I've Been Away

Well, I haven't posted anything since June 30. I have a good reason, though. And first, i want to thank BettieLee and E.Collins for their concern when I was missing. So here's the story, as best as I can tell it.

And now the baby cries, interrupting me. Hold on, folks... Okay, her nap is over. But she is being a sweet, content girl in her bouncy-seat.

So, back to me, LOL. On July 3rd I started coughing up a lot of blood. The day before I'd been coughing up bloody sputem, which is not a totally unusual experience--since the lung surgery in '07 it happens sometimes. But on the 3rd it changed over to straight blood. Mouthfuls of the stuff. Scared my wife Crystal a lot. I was leaning over the bathroom sink just making everything red. I had her get the kids into the car to take me to the hospital, and cleaned up as best I could so when she got back home it wouldn't frighten her too much to see just how much it actually was.

In the ER they of course told me I was going to be admitted. Then they did blood work, and a CT Scan to make sure I didn't have pulomary embolisms again. The on Saturday the 4th I saw my pulmologist (he works out of that hospital, and was on call over the weekend), and he told me the CT showed a possible aspergaloma. It's a fungus that can cause bleeding in the lungs. So I was scheduled for a bronchoscopy on Monday the 6th.

He couldn't go into the cavity where the most damge in the lung is, because it's a dangerous area. Given my past history with surgery--my thoracotomy ended up setting into motion events leading to a three-week coma, I'd almost died--he didn't want to take the risk. But he took cultures. The pulmonologist told me there was no aspergaloma, and my lung looked surprisingly good. If I continue to have the bleeding issues I might have to have the artery clotted off, which appearantly is not as scary as it sounds. It's fairly common. You have to blood sources to the lungs. So that issue seemed dealt with. And they did e-rays because I was sure I'd broken some ribs coughing. I did. I have osteoperosis, and really weak bones. (Right now the ribs are giving me the most problem. They friggin' HURT!) But that's a side note.

So the idea was that I would go home on Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest. My body had other ideas. Tuesday morning, at 11:30, when I was going into the bathroom, my chest started hurting, and I felt a great pressure. I felt my pulse on my wrist, and it was going so fast it was hard to feel. I waited to see if it would go away, but when it didn't, and the pain got worse, at 1 o'clock I buzzed for the nurse. They checked me over, called the doctor, set me up on an EKG, and found out I had gone into atrial-fibrillation. Basicaly, the top of my heart (the atrium) was firing offat 190 beats a minute, and the bottom was trying to keep up. There's no actual heart-rhthym when that happens. It's not life-threatening, just uncomfortable. Very.

So they moved me down to the heart center, and kept me monitored. The IV meds they gave me to try to right the rhthym didn't work, and the plan was to use the electronic defibrilator to shock my heart back to sinus rhthym on Wednesday morning. The next morning the cardiologist said I was responding enough to the meds to hold off on that. They head gotten my heart-rate down a lot, but not enough, and I was still in A-Fib. But they wanted to hold off on the shocking because I'm on blood thinners for my clotting problems. Thank God, an hour later my heart went back to normal sinus rhthym on its own. That was not expected, but great.

They monitored me the rest of the night, and Thursday, the 9th, I was discharged. I still have to go next week to see the pulmonologist, then the following week to see the cadiologist, but I'm feeling better. Maybe 80% now. Besides the ribs, which are killing me. We had to get rid of our son's rabbit because I had just found out I'm allergic, and hopefully that will help my asthma. But I'm glad my heart is staying in check, for the time at least. I'm used to lung problems, had 'em all my life, but I've never had any problems with my heart. And now that it's gone into A-Fib, it's likely it will happen again at some point.

I wrote 5500 words, longhand because I don't have a laptop, half of them on my new novel, and parts on two new short stories, so that was good. What else am I going to do in the hospital? I finished the last 100 pages of "Life Expectancy" by Dean Koontz, read "Winter Moon" by Dean Koontz, read "The Dangerous Days of Daniel X" by James Patterson, and 129 pages of "Lisey's Story" by Stephen King while I was in there. Plus, we have a portable DVD player, so I had all kinds of movies. Gotta make the best of a bad situation. I have now finally transcribed the longhand onto the computer.

So, that's my past two weeks. Life stays interesting!LOL!

Yesterday

Yesterday marked 3 years 9 months of sobriety! Go me!

Reading: Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz
Listening to: Jimi Hendrix & BB King-The King's Jam 1968
Writing: Not enough

Okay, that last part isn't completely true. Doing the Summer Writing Challenge, I have written 9,346 words on a new novel. Since June 8. For me, that's FAST. It also makes this the second longest document in my computer, the first being the 55,000 word first draft of a novel I may never actually finish. It's a shame, on that--I like the concept, but just can't get it out right. Maybe one day I will have the tools to do that. But this new book is going well. At times it takes off on its own. If you are a writer you know how cool that feels. If you're not, I can't explain it so you will. But the characters, the idea, the personalities, it's something great. Of course there will be a lot of editing before it's ready for anyone to see it, and some of the things I think are great today may seem like utter crap tomorrow, but it's been the most fun I've had writing anything so far.

Meme Time (Better than Mime Time)

I was tagged by bettielee for this meme. Of course, I'm not savvy enough to know what a meme is, but I'll play along 'cuz it's fun.

Sinful Nature
"Sometimes you can learn more about a person by what they don’t tell you. Sometimes you can learn a lot from the things they just make up. If you are tagged with this Meme, lie to me. Then tag 7 other folks (one for each deadly sin) and hope they can lie."

Pride -- What is your biggest contribution to the world?
I once found the cure to the common cold, but lost the formula... Dammit!

Envy -- What do your coworkers have that you wish was yours?
Autographed picture of Kari Byron hanging above my printer.

Gluttony -- What did you eat last night?
Goat cheese and fried newt, angel hair pasta with squirrel brains sauteed in butter.

Lust -- What really lights your fire?
My wife and Kate Beckinsale

Anger -- What is the last thing that really pissed you off?
I don't know, everything pisses me off!

Greed -- Name something you hoard and keep from others.
My Coca Cola... nobody touches my soda!

Sloth -- What’s the laziest thing you ever did?
Since I've been on disability all I've been is lazy... it's driving me nuts!

I tag the following people:

Gypsyscarlett
Euclid
Kristin
Jamie Mason
Queen of Swords
Tabitha Todd
Effie


Now I challenge you to figure out which answers are real, and which are horrible lies.

Baby Toes

Is there anything in the world cuter than baby toes? So tiny, with soft skin, never yet marred by the ground. Of course, that's an observation maybe only a parent can fully appreciate. But you look at something so small and wonder how they can ever grow up. The miracles of God and nature are truly something special. So if you're feeling down, depressed or blue, look at a baby's toes. I guarantee it will make you smile.

I Need A Drill Sergeant

Over 1600 words on my Summer Writing Challenge piece since I started it on the 8th. That's pretty fast writing for me, maybe deadlines are a good thing for me. A good deal of my problem is staying motivated. I want to write, I need to write--it's the career I desperately have to make work. I'm not qualified for anything my body can physically handle, and since I'm on disablilty I have the time to work on it. But it does me little good if I don't utilize the time I have. Maybe I need to find someone who can keep me in line. A friend I can report progress to on a weekly basis, who will let me know if I'm slacking.

Any takers?

I haven't left, but...

I haven't been around much, which is good. It means I've been writing. I'm putting everything I have in progress on hold for now to do a summer writing challenge. Write a complete first draft during the summer; like NANO, but with a little more time to do it. This is, in a big way, to see how I do with deadlines.

So let's see if little Rachel lets me have the time to write, lol.