Life not always what we planned

Jul 12, 2022 8:15 pm

,


There’s something wrong with 2022. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is (I can), or perhaps I don’t want to (I don’t). But to get there, I have to go back to July 2021 and my annual wellness visit to the doctor.


At almost 65 (at that time), I was my doctor’s ideal patient. Other than allergies (too many to list), back pain, and the occasional seasonal virus, unlike many my age, I was mostly healthy. My labs were always spot-on perfect other than lowish-high cholesterol. But not this time. This time, my liver enzymes were elevated—only a tiny amount, but because my ANA (the test that can measure whether you have an autoimmune disease) was also mildly positive for the first time ever, my doctor took action. After many blood tests, a trip to a rheumatologist for more blood tests, and a hepatologist for even more blood tests, and many months of wait-and-see followed by a liver biopsy, I was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, most likely medication-induced. Unlike the other types of hepatitis, this one isn’t viral and isn’t contagious. With this one, my body was attacking my liver.


Given I’ve taken pretty care of my body, it’s simply not very nice of it to attack an organ I need to live. But life is what it is and often it isn’t what we want.


I finally started treatment on May 20, 2022 and let’s just say it did not go well. Within four days, I was a basket case and refused to continue on the treatment. I can’t honestly say I would still be here to write this if I had continued. The liver doc switched me to something else, and it’s been mostly okplus, it’s working. The side effects are tolerable even though one of those is an almost complete loss of creativity (this letter aside).


So, 2022. Heavy sigh.


But 2022—yippie! We added a new member to our fur family. Meet Luna—aka Coco Luna Bear (or Chocolate Moon Bear). She’s a mini schnoodle, and we almost didn’t keep her. By the time I started treatment, we’d had her 3 weeks. Lack of sleep from her waking me up to potty, combined with the horrible treatment side effects, and I was set up for failure with her. Oh, and our other dog hated her. After starting the process to re-home her, I forced myself to stop and reconsider. I realized that most of my frustration came from exhaustion and side effects. I reminded myself that one should never make decisions in the condition I was in. I’m so glad I rethought it. We’ve had her almost 3 months now, and she’s a completely different dog. She’s stopped biting us (good thing since my skin is ultrathin because of treatment), she’s almost potty trained, AND…my other dog now loves her. They play all day.

image


I can’t say the whole year is bad. But it isn’t the year I’d planned. And that just has to be ok for now. I may not be writing, but I’m getting a lot of reading done. I just finished The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard, and I highly recommend it.


Click the pictures below to check out a couple of book sales.


Love Down Under

image



Sweet Summer Romance

image


Hopefully, my brain will start wanting to write again soon. In the meanwhile, have an awesome summer.


Jeanne Felfe

Author of Bridge to Us


Comments