A Life Update

You have probably noticed that over the past few months,  I have not been posting as much as I used to, and barely any posts at all recently.  I am not sure if this post is more for me or you since I don’t think I have said this all out loud.  Is writing even out loud?  Anyway.  Life has been a mess over the past 6 months or so and while my blog is important to me, just too much real life stuff to find the time.

We sadly lost my sister in October.  She was only 32.   We both have/had hemochromatosis, a disease that allows too much iron to build up in your body and can be toxic to your body resulting in organ failure.   I drink very little because attacking your liver from the inside and outside at the same time is not a good idea.  Sadly, my sister suffered the same addiction to alcohol mixed with hemochromatosis that ended my dad’s life when I was a teen.  She was in hospital with liver failure when they found a bacterial disease was attacking her too.  By the time the realised, it was too late and it had spread to her brain.

Losing a sister is hard enough, but it really brought home how dangerous hemochromatosis can be too.  You think, oh I am only in my 30s and one more drink or whatever is ok.  Had she not been a heavy drinker or not had a pre-existing condition, who knows if they would have found the bacterial infection soon enough to treat it.

The fragility of life hit home even more a couple of months ago when my boyfriend was in a workplace accident that resulted in a fairly long hospital stay and needing care now he is at home.  While his broken bones will heal eventually, being off work is a huge stressor to him.  He is not the kind of person who can sit around all day.   After being home for over a month, he is finally able to sit up for extended periods and allowed to walk with a walker for short periods.   So I finally have time for a little blogging around playing nurse and everything I usually do in a day.

I always knew I was not cut out to be a nurse but he is not a good patient either.  A recipe for disaster.  There is a reason for those in sickness and in health vows when you get married people because the sickness part can have a huge toll on a relationship.   I was having a hard time before this but taking care of him is physically and emotionally exhausting and leaves little time for other stuff.

Financially, it is also an issue.  If you ever get hurt at work, do yourself a favour and get some legal help in dealing with WSIB/Workers Comp.  You have to use certain suppliers to get reimbursed but they are often more expensive than others.  Reimbursement is slow and it takes a while to get your claim approved while you pay for everything.  Not to mention the time I have taken off that is not reimbursed.   They want things faxed, but who owns a fax machine these days.  So many things you would never think of.

It could have been much worse.  He works in construction and accidents happen but you always think it won’t happen to you.  On top of losing my sister and dealing with my own health issues, it really hit home how fragile life is.  That and doing all the stuff he usually does is not great for the nails (trying to be lighthearted here).

But anyway, yeah, the blog has taken a backseat to all that is going on.  Now that he is a little more self sufficient, hopefully I can start blogging more.