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The "I'm Not Dead" thread


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Undeath
Title: Facepuncher of Asses
Joined: Jan 15 2009
Location: Here
PostPosted: Jul 21 2011 08:22 pm Reply with quote Back to top

I know a couple of you on Facebook so to them, I never really left, but here's the deal for anyone who may have been like "Hey, where'd that dude go?"

I may have mentioned already that I had a daughter in early February, she is now 5 months old and eating solid foods now. What I may not have mentioned was that she was born via C-section, a C-section that ended up messing up my wife horribly. She was given leg braces that are supposed to stimulate your legs to prevent blood clots from forming (as is a problem after major surgery, I'm told). She was supposed to have them on for no less than two days, but they were taken off about a half a day later. No reason was given for this, but she was told she could walk around a bit. They must not have noticed she'd just had a goddamn C-section, and was in pain to the point I had to help her get out of bed just to use the bathroom.

Sure enough, she had blood clots. Deep vein thrombosis, it's called. It migrated to her lungs and that's called pulmonary embolism, which is a very serious, life threatening condition. She spent another two weeks in the hospital on blood thinners, and now, almost six months later, is still on them. Because of this, she has to be VERY careful, as even a minor cut for her can cause a horrendous amount of blood loss.

On top of that, I have ants. My daughter, as it turns out, is allergic to ant bites. Considering I didn't know what had happened until way after the fact, she'd ended up in the hospital, as well. Two weeks. They refused to release her until they ruled out serious causes, as with an infant, you can't be too careful.

So I've spent at least two months of the last five living in hospital rooms, on top of working full time. My wife has had to go back to the ER numerous times for shortness of breath and chest pain (two symptoms associated with pulmonary embolisms) and well, since she has to be extremely careful, I'm taking care of three people (her, my son and daughter) on top of working 40 hours a week.

I try to have a little fun when I can (hence, for you facebook friends of mine, the shit ton of random short posts) but yeah, although the family is headed for healthier pastures, we're still not completely out of the woods yet, so I continue to work until exhaustion, but I am still around.

Whew, that was a mouthful.


Cracked.com wrote:
"MARGARINE IS ONE MOLECULE AWAY FROM PLASTIC."

Not only is that not right, that's not even wrong. It's a meaningless statement. Saying something is "one molecule away" from plastic is like saying a farm is one letter away from a fart. Water is "one molecule away" from being explosive hydrogen gas.

 
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Mr. Spidersquid
Title: title?
Joined: Jun 28 2011
Location: In your mind
PostPosted: Jul 21 2011 09:28 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Oh Shit dude sorry to hear all that! Hope everything works out eventually!


Zim: "I put the fires out!"
Tallest: "You made them worse!"
Zim: "Worse or better?"
 
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Atma
Title: Dragoon
Joined: Apr 29 2010
Location: Cincinnati, OH
PostPosted: Jul 21 2011 09:48 pm Reply with quote Back to top

I'm sorry to hear about your hardships man. My thoughts are with you and your family.

Glad to hear you're headed to "Healthier Pastures"
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username
Title: owner of a lonely heart
Joined: Jul 06 2007
Location: phoenix, az usa
PostPosted: Jul 21 2011 11:02 pm Reply with quote Back to top

wow man. rough stuff. at least you have a positive attitude about it. thats always good. and its good to know that things are improving. slowly but surely.

good luck man


Klimbatize wrote:
I'll eat a turkey sandwich while blowing my load

 
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Drew Linky
Wizard
Joined: Jun 12 2009
PostPosted: Jul 22 2011 12:18 am Reply with quote Back to top

Good luck. I hope things get better soo--fuck that, get better now.


https://discord.gg/homestuck is where you can find me literally 99% of the time. Stop on by if you feel like it, we're a nice crowd.
 
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Undeath
Title: Facepuncher of Asses
Joined: Jan 15 2009
Location: Here
PostPosted: Jul 22 2011 12:47 am Reply with quote Back to top

Well, things ARE a lot better than they were. My wife's still on shaky ground, but can manage. She just needs help doing the more strenuous or risky things, like she has to be careful that, say, my four year old son doesn't kick her or something as she can bleed internally just as easily. BUT... she was so bad off at first that she was basically bedridden. The emboli were causing her horrible pain in her chest, compounded by her not being able to breathe. I'm the optimistic one; she's not. It took a LOT to convince her she wouldn't die, which was harsh when you're not too sure yourself. I've learned that a lot of people refer to pulmonary emboli as "the silent killer", and in all actuality, we're probably lucky we got to the hospital when we did-- it very well may have killed her if we didn't start treatment right away, and I think 30 is too young for me to be a widower This Is A Joke

Things are starting to look up, and to be selfish for a moment, I can't wait until she has a clean bill of health, as working all the time and taking care of her and two kids is rewarding but draining, and I could use some rest!

I did do one thing for me, though-- I owned a PS3 and a Wii, and had always wanted but never actually got an Xbox 360. I got one, and I enjoy it a lot. I play Castlevania: Harmony of Despair quite, quite often (as often as I can, anyway).


Cracked.com wrote:
"MARGARINE IS ONE MOLECULE AWAY FROM PLASTIC."

Not only is that not right, that's not even wrong. It's a meaningless statement. Saying something is "one molecule away" from plastic is like saying a farm is one letter away from a fart. Water is "one molecule away" from being explosive hydrogen gas.

 
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Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
PostPosted: Jul 22 2011 12:52 am Reply with quote Back to top

Well that sounds like a horrifying and stressful situation, glad to hear everything is on the upswing. Image



 
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
PostPosted: Jul 22 2011 06:06 am Reply with quote Back to top

Sorry to hear about your troubles, may some good luck and happy times comes your way. Also, welcome back!
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Thunderhorse
Title: This is DELICIOUS!
Joined: Dec 29 2009
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
PostPosted: Jul 23 2011 06:18 am Reply with quote Back to top

Whoa! Hang in there Undeath! My thoughts are with you!


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This Is Tuna With Bacon
 
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aika
Title: Narcissist
Joined: Apr 25 2008
Location: On the table.
PostPosted: Jul 23 2011 09:11 am Reply with quote Back to top

Glad things are on the upswing dude. You and your wit have been missed. Very Happy


天上天下唯我独尊
 
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Undeath
Title: Facepuncher of Asses
Joined: Jan 15 2009
Location: Here
PostPosted: Jul 26 2011 06:36 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Thanks, guys and gals. It actually means a lot to me.


Cracked.com wrote:
"MARGARINE IS ONE MOLECULE AWAY FROM PLASTIC."

Not only is that not right, that's not even wrong. It's a meaningless statement. Saying something is "one molecule away" from plastic is like saying a farm is one letter away from a fart. Water is "one molecule away" from being explosive hydrogen gas.

 
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Cameron
Title: :O � O:
Joined: Feb 01 2008
Location: St. Louis, MO
PostPosted: Jul 29 2011 03:24 am Reply with quote Back to top

Yeah, Undeath. Good to see things are looking up for you. Very Happy


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Undeath
Title: Facepuncher of Asses
Joined: Jan 15 2009
Location: Here
PostPosted: Jul 30 2011 02:38 am Reply with quote Back to top

The sad part was all about my wife. I forgot this, but this keeps coming up at random-- Her best friend, a girl she's known since kindergarten (which would put it at about 20 years now) had recently found Jesus. I have no problem with that despite my own beliefs, but when our daughter had ended up in the hospital (hospital stay #3) my wife's friend takes this opportunity to say that maybe because we live ungodly lives and don't pray, all this bad shit happened to us. No sympathy, no 'get well soon', no well wishes, anything. My wife kind of forgave her for that, but there was one final straw.

My band had been broken up for about two years now. However, St. Patrick's Day is a big deal to us, and even upon breaking up, we vowed that we would at least play one show a year, on St. Pattys. My wife never misses a show, so we arranged for a trusted friend of ours to come to the hospital and watch our daughter for a couple of hours. Mainly so we could both go to this show, but also to give us a 'date', to be out of a hospital room for at least one night, because at that point we'd spent three out of four weeks in a hospital room (with a few more to come).

Our babysitter arrives, we leave, I go home to grab my guitar and I was nervous as hell. I knew my baby was in good hands, but all this time in the hospital, leaving only to go to work, I hadn't practiced. Show goes off with a major hitch (a story I'll tell later) but despite that, she and I had a blast.

We get back to the hospital and apparently this was Jesus Freak's last straw. She flat out accused us of being horrible parents for taking one night out. She told us God is punishing us and by proxy our children, and that we were going to hell and that she'd pray for us but would not see us in the afterlife.

This was my wife's closest friend. Needless to say, one of her other close friends picked up the slack, but to this day I still think it's pretty fucked up. She texted to apologize months later (in fact, about last week) and we ignored it.


Cracked.com wrote:
"MARGARINE IS ONE MOLECULE AWAY FROM PLASTIC."

Not only is that not right, that's not even wrong. It's a meaningless statement. Saying something is "one molecule away" from plastic is like saying a farm is one letter away from a fart. Water is "one molecule away" from being explosive hydrogen gas.

 
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Undeath
Title: Facepuncher of Asses
Joined: Jan 15 2009
Location: Here
PostPosted: Apr 21 2012 12:05 am Reply with quote Back to top

A sort of quick update. Lots to post, but then, it's been months--

--my wife has recovered reasonably well, as has my daughter. My son's behavioral problems have caused us concern, especially lately, so we had my cousin (who works as a psychiatrist or psychologist, I forget which) look at him... he's autistic. On top of that, my own stomach issues blossomed to the point where I finally bit the bullet and went to a doctor for the first time in ages... who promptly scared the shit out of me by saying there was a strong possibility it was stomach cancer. Several doctor visits later, the only thing we've actually ruled out is cancer. So it's a shitty problem, but it's nothing that'll kill me...for the foreseeable future.

It really isn't all medical doom and gloom, though. I went on (what I thought was) medical leave for my medical issues, and found out, somehow, that my leave was denied, so, as far as the corporate office was concerned, I just quit. I mention this to a friend of mine, who owns and works in a tattoo shop, who said it doesn't pay much, but he's seen my drawings and paintings and stuff and will take me on as an apprentice for free. I've decided I'll go ahead and pursue it, but with a few caveats, which leads into the next part--

Ever since I was a kid, I've had a little bit of a morbid fascination with medicine. My father works offshore (common in Louisiana), and every two years or so, they're required to take first responder classes, which means he always brought home first responder textbooks. I was always interested in them, but I've also realized that I like the freedom of jobs where I'm not always in the same place (if pizza delivery had paid a livable wage, I'd have never quit ever) and paramedic seemed like it'd be right up my alley. The paramedic who works on my father's platform informally quizzed me just for shits and it turns out, at least factually, I know almost all the text already, and really would only need the hands on training.

So THIS means... in the city I live in, our ambulance service isn't public, it's run by a private company. However, this company is HUGE, and they, in concordance with the community college, run an Emergency Medical Services academy. I enrolled, took the test, applied for financial aid, and all that... to show how eager I was, I took care of that shit MONTHS ago. Yesterday, I got told the only reason I haven't gotten an acceptance letter yet is because I forgot to circle my geographical preference (several in Louisiana and Texas). The schedule is brutal-ish, but on weekends, or weekdays if I don't have an extreme stack of studying to do, I can apprentice with my friend. Turns out another of his apprentices did the exact same thing-- worked full time, and did her apprenticeship while she had free time. Took a lot longer, but she still does it that way. Full time job, but also full fledged tattoo artist.

OK, that was a lot, but yeah, to reiterate for the tl;dr crowd--

I'm back in some capacity, some health issues have improved while some have not, and I lost my job, but in the interim, I've been offered a tattoo apprenticeship by a professional friend willing to work around my schedule, and I'm going back to school for something I've been interested in for a very, very, very long time but for some reason or another, never pursued.

EDIT: I kinda gushed all over this post, and didn't really reread it to see if it flowed enough to make any sense, so if I confused anyone, just ask me. At any rate, it's definitely time for good things to happen. Plus... having paramedic/tattoo artist as a job description sounds pretty badass.


Cracked.com wrote:
"MARGARINE IS ONE MOLECULE AWAY FROM PLASTIC."

Not only is that not right, that's not even wrong. It's a meaningless statement. Saying something is "one molecule away" from plastic is like saying a farm is one letter away from a fart. Water is "one molecule away" from being explosive hydrogen gas.

 
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Preng
Title: All right, that's cool!
Joined: Jan 11 2010
Location: Accounting Dept.
PostPosted: Apr 21 2012 01:34 am Reply with quote Back to top

Hey Undeath, sounds like you've been through a lot lately. Best of luck in regards to you and your son's health as well as your school efforts. I'll keep you in my prayers, and hopefully your new job combo works out in every way you want it to.
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Cameron
Title: :O � O:
Joined: Feb 01 2008
Location: St. Louis, MO
PostPosted: Apr 21 2012 04:08 am Reply with quote Back to top

That blows, Undeathy. You and your son have my best wishes. Cool about being a tattoo artist/EMT, though. Maybe you'll get to work with David Lee Roth! Surprised


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