Saturday, January 23

[gottawonder]

Today I am grateful for:

Though it was fairly cold today, it was bright and sunny. There wasn't much wind, so the cold wasn't so noticeable.

The animals outside are doing okay with the cold. It's quite a drop from the weather we've been having most of the winter so far.

A nice walk around the horse pasture a few times with Roxy.

I called my niece, whose been in the hospital now for about two weeks, getting blood transfusions and surgery for uterine embolisms. It's the first time I've talked to her (other than texts) about her condition. She's has issues for a few months now, and the hospital kept saying it was just "normal" because of her birth control to bleed uncontrollably for weeks on end. She literally could have just died. At one point she passed out, was taken to emergency and they gave her a blood transfusion. It seems like they were forced to recognize that long term heavy bleeding might actually be a problem. Finally the one doctor who had concerns stood up for her, and got her a referral to a bigger hospital. That's where they did the ultrasounds and determined that she is having issues with the blood vessels in her uterus, and she's getting several leaking vessels closed off. She's had two surgeries, several transfusions, and might have more. I'm worried that this might lead to them deciding she should just have a hysterectomy. I'm kind of wondering if it isn't the best thing for her, since this might not end with this episode, and I wonder if pregnancy would just kill her.

She's only 20.

We talked a bit more about her relationships with family (not great), and she needs her driver's licence (this is literally an epidemic in my family with the nieces/nephews). I tried to at least give her some distraction as she's been in the hospital for two weeks with no visitors etc. because of Covid.

I am grateful that she finally got to a hospital, that they are helping her, that she won't go into debt for the rest of her life for this because of our medical system, and that I could at least talk to her for a while.

I spent most of the night working on a painting, while I watched a movie and then listened to some more podcasts. It's getting really tough to feel like I'm living different days. I am grateful to have some creative outlets that give me some sense of real time.

Fatty continues to do well on this medication. I am extremely grateful for this.