I've been reading through things trying to catch up, hoping that'll help me stay out of the hole this time. A few times now I've thought I was feeling a lot better and then I pulled another "I've fallen and I can't get up" just days later. Bleh.

Uh, an update ... mostly around family health issues, which are getting a little crazy. Just need to lay it all out there and whine.

My father has liver cancer. They keep taking the tumors out and the tumors keep coming back, but this was expected to happen eventually because he has hepatitis C. His reaction isn't as bad as Walter White in Breaking Bad, but he has taken it as an excuse to be a bit of a dick. It didn't help my stress levels during the visit that he listens non-stop to far right wing stuff on TV and the radio at volumes that could make your ears bleed. Lies and misrepresentations are bad enough. At a volume so loud you can't tune it out, I thought I was going to have a psychotic break during the loooooong drive to visit my brother during my visit home. Fortunately I'd brought good headphones. Very loud music helped.

My mother was having all kinds of weird problems like coughing constantly and almost throwing up whenever she ate, and it turns out to be new allergies in a huge way (food and environmental). Eliminating a lot of it has been difficult (chocolate?!?!? malt??? lettuce?? spinach?? barley?? hops??) but she says she feels loads better, isn't coughing, and isn't feeling sick anymore. Fortunately she doesn't really drink so there's no need to quit drinking beer. Unfortunately, things like malt are in a LOT of products.

When I went home to FL to visit the folks I discovered that I have a lovely new allergy or something. It's a form of eczema (Dyshidrosis) where exposure to heat (and possibly sunlight) makes you break out with tiny blisters (it's kind of like goosebumps) on the backs of your hands and up the arms and on the face. Made me feel like a plucked chicken. Also gave me splotchy hives around my ankles. Added some surreal mystery to my visit. Saw the doctor when I got home just to understand what it was. Apparently I was a bit lucky in that it never itched. I've had a couple more breakouts since then when it got really hot here and one of the times it itched like crazy, ugh. So far I think that for me it has to be a combo of heat and sunlight.

The hubby has somehow cracked some ribs (no idea how). At the same time, he's been having kidney stone problems, this bout has been directly next to the ribs so it took a while to figure out that he had more than just a kidney stone problem. Worse, the stone is in a lower duct so gravity won't pull it out, but it's not big enough to use ultrasound/whatever to break it up, so they have to leave it there and let it grow until it's ready.

My motherinlaw just had her 2nd anaphalatic reaction out of the blue. Fortunately she had an epipen this time as she was an hour from a hospital. So far they think that it's a bad reaction to her blood pressure medication, which can apparently cause this after taking it a long while, and the stuff stays in your system for 4 months after you stop taking it so you can still have reactions after stopping. The irony is that I'm on the same med and have been having some issues. Time to change meds. Hubby wonders if they're a side cause of my eczema.

Oh yeah, and my brother joined the thyroid tumor club with me and my mom.

I think that's it for the family dramas. And I wonder why I feel like emotional roadkill most of the time ...

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Eagle Whisperer

OMG...sounds like RL is crazy for you, CW! I'm with Gatchamarie in sending virtual hugs your way!

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There is no problem that cannot be solved with time, patience, and a judicious amount of high explosives.

I'm so sorry to hear you're having such troubles, CW. And it's hard dealing with parents when they're unwell.

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Playing darts with the Condor's feather shuriken...

Apparently you can have a pseudo-allergy to sunlight also because of some weird side-reaction the sunlight causes in your body, where you're allergic to the reaction and not the sunlight. Strange stuff. I'm pretty fair-skinned and not generally a sun or heat lover (I easily overheat), so it's not entirely surprising I guess. My parents and my brother tan really well. I tend more toward burning. There's a reason I prefer BC to FL, heh. And yes, eczema is supposed to be made worse by stress as well.

The hubby is visiting his parents out east. His mother's anaphylactic reaction happened the other day with him out there. Today, he's back at the ER, but this time with his father, who's got a nosebleed that won't stop. Apparently they've put a rubber clamp on his nose while they wait for triage, heh. Hubby is apparently amusing himself by listening to waiting room explanations of turkey-related injuries (thanksgiving weekend here in Canada).

Oh, one thing definitely had me thinking of you guys ... was watching NCIS: LA and G. and Sam were discussing their favorite cartoons as kids. Sam guessed that G.'s was G-Force (probably because G. was an orphan). It was actually Mighty Mouse but I got a kick out of the mention.

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Eagle Whisperer

Nosebleeds are not to be messed with. I hope they get it under control.

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I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...

When enough is never enough! Hope things for your father-in-law turn out well, too! Thanks God there's this series which can take our minds off things ... eh, CW!?

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To be or not to be a gatchamaniac - that's the dilemma!

Hope things only go up from here, Chris!

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No one's being timed. After all, I made y'all wait.

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Eagle Whisperer

sorry for the delay in welcoming you back, Chris. it sounds like you have been having a hard time of it. I don't blame you for needing some time out, I think everyone needs it once in a while.

I hope RL turns around for you soon and better fortunes come your way.

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Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope. - HELEN KELLER

Hopefully this is the end of the bad things for a long while.

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I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...