seventhe: (Rydia: calls the monsters)

I’m sure approximately zero (0) of you are aware of this, but every year since like 2012 or 2013 i come up with a tag at the beginning of the year that i hope fits the year’s theme. (It doesn’t always work, so occasionally i replace the tag, or come up with multiples.) for 2017 i have ended up with 2 tags that really capture most of the year: “fight me” and “no”.

Unfortunately in my heart 2017 has ended up being a year of pain. Physically; emotionally; spiritually; professionally; financially; nationally; politically; chronically. In every area of my life I’ve ended up hurting for most of this year. The one exception has been romantically, and I’ll start out what will end up being a depressing entry telling you all that Mike and I are engaged; we will be married on 14 April 2018, and then there will be a big reception party some time at the end of May (Memorial Day wknd plus or minus a week). Mike has been my bedrock for so much of this year, and I’m honestly not sure i would have come out of this year as intact as i have if I hadn’t had him. I call him my grounding rod, my ground wire; he keeps me balanced.

I will try to intersperse good and bad, but here’s a memorial to the year that has hurt me in more ways than I’ve ever known.

“2017 )

Honestly, i really lost myself and my place this year. There were huge gaps and chasms I spent a lot of time and energy trying to fill whatever way I could. I spent a lot of time being tired and overwhelmed, and feeling exhausted and hopeless. With everything on top of itself, it really took until about October before I started finding handholds and climbing out of this goddamn pit.

The thing I do need to say here is that my friends and family - and family friends; you know which ones you are - have also really stepped up to help me through the low times this year, and I can’t help but love you more for it and look forward to having continued fun positive memories in the years to come. <3

Part of moving forward is archiving these things here; i have to get this out and over until I can start to look at 2018 and what I want to do and change and how to go forward.

seventhe: (Default)
I am sitting in the waiting room of Lab Corp right now waiting for my blood draw (with bonus peeing test). I haven't eaten breakfast. I haven't had coffee. These are both cardinal sins in SevLand. It has been an expensive and depressing week for health in SevLand. (edit: I was interrupted for the test and am now happily seated at my desk with coffee post-breakfast.)

Yesterday I took Marzy in for his echocardiogram checkup. His heart murmur has gotten no better; while it's still better than it was at his very first visit (when he wasn't on any drugs or anything), it's worse than his last checkup. The obstruction in his heart is getting worse and the walls of his heart are thickening (from overwork), and while they were examining him they did see one fully stopped beat, which means he is at the maximum dose of atenolol he can be on. The thickening and the obstruction are so bad that they're starting to worry about heart failure and blood clots -- although he is still asymptomatic at home, which is still a good sign amidst all the bad news.

They've put him on another drug, one that will help prevent blood clots. There's a small chance that this new drug will act synergistically with his current dose to improve the murmur - it isn't a proven thing with the drug, but they've seen it happen in a few cases, so it is worth trying. It's an additional $10-14/month I guess (more expensive for humans but apparently I get a break because cats?) and he has to go back in 6 months for another echo.

I was pretty upset yesterday. I cried in the car on the way to giant eagle to get his new drugs, and then accidentally a diet coke from the store while I was waiting and cleaned myself up in the bathroom. My poor little baby and his little broken heart. He is so lucky that I found him and kept him, because i am a crazy cat lady who will pay $$$ to take care of him, and probably no one would have even found it until it was too late. Asshole. I love my cats more than I have loved anything ever and I hate it.

Plus I've got all these medical bills coming in (X-rays haven't shown up yet, but just refilled my inhaler, I look, $120) and physical therapy coming up and I may not be doing a whole lot of anything come September because dollars.

Bodies. Why.
seventhe: (Zeromus: HAY GUYS)
Marzy had his ~6 month checkup yesterday. He's been on the beta blockers since... December? And on this dose since at least February or March, I think.

His heart murmur has not healed itself or grown smaller; he still has very bad cardiomyopathy, a level 5/6. (Sometimes the heart can fix itself as it grows, or over time, and a murmur will heal itself; this isn't the case for Marzy.) It's still very serious. But it is stable; it isn't getting worse.

There were two minor improvements and one minor flag, a thing-to-watch. Overall it's still a net improvement, and the doctor said specifically she was very pleased with how far Marzy has come on the drugs from his initial echocardiogram and she can see definite changes comparing the ultrasounds, so he is improving. Just... slowly.

So he stays on this dose of drugs for another 6-9 months and then goes back to get looked at again.

*sigh*

well

Dec. 6th, 2010 10:15 pm
seventhe: Rydia (Rydia)
The news on Marzy's heart is both bad and hopeful.

Technical version: he has hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.

His heart murmur is real, and it's disease-related rather than "functional" (the kind a cat can just live with). Basically, one of his heart valves isn't working correctly. Because of this, his heart is overworking, which means the muscle is thicker than usual (a bad sign). This thickening has pulled one of his valves into the wrong position. It doesn't close properly (causing the murmur), and it also gets into a weird position when open, blocking a lot of bloodflow in his heart.

The hopeful news is that often, blockages like this can be helped with medicine. The meds can help calm his heart down, which will both thin the walls AND help that valve "reset" itself to the right position. So today, Marzy has started beta blockers. LOL.

He'll go back in two weeks for another evaluation, during which they'll check his response and possibly re-titrate his dose. And if nothing has happened... we'll discuss further options. But the doctor seemed moderately hopeful that the valve would respond to the meds, so I am too.

We caught this early. He's only 1yr 4mo, and the doctor said that she doesn't see any signs of the chambers of his heart actually enlarging (a really bad sign). If he responds to the pills, chances are he's going to be okay. ♥

He'll be on the drug for life. He takes a dose twice a day. I'm not yet sure what this means for me - can I still travel? Can I go somewhere overnight? Is he going to be okay? Am I going to have to pay for a pet-sitter every time I want to go to Pittsburgh? Do I have to take him into a vet for overnight? Is it going to cost me hundreds of dollars just to see my family?

But these things aren't worth worrying about right now. All I'm focused on is making my poor kitty better.

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seventhe: (Default)
unfortunate hobo

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