Tikkun Olam

Three days ago I was found to have a pulmonary embolus, which actually penetrated my left lung and caused a pulmonary infarction. That means that living lung tissue began to die. Luckily, it was caught in time, totally by accident--I went to the ER on Thursday thinking I had pulled muscle while working out, or perhaps torn a ligament or even, heaven forbid, cracked a rib.  That is the kind of pain I was in after an hour and a half of very light cardio, and doing various exercises which were geared to my age and limitations, which at the time I thought was only arthritis, being overweight and out-of-shape. Turns out something else was going on, which I had no clue about at the time. A couple of hours after coming home from the gym, I felt a sharp pain in my left rib-cage area.  The rest is history. My life has now changed.  I am on a blood-thinnning drug, and until it becomes therapeutic I have to inject myself with a blood-thinning agent in a syringe. And to add ins...

Well Shabbat didn't turn out the way I thought.  The post below is so cheery and airy. I don't feel like that now.  Friday night was a bad one, I reacted badly to Dilaudid (narcotic analgesic for my pain), and was nauseous and vomiting the rest of the night.  Was awake much of the night because of this, and so slept most of the day Shabbat. I have DVT, or Deep Vein Thrombosis--which turned into a pulmonary embolism.   The doctor deemed me 'stable' (little do they know) enough to discharge me last night.  Could have posted, but didn't even think of it. Truth is, didn't do anything today, just stayed in bed long enough until I had to give myself the Enoxaparin injection.  I will have to do this twice daily, every 12 hours, as close to the exact time as possible.  In addition I am taking Coumadin once a day.  Until the Coumadin becomes therapeutic I need those supplementary injections. I gave myself the first one Saturday night at the hospita...

I have ordered all my meals for Shabbat, this morning, from the only kosher retaurant/catering/deli in town.  Had my "airline food" breakfast of rubbery omelette (yum) with potatoes, o.j. and coffee, and a chef salad from the Deli for lunch. Will be getting my hot food a little after 4 pm, or just before 'candle-lighting.' I use that term loosely, as when I asked if I could light candles in my room (tongue in cheek: wanted to see their reaction) while hooked up to oxygen (not to mention IV drip and heart telemetry monitor), they said, uh, no. So my D.H. is lighting for me at home, and I will be doing the following activities on Shabbat, not in any definite order (bli neder): 1) davening (D.H. brought my siddur and a chumash) 2) Making kiddush (grape juice today. I'm a good girl) 3) Making hamotzi and eating roast chicken, couscous and vegie.  And oh, also chicken soup with matzah ball--if they got my order right. 4) Daven, and 5) Read, read, read.  6) Slee...

My plan for today was to go to work, and post a new post when I got home, then go to the classical mandolin concert (playing with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra) at the JCC, for which my D. H. bought tickets on Monday. Instead, I am in the ER waiting to be transported to my room in the Hospital, where I will be sojourning for 3-5 days, over Shabbat. The reason being, after being in excruciating pain yesterday and slightly less-so today, I decided to check it out.  I have a pulmonary embolism in my left lung, probably 'flung up' (the doctor's words) from my leg through my heart until it found a place to rest in my lung. I've already had X Rays, a CT scan and an Ultra Sound.  My attending ER doc was kind enough to hustle me a laptop before they whisk me up to my room  So although I signed up for NaBloPoMo, this may be the only post you get for a few days (you're probably jumping for joy--no extra emails to delete). ...