Wild & Educational 2 Years

The last post from December 2017 stated upper abdominal pain; it turned out to be my gallbladder which was removed in February of 2018. While the surgeon took out the gallbladder, he took a liver biopsy because there were lesions noticeable on the ultrasound. Nothing cancerous, but I do have Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (abbreviated from now on to NAFLD). I was on study medications as part of a Psoriatic Arthritis study during this time frame. In order to get the gallbladder surgery, I had to stop taking the study medications and start on Humira Pen (I’ve since switched to Humira Citrate free pen).

In 2017, my husband was 1 of the people affected by the coxsachie virus A outbreak at the local Walmart. It attacked his heart and he was sick and between the hospital and home most of that year. He did not have months worth of paid leave because his employer has a use within the calendar year or lose it policy. No rollover accruals. Silicon Travel Vacation Surfing paid him at 100% of his wages for the ENTIRE time he was out. Their care and understanding is amazing. All of the owners stated repeatedly and followed up with their actions for him to “focus on getting better, we’ll handle the rest.” They did not HAVE to do this. They chose to. And because they chose to, we were able to keep our house and pay our monthly bills. I can’t thank them enough. 

We have had insurance via the ACA marketplace since January 2018 – this is a huge yay for us because we would not have been able to accomplish the health needs we’ve been having without it. One of the health needs accomplished in 2018 was my husband was able to get his defibrillator. We went with the subcutaneous (under the skin) instead of transvenous (wired into the veins) because of his age and the long-term complications of replacement and removal with scar tissue.

I have my medical cannabis certification and have had it since October 2018. I cannot explain how much it has helped me. I used to take OTC narco doses (2 Advil & 2 Tylenol) every 4-6 hours to manage pain. Since starting medical cannabis that has changed to every 4-6 hours during severe PCOS (Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) flares, and even then it’s not as frequent because I have been using cannbidiol creams. The amount of damage the high doses of OTC meds were doing to my organs over the long term have been successfully mitigated, so far. I still have to do my 1 year follow up labs from the gastroenterologist for confirmation. There have been other benefits to cannabis including anxiety and depression management. More on my mental health later.

I found a Gynecologist that is NOT baby obsessed!!!! This is so important. I had not been to a gyno in more than a decade because the provider was obsessed with fertility and why am I not being more active trying to have babies, blah blah blah blah. I would have to spend inordinate amounts of time explaining my husband is sterile from pediatric cancer and the medical consensus of the other specialists that if I did not GIVE BIRTH prior to 30, it would be FATAL for me to get pregnant instead of the high risk I was in my 20s. With this gyno, I was able to have an actual productive discussion about options including hysterectomy. She listened to me, she went through multiple diagnostics including a battery of labs and a transvaginal ultrasound, to get to a point where we know where I stand. An IUD would be my best option currently to stop my cycle, BUT there are downsides relating to my other health issues that need to be taken into account. Hormonally, I would not be able to healthily have a hysterectomy at this time. She will keep monitoring annually unless something weird happens in test results necessitating more frequent visits.

I have a psychiatrist. She’s the only 1 in 150 miles that is both cannabis friendly and not quick to over prescribe permanently brain chemistry altering drugs to manage my anxiety and depression. As for my C-PTSD, she hasn’t touched it. I still need to find a psychologist, but at least I am partially getting my mental health addressed. Before someone says anything about the doc not touching the C-PTSD, it’s NOT because she’s ignoring it. The anxiety and depression are the more consistent and pressing issues she wants to get managed. Her hypothesis (which I happen to agree with TBH) is the trauma triggers will be processed better and more healthfully if the other consistent mental disorders are actually under control. Getting in to see a mental health professional is probably my biggest health achievement of the decade. I did not truly understand how mentally messed up I was until I was unable to be busy 24/7. Not holding down 2 jobs plus other activities doesn’t give you a lot of “down time” to process everything you’ve been through. Suddenly having tons of downtime brings everything to the fore and it becomes overwhelming very quickly and processing it is well, all the shit didn’t happen to you 10 minutes so it’s not going to fully settle in your brain and process in 10 minutes.

I left GameStop after more than 10 years in March of 2018. I was missing too many shifts I was scheduled for due to health reasons, corporate policies were changing for the worse, and I have lost a LOT of physical function even with Humira and cannabis therapies. The store manager NEVER guilted me or chastised me because she knew and understood what my diagnoses and prognoses mean. She didn’t ask me to leave. But she was getting in trouble for me not being able to come in and complete online trainings on their warped schedule with bizarre hours allotments. She did everything she could to accommodate my health needs. Once I realized I was not going to be able to get that function back and meet the demands of the job, I put in notice and left. She is still a friend and check in occasionally.

One of my siblings is trans. They came out to my husband and me in 2018 after they came out to parents. They were shy about coming out to us because the other sibling who has been vocally supportive of LGBT+, rejected them and agreed with their mom in their belief that they’re being manipulated and not actually trans. I have fucked up their pronouns occasionally and apologize when I do. I’m beyond pissed at their mom for rejecting them. Our dad was accepting then, because he’s still in love with their mom (who happens to be quite persuasive in the first place) not so much anymore, and then finally came back around to supportive because Dad will always love his kids no matter what. Over the past year + we’ve slowly but surely and consistently shown that yes we love you no matter what to my sibling. I shouldn’t have to say this, but this is the internet so I know better: do NOT come at me with your TERF, SWERF, transphobic, bigoted bullshit. I can promise that it will NOT go well for you. I EARNED the moniker of Rabid Psychotic Demonic Hellbeast and I will act accordingly to anyone being a hateful piece of shit.

#healthupdate #medicalcannabis #mentalhealth #familyupdate #update #generalhealth