Everything else marches on.

Photo copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved.

Yesterday would have been Butterfly Woman's birthday. None that would alight anywhere when I had camera in hand, though. I went outside at one point to catch the hummingbirds, and noticed that Wings had forgotten something; checked with him and then came back out to take care of it, and this one floated right in front of me and then landed next to me, unbothered and uninterested, apparently, in moving anywhere. 

As for today, I feel like I've been run over by a truck. A big eighteen-wheeler with a full load, the kind that gets routed off the smaller highways because they can't support the weight of it. The doc warned me yesterday that I might feel pretty crappy for two or three days, but if it's not better after the third day, call her, because it means something's wrong. Thing is, though, I can already tell that, despite the fact that literally every single fiber of my being hurts like hell, it's still an improvement. My jaw even closes differently, which means I'm not grinding my teeth quite as badly. I woke up this morning without a knife slicing through my left hip joint, only a dull heavy ache. the pain has shifted in both type and placement, and I can only think that's a good sign. But this will be a very, very long-term process, and if I'm right about the implications, the challenge will be, once things are back where they belong, to keep it that way. I've thought long and hard about what could have thrown my hip so badly out of joint, and the only thing I can come up with is the fall that ripped the ligaments in my left ankle in early April of 2016. If so, I've been walking with my left hip subluxed out of place for well over three freaking years.

What all this means, though, might not be so good in other ways. I've long had a suspicion about something, and my regular doc and I have discussed it briefly, but we wanted to try to get the cancer thing behind us first (and that's still not resolved, so . . . ::shrug emoji::). But while I've been to plenty of chiropractors, including one I considered stellar, I've never been to one like this, with all the subspecialties that are part of her particular practice. I've never had anyone do such a full-body work-up on me in this regard. And so, they've all missed what is part and parcel of what I've been telling doctors (and parents) literally since childhood. When even your diaphragm and all of your ribs have moved badly out of place, it's because your ligaments, full-body, are crap. There's one obvious (and probably several not-obvious) conclusion to draw from that. Which will likely mean a lot more expensive testing, and I may have some decisions to make about whether I want to green-light something I normally wouldn't, which is genetic testing.

In the meantime, everything else marches on, including the autoimmune complex and the asthma and the coronary artery concern (all of which, hey, guess what, could all be bound up with this — not necessarily caused by or causing, but playing off each other, certainly).
So do the expenses. Two hundred Monday for equipment and meds I haven't even had a chance to use yet; well over a hundred yesterday, with a followup in about ten days, and an appointment with my regular doc before then, with, I'm now reasonably sure, some very costly labs to follow. Two more appointments coming up for Wings, too. No idea what they're going to decide to do with regard to the new and visibly-growing lump on the other side of my throat.

As I keep saying, the dollars are just marching out the door on the daily, and there's nothing I can do about it, because we lived in one of the most uncivilized countries in the world. Had to pick up both the truck and the mower last Friday, and that was hellish all by itself (four figures between the two). More medical appointments for both of us next week, cash only; mine's tomorrow morning. So to make all this happen, I have to bring in a lot more scratch — a LOT more — to cover everything, and that means sales, which are way, way down. My pain levels are also completely out of control these days, the kind of pain that renders you utterly non-functional, except that I don't have a choice but to keep working at everything. So you know what comes next.

Sales here; testimonials here; wishlist (such as it is still — I've added some candles of the nontoxic variety to deal with the lingering mildew odor in the utility room while it's drying out from the plumbing disaster, the kind that are not supposed to impair my breathing, the kind we can't get locally; I've also added a couple of supplements I have to take and our one real vice, the coffee we prefer [cheaper by the case, and the thing that's probably highest priority]) here. 

Speaking of testimonials, new ones are posted at long last; if you haven't submitted yours, please do, because this helps us make sales (and we keep you as anonymous as you want to be; you can see the kinds of options people choose in the various entries). We need more folks to send them in, too. 

Wings dropped three new works Saturday, and they're posted here (one is also featured today at his site and in the post below this one). Please go to their respective entries on his site and share them all. And if you're interested in one yourself, believe me, you won't be disappointed; these are truly extraordinary. He also dropped three new pieces a few days ago, including an absolutely phenomenal pair of dangle earrings; the post is here. That's on top of several new bead pieces a couple of weeks ago; you can find the summary post here. The new butterfly concha belt dropped a few days ago, and it is absolutely incredible. We really need to sell it; that would take care of looming medical stuff, at least in part. And while I spend every spare moment chasing those sales, there aren't many spare moments for me these days, especially with my ongoing breathing issues and whatever else is going on that they haven't identified yet; new labs and meds and equipment to that end having to be paid for next week. So please, help us get the word out. I've got to bring in more sales somehow.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.