Rehab, Back Surgery, Rehab

In April, I went into rehab because I fell three times in one day.

In May 2025, I had three emergency back surgeries. It was agony.

I went into rehab at a nursing home. One place for four months, and they tried to kill me three times. First time was I had an infection in my bones after they removed my drain. I bled everywhere and had pus coming out of my wounds. “Oh, you’re doing fine,” they said, and finally the NP sent me to the hospital.

Second time I was thrown out of bed. Third time, I couldn’t breathe and asked to go to the hospital from Friday to Sunday morning. Finally they sent me. Come to find out, I had the flu and pneumonia.

No, I was not going back there. I picked a different one, but it was part of the larger corporation. So it’s not like I got a new one. But this place had dialysis in house, so I didn’t have to get treated like an Amazon package in the back of an ambulance.

At the first nursing home I was bedridden for two months. I forced myself to get up and in the wheelchair on my own. They were mad at me, but I wanted to go home. When I got to the second nursing home, I told them I was not a hoyer lift, and I used the walker and wheelchair to get around. Wheelchairs are so convenient. I decided to get one for home.

Anyway, I got home September 16. I lost so much weight that my clothes hang off me. My son didn’t do any cleaning, so I walked in just as I left it. Everything was frozen in time, April 11, 2025.

Now I’m home. I can barely walk, but I don’t care. I can’t get up the stairs without help. My son has to pick me up the stairs (good thing I lost weight, huh?). I have to walk through paths in my cluttered home. I gave up impressing people: PT, OT, nurses of all kinds come into my house now.

I’m back to editing and working for The Publisher a couple of hours a day, in between visitations. And you know what? No one from my family came to visit or call me, except my father, who drove up all the way from Florida. They’re not allowed at my funeral or the luncheon afterward. I will not forget or forgive.

I’ll try and update this a little more often. Not that anyone is listening.

This is not where I go for writing anymore

It’s pretty sad. I haven’t written a story in 2 years. Since doing work for The Publisher, all my creative abilities have gone to editing, graphic design, producing newsletters, and creative social media.

It’s not like I don’t have time. Ten hours a week for The Publisher, eighteen hours a week for dialysis, maybe another five or six hours a week for doctor’s visits. I just don’t have the gumption.

I started playing on CoH again, but on the gamer’s servers. Indomitable is good solo. Everlasting is good for RP and teams. Excelsior is for the hard core farmers and gamers.

Maybe I’ll get inspired there again. I’m not looking for it.

Mounjaro kicks ass

OMG. For two weeks, I was sick as a dog. All because of this fantastic new diabetes/weight loss medication. From Thursday to Sunday: vomiting, sick stomach, headaches, and all around weakness and fatigue. Thank goodness I don’t have to work a day job.

I’m seeing the endocrinologist tomorrow and I think I will ask for a lesser dose. I’m on 15 now. I can go down to 12.5 and work with that. But the good news is that I have only 4.4 lbs to go before I get on the transplant list! Left dialysis yesterday at 102. If I wasn’t so sick, I would have celebrated.

I’m afraid, though. What if I get a transplant? Then I have to look for a job. At 59 years old. No one will hire me except as a Wal-mart greeter or a bagger at Stop and Shop. I could try and freelance my editing credentials. Or social media. I think I’d love to do that.

I feel much better today after a restless sleep and I just had half an Eggo waffle. The nutritionist and nurses at dialysis gave me pointers on how to eat with it. Basically, half of what I used to eat, maybe even less; and stop eating to see if that satisfies me. That’s so tough. But from now on, no dinner meals (maybe small stuff) on Thursday and Friday because I take Mounjaro on Wednesday, and it obviously doesn’t kick in until the next day.

Now, then. As for writing? I started preparing some characters for a fantasy novel, and that’s as far as I got. I have a lot of copywriting work to do for Paper Angel and Water Dragon. We have three months to get caught up before submissions open up again. I have to do time-management organization for December today. And get caught up!

800 words, and other new things

My right hand can’t hold a pen.

Seriously, I drop them all the time. I drop a lot of things. I have to use two hands to hold a mug or cup. It’s diabetic neuropathy. I can type better than I can write. So my hand-written journal will have more personal things.

I’m going to go back to 800 Words, mostly as my journal/diary. Nobody will read it anyway.

Medium is my newest place that I go for writing advice and news. Bookbub gives me new Kindle books every day. Twitter is a dumpster fire that I enjoy watching.

I already voted. So the next nine days are just noise.

My story idea is taken

I started writing a story about a guy who has no magic in a world full of magic. I established his character, did a backstory, family tree, a couple of descriptive scenes, and some notes on other characters and the world.

Then my publisher gave me a novel to copy edit. About a guy with no magic in a world full of magic. And that author did a great job with it.

So I took all my stories in that world and trashed them (put them in a folder).I did complain to a writer’s group that said “It’s your story, in your voice, write it.” No. I can’t be bothered.

Back to reading. But this novel I’m copyediting is fantasy with hard to pronounce words, along with the stories that I’m reading. I started getting them confused with my job, so now I’m reading non-fiction and memoir as a brain cleanser.

Double Kindle points on Friday, so I bought a ton of books that were $4.99 or less. I did buy three books for $14.99 that were new books, with hardcover only.

Anyway, back to square one in the writing sphere.