Still Alive

I'm pretty damned sick, but I'm still kicking (weakly).

So far I've had four hospital stays: Memorial Day through the following Friday, July 10-14, August 11-14, and August 15-24. 

I've been "not right" since at least January, beginning with severe swelling of both legs.  The first hospital trip was due to that.  Diagnosis:  non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.  (That means "lots of scar tissue to the point the liver don't do it's job much.)  Second trip was due to internal blood loss from a gastric ulcer combined with blood thinners I'd been taking since May of 2017.  I had about half my normal blood volume.  Felt great for for a couple of weeks after being given three units of blood, then August 11 I didn't feel great anymore.  Lots of blood tests, lots of medication adjustments.  After being discharged from the hospital, I collapsed at home the next evening, so back we went.  Seems your kidneys don't work real well if your liver isn't working right, and also if your liver isn't working right, nasty crap like ammonia builds up in your bloodstream.

I "lost" a couple of days there I literally have no memory of.  Took about a week to get my brain fully back online.  For an engineer, it's scary to realize you cannot do simple arithmetic in your head.

So I've been at home now since 8-24, and I'm setting up "Short-term disability" until I can get some strength back, at least enough to get into my office to start doing some paying work.  So if' you've been wondering where I've been, now you know.