Part II of where we are.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

More work in progress. He's finally getting the chance to get caught up on everything that's been on his workbench in various stages of the creative process, some of it for months [even back into last year]. These are both going to be very Art Deco-ish, which makes me very happy; it's my favorite art/architecture style.

I'm beat. The hell of it is, I don't even know how much of it just general autoimmune crap, how much of it is stress from all the money worries; and how much of it is something new I should be worrying about. Restabilizing my chemo dose has helped with the first somewhat, although not as much as I would've liked; I suspect that, my condition having regressed while I couldn't get the right dose, t's now taking longer to build me back up to where I was. 

The third, though, is bedeviling me now. In the last 7 years, I've been through a couple of episodes of nearly dying [three hospitalizations, many more episodes that didnt' get treated because who can afford that?]; initially they thought it was my heart, but that turned out to be in perfect shape, so everyone just gave up trying to DX it. Then there were the thyroid and liver tumors, the latter never biopsied because they decided [assumed] form placement they were hemangiomas, and biopsying can be more dangerous than not, while the former was biopsied multiple times, and like every breast-tissue biopsy I've ever had, absolutely no one could read it. Yes, the inflammatory breast cancer scare, too, and that was put down to the lupus, like everything else, because no one can read the results and no one knows what it really is.

But lupus and RA are progressive. Both can do real damage. Both can damage the heart, both can increase the risk of cancer, and now with COVID making it unavoidable to address, they're finally acknowledging that people with chronic EBV Syndrome, like me, are at far greater risk of certain other cancers, too. Lupus puts me at risk for all of those, as well, plus endo-, myo-, and pericarditis, various lung cancers, lymph cancers, Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. And aside from all the autoimmune pain and fatigue that never goes away, I now have had, for a few months, this constant pain and swelling on the left side of my chest, underarm, shoulder, and upper back.  Could be nothing.  Could be . . . well, pick one. Could be any of them. 

I've literally just been advised that we have now made a sale I didn't know about and wasn't expecting, so I can breathe when it comes to this week's medical bills for both of us. Next months's imaging is something else entirely; it's likely to run well into the multiple four figures before it's done. It has to be paid in cash, up front, before they'll do the scans. I Haven't even made the appointment yet, because there's no point doing it if I'm not going to be able to pay for it.

So this is Part II of where we are, and maybe it goes some distance to explaining why I keep harping on the need for sales, and also why I'm so scattered mentally. [We also have a niece in the hospital, and a ton of other concerns pressing on us, so it's not purely my own medical issues and lack of money to pay for them; it's everything all at once.] The one saving grace is that I expect Wings's follow-up this week to be nothing more than that, with very good results. Amazing what a change in providers can do.

Anyway. I am buried under all of this for the foreseeable, so if it's not related to bringing in sales, I'm likely not doing it. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one already even worse than the last, we really need to get 2024 onto a better footing, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.