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Just a few things about how I've fared the past couple of years,
At the very end of 2021, I was hospitalized twice for gastric problems, with an easily identified cause of vertigo (Meniere's Syndrome) quickly addressed through PT. The gastric issues, however, did not resolve; resulting in an Endoscopic ultrasound and biopsy of a cyst in my stomach. The cells first appeared to be pre-cancerous, with a subsequent out-of-are lab determining the cyst was NOT precancerous. Two subsequent biopsies determined that it was okay, but the proximity to ducts from the Liver and Pancreas indicates a yearly endoscopy is in order. I do suffer from Diabetic gastroparesis (everything exits the stomach and moves slowly due to nerve damage that has caused the problem - another reason why I have tenacious acid reflux.
It has been a long, anxious two years since there's a history of cancer on both sides of my family. While the doctor explained the good news he was also kind enough to understand my concerns. Like verbally holding my hand, if that makes sense.
I was diagnosed with Dupuytren's Contracture, which is more annoying than debilitating) in 2017. It's progressed in both hands. The good news is that my hands function fairly well except for....typing. As Bugs Bunny might say, "Ironic, ain't it?"
While all this was going on, at the end of last year I had surgeries for my left wrist AND my elbow, See below* On the 26th of this month I'm having the same surgeries for my RIGHT wrist and elbow. It's okay to laugh, BTW.
(Cue the good news) In the midst of all his, I'm okay. I have a very nice apartment in a nice four-unit 100-year-old Tudor building. My neighbors are nice folks from various parts of Central America. All very kind and helpful.
(Cue the really good news) Between your kind words and even prayer, we all must have done something good since around the time of my first surgeries, I was pleasantly surprised. In a conversation with my son regarding his mom, I explained that not too long before her death she had written in a little notepad about how to explain my being transgender. His response? "I already know... I saw something you had open on your laptop. " Since he had already been out of the home and living with his future wife he had to have known for a few years. He explained that he didn't know what to say in the midst of moving and getting everything in order for their upcoming wedding (Their anniversary is also at the end of this month)
Like I said in my title pic above, I'm alright.
As much as my earlier writing reflected how traumatic my childhood had been, my much more recent writing has reflected how bitter turned into bittersweet, which has become a bit sweeter as I have used wishes and dreams and fantasy to reflect just how much my wife blessed me Her 69th birthday is this Saturday. I will be sharing only a part of me with my family by posting the link above to Enya's song along with the lyrics. Her sisters and brother will still be feeling her absence on Saturday, but their faith might be lifted as the song reflects exactly who she was...who she is.
ALL of this to say that while other places do provide a space to grow as a writer and a place to create, this place has provided a home, perhaps, for Misfit Toys, as Emma Anne reminded me this week. I am truly blessed by everyone here. It almost goes without saying that in my life, there would not be a home without Erin and her dear folks.
I thank you all. But special thanks go out to my adopted daughter Kelly Blake. And I cannot imagine a kinder, sweeter friend than Dottie. Yes, my brood has Liz and Diana and Samirah too. But as they (who are THEY, anyway?) ya gotta have friend, yes? My heart is whole and strong due no small part to the years-long holding of my hand by Joannebarbarella and the best Mermaid a gal could ever call a friend, Ronni (Laika) Pupkino!
And all that so say Grazie a tutti. Benedici la mia anima!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulnar_nerve_entrapment
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Thank you for sharing this, Andrea. For sharing your stories, your dreams, and yourself. For continuing to come, despite the hurt. For continuing to give, when you have lost so much and been through so much. I have only known you a short time, and already I feel like we have been friends forever. I am so very glad that you found this place, and that you call it home.
Emma
you're making me blush!
"I cannot imagine a kinder, sweeter friend than Dottie."
well, right back atcha Tante!
Ouch!
"...a yearly endoscopy is in order." Ouch! You have my sympathies.
I am pleased that, over the years, everything has become much calmer for you.
Oh. "...a nice four-unit 100-year-old Tudor building." Oh, Really? King Henry VIII would like a word!
Penny
Architectural STYLE
Popular between 1890 - 1940, mimicking the original style in the Tudor age, Here in the US and England. Here's a generic example (I bet you were teasing; although I just got a sudden slashing pain in my neck!) My building is about 2/3 as wide.
Love, Andrea Lena
Reminds me of a story . . . .
I had a geeky friend (hard to believe, right?) who picked up a T-Shirt at a performance of Richard III that illustrated the dynastic elements of the conflict by showing all of the descendants of Edward III, ca. 1480. She said that a guy tried to pick her up one day when she was getting a coffee with one of the best lines ever. He looked at her chest with deep appreciation and said, "Nice Plantagenets!" Her priceless response -- she was a clever girl -- was, "You should see my Tudors." :)
Emma
Fatal condition
Having English royal blood at that time was a fatal inherited condition.
By the death of Henry VIII there weren't many left.
Much has been written and filmed about the Tudors. Rank amateurs compared to the contemporary Swedish/Polish Vasa dynasty:
* Brothers putting each other in prison (and allegedly having one murdered)
* Two of them deposed by respectively brothers and uncle (the same as one of the brothers), two abdications and one killed in battle.
* Murder by the king's own hand
* Severel members, including at least one king, certifiably mad.
* A bona fide pirate princess
* Said princess attempting to run away from her debts in London. Her former friend Elisabeth I was not amused.
* A couple of sex scandals (same princess)
* The king marrying a servant girl from an inn
* Religious strife. The first Vasa introduced Lutheranism. The last Vasas were all catholics.
* A couple of successful and several unsuccessful uprisings
* A family feud fought on the battlefields between two major European powers
* One of the greatest generals ever (killed in battle) and some of the worst.
* A former queen regnant allegedly seducing various cardinals
* Turning a poor and poorly organised country at the outskirts of Europe into a role model for other countries when it came to efficient and centralised administration. (The other branch failed miserably at the same task).
...
...
...
Tudoor buildings are great
Because if the cops come knocking on one door you can run out the other one.
And biopsies are always less invasive and much more cuter
& gurl-y (had to work gurl in somewhere) if you call them
boopsies. But by any name I'm glad the results of yours
was far more benign than some worst case scenario.
~huge hugs, Veroniica
And remember...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifLqzLEB3E0
It's that language thing again
Us right-pondians would usually refer to that style as "Mock Tudor". Of course, we'd have to, to distinguish them from the real thing. Many were built in the great expansion of London between the wars. I doubt old Henry put many buildings up over in Cabot-land. (Although, thinking about it, Elizabeth did.)
P.
Growing old sucks……..
But the alternative is much worse - or at least so I realize now. For quite some time, I did not feel that way and anxiously awaited - no, sought after my death. But alas, you really can teach an old dog new tricks.
My family taught me that becoming, and being, my true self is a far preferred alternative to death. So like you, I will not go quietly into the night. And yes, I know that I am stealing from Dylan Thomas - but why not?
I hope that you and yours continue to move forward and that in spite of your medical issues that you realize, as I do now, that the alternative does in fact truly suck.
I have greatly enjoyed reading your work here, and I look forward to seeing much, much more!
Be well, and be happy.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus