Water in the kitchen tomorrow! Yes, I'm home, and it's the best news, but a lot of testing (and expense) yet to go. Sales/shares (including registries) badly needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

We have a partial kitchen counter! Which means that by this time tomorrow, we will at long last have a working kitchen sink. And a dishwasher, for that matter. The tile guys also got the baseboard filled in in the blank spots, although they still need to be grouted, and got the backsplash placed in the bathroom (also to be grouted tomorrow):

Photo copyright Aji, 2017;
all rights reserved.

This was not originally planned; it came about because of the screw-up with the sink (i.e., a failure to listen to me multiple times when I said that it was going to be a pedestal sink, and a failure to use any common sense in noticing that a vanity would never fit anyway, and so the cutout in the wall was far too large).  But the backsplash is really pretty.

And yes! I'm home. We got home late last night. My chest and torso are all mottled red and white with irritation and inflammation from all the leads (EKG and telemetry units) attached to me over the last three days. My arms are black and blue from all the needles everywhere. My right wrist is also puffy from the needle in the artery. They did do the cardiac catheterization on me yesterday, although many hours later than anticipated, because several emergency cases came in throughout the day, as in people keeling over from a literal MI and needing immediate intervention. They finally took me back between 3:30 and 4 PM, and the prep probably took 20 minutes. The cath itself took 20 minutes, tops. The recovery was supposed to be an hour, but it took 20 minutes.

Why?

Because it turns out there's NO HEART PROBLEM! Despite my incredibly horrible, early-fatality-filled family medical history with heart problems, my heart is EXTREMELY healthy. They gave me a very low dose of anesthetic (because I'm very susceptible to side effects), with the result that I was awake and alert through the entire cath. Yes, I felt everything, although the drugs did numb stuff up substantially, but every insertion through the artery was twingy, and a couple of times it was quite painful. Still, it was worth it; now they go through the wrist instead of the groin, and pain and recovery are both greatly lessened by it. I had three warrior women, one of whom was Diné and whose traditional name was very close to exactly that, assisting and watching over me, and the male doc was very skilled. When he was done, he walked around to the other side of the gurney and leaned in so that I could see the big grin on his face. He said, "You're going home! You have a beautiful heart. Your heart is perfect, your arteries are perfect, you have no blockages or buildup, and you're going home tonight."

And I bawled from sheer relief.

Of course, what this now means is that it's something else, and we have to find out what. Now that I don't have to worry about an incipient MI in my sleep, it means that I could focus on what I actually felt rather than what it might be, and I have a pretty good idea of what's at play here (a combo of esophageal stuff, probably some herniation, and autoimmune-induced hypoglycemic issues all combining for some very bad things that mimic MIs). At any rate, I'll be trying to get in to see my new doc within the week, and we have to get to work on other testing and blood panels. By the way, the stress test results that they couldn't decipher, the thing that sent me down to Lovelace in the first place? breast tissue artifact. My heart ultrasound, conducted down at Lovelace, also came back perfectly clear. (And I also apparently do not have a-fib, which is what got my mother, so that's a huge relief, too. My heart rhythm is apparently very strong and steady.) But it's a lot to deal with yet, and it's going to be a lot of expense.

Also, I'm beat. Three days forced to go with very little food and water (for various procedures), the 4-hour ambulance ride for the transfer, the disruption generally, and then the cath? I hurt everywhere (my arm and chest ache internally from the caths in the arteries), and I feel ridiculously weak and wrung-out. We had to take care of some errands today, and I did almost nothing, and I can barely move now. At least I slept last night, without fear of never waking up. Even so, my concentration is trash right now, so the rest is cut and paste. Please pray for an easy time of it for both of us while we're here, and for a good result (and that I get out of here sooner rather than later; I want to rest at home). Lots of expenses coming down the pike, and we need to make some sales. Given the circumstances, I'm leaving up the donation link, too, and the registries have some new items on then, mostly lower-priced, to replace stuff damaged by the RV or given away when we first moved into it seven years ago. So please share the links:

• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• Wings's site, for sales;
• Wayfair gift cards, to replenish all the furnishings that the RV has destroyed in one way or another.
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. There are new kitchen-y things on it now, stuff that I didn't realize we'd need to replace (either because the RV ruined it or because we gave it away when we had to downsize).
• Partial registry #2, from Wayfair. Still waiting for them to resolve this fulfillment/shipping problem they have with their site. Even so, I've added some things (kitchen/dining room stuff mostly), most of which are comparatively reasonably priced. Now, it's going to be mostly odds and ends that make this place more liveable, because of the sheer volume of stuff destroyed by too many years in the RV (e.g., by the oven and stovetop, by the wiring, by the water, by the mold, etc.), or that we simply gave away seven years ago because we had no room and no place to put them and despaired of ever being able to use them again. But about Wayfair, and VERY IMPORTANT: They make it possible to crowdfund each item. So if you'd like to help, but the prices are too much for one person? You can kick in 20 bucks, or ten, or five, on any one item; many small donations can add up to one item.

As I've also been saying, I am still catching up, and will be now for a while. But this is the holiday season, and the sales/commissions from these few weeks are what keep us alive throughout the whole long winter and spring months (to say nothing of what's in the offing medically), so please continue to share the links. And please refer folks to Wings's site (and if you have an endorsement, too, so much the better). I'll be trying, slowly but, I hope, steadily, to get caught up over the course of this week. We have some massive expenses coming down the pike, and a lot of testing yet to be done before I'm out of the woods. So please keep sharing all our links. For now, I'm just so damn grateful to be alive, to have a healthy heart, to be back home with the love of my life and our dogs, the whole world is beautiful. Thanks again, to everybody, and we love you all.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.