely evening, darlings.
GS