Updates on My Health

COVID-19

    Almost exactly one month ago, on August 16, 2022, I was diagnosed with COVID-19. Luckily, my case was very mild. However, I still had to be prescribed an inhaler (which I used diligently), and I had to undergo monoclonal antibody infusion therapy. The doctor who saw me at the Norton's urgent care must have looked at my medical record very carefully. She was concerned about my Factor V Leiden Syndrome. For those of you who don't know, Factor V LS is a blood clotting disorder which causes my blood to form clots more easily than other people. Since COVID-19 is known to cause blood clots, we were a little concerned about that. So far I haven't had any incidents. 

    The monoclonal antibody infusion was pretty cool, and I think it really helped me recover faster. I went to the Norton Cancer Institute to get my infusion. A nurse walked me back to a room with a large chair and a TV. The chair leaned back and had a footrest. I sat down in the chair and the nurse went over paperwork with me. She was in full PPE. It was kind of a strange experience to be the contagious person in the room. She showed me the vial of monoclonal antibodies and put it in the IV infusion pump. They gave me IV fluids for about 20 minutes before the machine delivered the antibodies. Then I was given another round of fluids. I was probably there about an hour and a half to two hours for the whole ordeal. It was relatively simple. I left without feeling any different than when I had come in. I improved over the next few days. 

    The weirdest symptom I had was a bumpy rash on the back of my hands. They asked me "the monkey pox questions" at the urgent care. Had I come into contact or been exposed to anyone with monkey pox? Had I left the country? I hadn't. So the rash was a symptom of COVID. But my skin peeled as well for about a week after I started feeling better and my rash went away. It was odd, but I guess that you never know how your body will react to a novel virus. 

Sleep Study

    I had my sleep study on the 30th and 31st as scheduled. I was plugged up to so many wires I wasn't sure how I was supposed to get any sleep. I had forgotten that they glue the wires to your head and face, so there's this sticky goo in your hair all night (and all the next day for me). I was told dish soap would probably be the best way to get it out of my hair. All we had was Palmolive so I used that. It worked! 

    I also forgot that they have some tubes that go just below your nose. Sleeping was kind of difficult, and I'm not sure how many times I woke up because I dreamed I was in the hospital. I must've been hungry because I dreamed that the sleep technician had brownies for us. She told me sometimes people dream that she's going to hurt them. 

    I stayed there all night and all the next day. I was asked to take a series of around 5 naps throughout the day. All I did was watch TV and sleep (covered in wires). When I say covered in wires, I mean they were on my legs, on my chest and side, and on my face and head. Then there was one of those oxygen monitors on my finger. It was a nightmare to try to use the bathroom. 

    I got my sleep study results back a few days ago. I don't have hypersomnia or narcolepsy, but I do have periodic limb movement disorder. I'm not sure to what degree I have that, but it can cause excessive daytime sleepiness. That would explain why I'm so tired. I have to wait until next month before I discuss it with the APRN. 

    I did stop breathing in my sleep a few times, but it wasn't much or for very long. Still at normal levels. My oxygen dipped down to 88%. They did note that I snore. We already knew that, though. 

Improving, Sleep, Vacation

    I got my lab test done on my bloodwork last week and my AST and ALT both improved. My AST was 20 U/L. The standard range is 10-35 U/L, so I improved quite a bit. My ALT was 38 U/L with the standard also being 10-25 U/L. The ALT is still a little high, but my doctor said I don't need any further workup at this time. I still plan on limiting my drinking though because I want those numbers to stay where they are. 

    I also got my sleep test scheduled for August 30 and 31. I have to report to the hospital on August 30th by 7:00pm for the overnight part of the sleep test. I've had an overnight sleep test before, so I know what to expect with that. They're going to put sensors all over my body and I'm going to be wired up to some machines that measure my movements and brainwaves during my sleep. 

    The next day, I'll be there most of the day and they'll be doing a Multi Sleep Latency Test. The MSLT is used to diagnose hypersomnia or narcolepsy. They have you take 5 naps throughout the day. If you're interested in learning more about the MSLT you can visit this website. I'm a little nervous that I won't be able to sleep properly because it will be a strange environment.  I'm also nervous that they won't find anything and there will be no explanation for my sleepiness. That's probably my worst fear about the whole test. 

    I'm getting ready to take a week and 2 days off of work for vacation. Vanessa will be on vacation with me. We don't really have any plans, but I think we will go to the Louisville Zoo, check out Bananafish Tattoo Parlour to see if we can find someone to work on Vanessa's sleeve, spend time with the cats (of course), and take a visit to Patoka Lake. We were also going to try to go swimming at my parents' house if the weather permits. But next week is starting to look rainy, so we will have to wait and see what the weather does. 

    I'm hoping I take some more time to write during vacation, but I know I'll probably end up playing some video games. I recently purchased Stray. It's a really delightful game (with some horror aspects to it) about a cat who gets separated from his/her clowder. You get to play as the cat! The cat has to find its' way through an abandoned, indoor city sealed off from the outside world. The inhabitants of the city are robots, and they trade and interact with the cat to help it get back to the surface. The biggest obstacle is the Zurks. They're these tiny, blob-like creatures that eat through almost anything. They terrorize the robots and the cat. There's so much more to the story, but I already beat the game! I might replay it to see if I can find more of the memories of the cat's robot companion. I love this game for so many reasons, but one of the best things about it is the fact that you get to be a cat. That comes with all of the cat things that cats do. You can get your head stuck in a paper bag, hide in boxes, scratch up furniture, knock cans and bottles off of ledges. It's just a lot of fun. 

    I'll update you again when I have more news, or I'll try to write more creatively during my break. Thanks for keeping up with me. 

What Ails You

     I went to the doctor today to get my at-home sleep study test results back and go over them. I was negative for sleep apnea, so I'm grateful for that. But now I have to have an in-lab sleep study done. They'll be checking for hypersomnia and/or narcolepsy to try to explain why I feel so much fatigue all of the time. There could be so many reasons for it. I'm hopeful that they will find something so I don't have to go back to my primary care doctor to try to figure out what's going on. I'm tired of being tired all the time. It could be something as simple as the medication that I take. We just don't know yet. 

    I'd go into more detail, but I'm embarrassed by how tired I truly am. Vanessa says I could sleep anywhere. I'm inclined to agree with her. Sometimes I even get drowsy while I'm driving. I know that's super dangerous, but it's the truth. If I feel sleepy at the wheel, I turn the cold air all the way up and blast it at my face. That seems to work. 

    Once again, this is probably another issue that could be helped with exercise. I've started doing yard work to get exercise. I mowed the lawn today, and damn was it hot! When I came inside and looked at myself in the mirror, my face was beet-red. I drank a bunch of cold water to cool down, and I sat down in the coldest room in the house to write this. I was right next to the vent. 

    I also sprayed the weeds along with driveway and sidewalk with weed-killer. I hate that stuff, but our driveway is starting to get overrun with grass and weeds, so it's the only way I could think of to get rid of all of that. I guess that's just how it goes. Now that I own my own home, I'm learning there's a lot of maintenance that goes into it. I have to mow the lawn, fix or pay someone to fix all of my appliances and our window in the back of the house. That window is leaky. We tried to fix it with some caulk, but it didn't help. I had to look up several companies to try to find one that would replace the window. I did find one, but they can't install the window for a while because they are backed up with customers. We put an empty coffee can and towels under the window when it rains. There's always something to do or fix. At least I'm never bored! 

    Now, I just have to wait for the sleep lab to call me to set up a time for my sleep test. I figure I'll write about that here as well. So far this blog has just been information on my medical status, but I hope to make it into a creative space as well. I love to write stories and poems. I hope I can write some of those things here. If you have any suggestions on what I should write about, feel free to comment and let me know! I love getting comments. This post was kind of all over the place, but I hope someone out there enjoyed reading it. Here's hoping I'm less groggy soon! 

Growing Older - Physical Changes

    I had my yearly physical recently, and my results came back abnormal. It turns out, my AST (Aspartate transaminase) and ALT (Alanine transaminase) are elevated. Those are my liver enzymes. AST is an enzyme in your liver that helps metabolize amino acids. ALT helps convert proteins in the liver into energy. When your liver is damaged, more of these enzymes are released into the bloodstream. In my case, they aren't elevated to a worry-some degree. They are just slightly elevated. I have a follow-up blood test coming up at the end of the month. The doctor told me to avoid drinking alcohol (booo!!) and Tylenol. 

    You may not know this about me, but I LOVE beer. How can I explain to you my love for beer? I love trying new beers. I will go to new bars just to try new beer, or I'll look around in the grocery store for something I haven't tried before that sounds interesting. Every beer is different. I've learned that I like everything from dark beer to pilsners. Hell, I'll even try new IPA's (which I don't like). I'm by no means an alcoholic. I didn't/don't get drunk on a daily basis. I didn't get black-out drunk on the regular. But I'm also a fan of mixed drinks and whisky. Needless to say, this has been sad news for me because I love to try new drinks. I enjoy having a drink in the pool at my dad's house. I enjoy drinking. 

    I got this news at the end of June, so the 4th of July gathering at my parents' house was filled with non-alcoholic daiquiris and slushy lemonade. While I appreciated the accommodations, and admittedly enjoyed my alcohol-less drinks, I still missed beer. It just wasn't the same without it. 

    Getting older has been a complicated experience. I should say, going from my 20's to my 30's has been complicated. I went from being able to stay up all night dancing and getting up early the next morning to go to class to having so much difficulty getting out of bed. While some of that may be my depression peeking through, I also believe that some of that has had to do with getting a little older. I have a strict bedtime now, and I do not like to deviate from that if I can help it. I have to think more about what I put into my body. Can I drink this? Should I be drinking more water? Should I really eat that brownie? The answer is usually no. Sometimes I feel like I am the fun-police of my own body. I take a lot of the fun out of eating and drinking. 

    And don't even get me started on exercise. According to my doctor, I'm supposed to exercise for at least 30-minutes, 3 times a week. I definitely do not do that. My job has me very sedentary. I sit in a chair for 8 hours a day and stare into the abyss of my computer screen. My hands get more exercise than I do. I am hoping to work on that. I've been trying to go for more walks, but the motivation just isn't there for me. What can I say? Maybe I'm just lazy. Either way, I have to learn to live with what's going on with my body. Hopefully my next check-up will show some improvement in my liver enzymes and I'll be able to have a beer to celebrate. 

I've been working on art.

 I've been trying to do more art lately. Here's some samples of my work: 

 This is a picture of Amarillo, Vanessa's cat who passed away a few years ago. I need to resize it, but I'm still working on figuring out how to do that in Clip Studio Paint. I'm kind of still in disbelief that I actually purchased it because I didn't really see myself buying a program for digital art. I always figured I would be a pen and paper sort of artist. 

This is a drawing I did of my original character for Supernatural. Her name is Magdalena, and she's a Leviathan (yes, I'm a huge a nerd). Maybe I'll write more about her later. I hate the background in this one. I'm trying to get better at backgrounds. 

This is a drawing I did of an original character of mine named Sienna. She doesn't belong to any outside series, she's my own creation. She's got a long story that I'm too embarrassed to tell right now because I'm not used to sharing my creative side with people anymore. So, again, maybe I'll write more about her later. 

I hope to have more drawings in the future, but recently I've kind of had artist's block for drawing. I just feel like I want to be better at it, and I'm not very good. There's a long way to go for me. I hope I can keep trying and get better.