First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating today!
So, for some updates. Well I am now on a new laptop as of two weeks as my old laptop started to give up and I wanted to at least be able to run it, so I decided to retire it before it kicked the bucket entirely! I'm now on a very nice HP laptop that runs oh so smooth and almost completely silent, I can finally hear what I'm thinking even while I'm on the computer! Windows 8 is pretty neat as well! Took a bit getting used to as it's very different from Windows 7, but once you no longer get stuck in some window, I really quite like it! I'm also getting used to the keyboard on it as that too is completely different from my old laptop. My old laptop doesn't have spaces in between each key, the new laptop does so it took a while to find each letter without looking. Now I'm typing with almost the same speed as on my old laptop though.
Am yet to transfer a lot of stuff from old laptop to new laptop, things like music and pictures that I want to have easy access to. But shall be doing that soon.
Health wise things are going up and down at the moment. I'm exactly 9 weeks post op today and I'm now pretty healed on the outside, at least the scar hasn't split open for about 2.5 weeks now so that's a progress! The scar doesn't look nearly as neat as it should by now though, but that was expected and I honestly don't care as long as it's healing and not causing issues. A hip to hip scar is not really something anyone will see anyways, and if people see it, it's a battle wound and I wear it with pride! I won!
I'm still battling severe fatigue so am resting a lot still and avoid all kinds of stress as much as possible, fatigue is likely a combination of my usual fatigue and post op fatigue still lingering. I'm just letting things take its time.
I had a full spine MRI on Halloween and requested to have the images sent to me afterwards and I'm glad I did as I knew a local radiologist wouldn't have enough experience when it comes to the complexity of Ehlers Danlos. I also found out I have a spinal condition that I haven't been told of before, yet it was found already in 2005 on a CT scan. According to the radiologist I have a mild version of Scheuermann's disease along with a straightened lordosis of my neck. I also have several bulging discs and a slightly abnormal T11, the T11 abnormality I have is typical for Scheuermann's according to the notes that came with my images.
Something that wasn't mentioned at all- and I knew a small, local hospital wouldn't even look for it, is Arnold Chiari malformation. Friends with the diagnose and experience in seeing it on images got to see an image of my skull base and neck and said it looked like a mild Chiari malformation, and keep in mind that this MRI was horizontal, Chiari is best seen on a vertical MRI. So my next step now is to find a more experienced doctor and have him or her look at the images and do a proper physical checkup of my neck- just to be on the safe side as I do have symptoms from my skull base and upper part of my neck that can be Chiari and/or CCI (Cranio Cervical Instability). Chiari can be pretty serious so I just want to know if I do indeed have it or not. If I have it there may be things I should keep in mind or do to avoid it getting worse and/or be less symptomatic, I'd like to avoid having to have decompression surgery and/or neck fusion if possible.
With both Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Scheuermann's, bulging discs and possible Chiari malformation and possible CCI, it's really no wonder I have constant pain in my back and neck...
As of a couple of weeks ago, I'm the hostess of a forum that's part of one of the largest online forums in Sweden, so I'm keeping myself busy with keeping the forum active and preparing articles to write within the subject of the forum, I have quite a few ideas am just trying to decide in which order I should write them. I have a lot of thoughts and ideas for the forum and my wish is that it will become a source of information and inspiration both for members and outsiders once a few articles is up. There's also some plans of possibly widening the subject of this forum by adding more fields to it which I'm totally open for.
It was a very close friend who talked me into this as she thought I'd do great hosting that forum, she said I have a way with words and an ability to inspire people.
I've also kinda been doing nightshifts as a volunteer neighborhood watch, though unlike George Zimmerman I'm only armed with my cellphone, super hearing and gut feeling!
A few weeks ago as I was getting ready for sleep, I heard a lot of noise downstairs in the basement, now sounds in the basement at night has been heard before, but not so much or for so long, so I called 112 which is our version of 911 and a while later the police came, I went out to open the basement door for them and sure enough, it was a sharp situation! The police ran inside the basement, I heard a lot of noise for a good while after I got back inside and later learned that the police had caught a burglar and his companion with their hands in the cookie jar!
I'm very glad I did not go downstairs myself to check the situation, but called the police instead. I would not have been able to defend myself very well due to my condition and no one would have known I had gone downstairs. The main burglar was drunk as a skunk and so high on drugs he was ready to fly- he was charged for both burglary and the narcotics!
On a completely different note, we got our first snow little over a week ago. It didn't last, but it snowed and the ground stayed white for some hours. Since then the weather has been very varied, warm one day and freezing the next and then warm again, and freezing... Guess the Santa parade on Sunday won't be snow covered this year!
It's the first in Advent on Sunday, so have changed my curtains this week into Christmas themed curtains, and I've put Advent lights in my windows and going to put up some more decorations within the next few days and make gingerbread cookies and saffron buns. I prepared the gingerbread cookie dough on Sunday already, the dough needs to rest at least overnight before making cookies anyways. Going to start making gingerbread cookies either tomorrow or on Saturday.
Well, this is all I have to update you with for now, will try to post soon again!
