Stultus: Blog

As of my latest visit with my cardiac doc, I have about 30% +/- remaining heart function, but since I have not had a repeat cardiac incident since, they let me stop wearing a LifeVest (portable defibrulator machine that weighed about 15 pounds) day and night. I'm down from about 13 daily medications to just 8, so, my life is very slowly returning to normal-ish.

Blood sugar has been 'normal' every day for over a month now and my diet (and later blood tests) have been good. Down 40 pounds and close enough now to my goal weight that I'm enjoying a 'cheat' weekend. Did you know that pumpkin (pie) is an excellent food for reducing blood sugar?

My main issue now is ultra-low blood pressure. I'm 80/60 now at best (on a good day) and have many more often bad days where I'm 60/50-ish. This gives me constant dizzy spells and most days I can't (or shouldn't) drive. I can only walk (or talk) for short periods of time before I begin gasping for breath. Not to mention the near constant brain fog... this is pretty much keeping me unable to write once more.

I thought I would sit down a few days ago and try to finish up Born Under a Baad Sign... but I couldn't even remember clearly in my head what had already taken place, or what needed to occur next. My written outline for this was skimpy and my usual ability to write 98% of a story in my head first, then type it, is currently toast. Sorry...

Too many days being spent being quiet on the sofa watching old History channel programs, Great British Baking, and endless Bigfoot documentaries... lol. I did fix some minor PC problems a day last week when I was feeling almost 'myself' (another bad power supply) and cruised the Amazon Black Friday sales for a few small upgrades :)

eBay got extremely unhappy with me being in the hospital (and away from a computer) for nearly a month and crippled my selling account I've had since 1998. I've made 4 phone calls to customer service who always say my account will be fixed... but it still isn't. Etsy had no problems, fortunately, and I'm moving more and more things there. This is my 'play money' and thank God I don't rely on this for mortgage and groceries! I think I need to file for SS Disability, but I've been procrastinating.

Really, really, really need to do a chapter of my Christmas serial (When the Hunter) but I need a good day when my BP is up and my head is sharp... and I only get about one of those a week, currently, and then have to take care of the wife, errands, and everything else that didn't get done that week.

Anyway... I wanted to give everyone a brief update. I'd like to think that I'm improving and getting better, but the progress has been glacially slow.

I've been home from the hospital for a few weeks and trying to get back into a life-routine again. I'm losing weight and heavily watching carbs in my diet (doing something between Atkins and Keto diet). Being on 10+ different medications probably helps too. For extra fun, I'm wearing a 10+ pound portable defibrillator 24/7. Absolutely hate that thing!

FYI, for the curious. A major heart attack with 17 days in hospital cardiac ICU runs to about $380k, according the pile of bills coming in. No insurance, so this could get entertaining.

Had a follow-up visit today with my chief cardiologist and the results were mixed. I have something like 40-50% heart damage but there is hope that more weight loss + exercise + medication will decrease this to @ 35% in a few months. Not really happy news, but it beats the alternative... I was reminded that few of the surgical cardio staff thought I was going to live (my heart stopped three times on the operating table), so I've already defied the odds.

I have things I wanted to do before I die... and it looks like I need to get a bit off of my ass and get to them. Finishing more stories here on SOL is certainly on the list.

Home now. I just got done spending 16 days in the hospital, mostly cardiac ICU. A terrible two weeks!

My diet hadn't been 'BAD' this summer, but my blood sugar spiked and A1C's got over ten. Texas 95 degree had something to do with it... I'm sure, I'd felt off/sort of bad for about two months. I had terrible chest pains for three days and mostly couldn't breath except in tiny puffs. Drove myself to the ER Monday morning two weeks ago and 30 mins later I was in an ICU bed.

I don't remember much of anything for the next 4-5 days except all four of my cardiologists all thought I wouldn't pull through. No strange/weird dreams at all (that I can remember) so no weird story ideas pulled over from the other side, best I can tell.

Home resting now...

RL seriously caught up with me last month and the next few weeks still look pretty busy with zero time to sit and write. Some health issues, some minor (new) injuries and more hustling side jobs to make some income. Unfun.

Hoping by mid-June to have the next Baad chapter ready. The story's nearly done - 2-3 more parts left to finish.

(Several edits later...)

Chapter Six is posted. It's really a bit too long but I just couldn't trim it down enough. I would, ideally, like to end this at @ 10 chapters, but already I can tell that it won't happen. Once, I thought I could tell this story in about four chapters... nope! I do use the Slow code in nearly every story for a reason.

I've used my first SOL sex code 'CrossDresser' but NOT for the usual reasons. Read the chapter... but it's not used in a sexual way (in this chapter). Chapter Eight currently pushes it slight more. I'm really working extremely hard to keep this story largely 'R' rated, with very little weird sex at all. Trust me... I could have made this story really, really weird with almost no effort at all, lol.

Just how much sex (and how weird) would you mind the story getting? Not for me... just asking for a friend ;)

Chapter Seven (first draft) is done! Maybe posting it on Friday.

Chapter Eight (first draft) is also done - and contains a mild but unusual sex scene that I might yet trim or delete entirely. I think it's important to telling the story, related to the CD theme as Ben starts to find his personal boundaries between himself and Lucie becoming extremely blurred.

Busy month for me with too much RL stuff going on to have much writing time, except for a full day spent at the typewriter today!

An update fixing a few small typos screwed up Chapter Five. It has now been reposted and seems to be now 'as intended'. If there are any other typos, let me know and I'll fix them asap.