It's been a long time since I've posted on my blog, but much has developed so I think it's about time I updated it. It's probably easiest for me to go from most recent events backwards s0 that's how I'll be writing this post.
I was involved in a pretty serious car accident this Saturday. I was about 1/2 or 3/4 of the way through the (uncontrolled) intersection heading North when I was hit by a car traveling West on the perpindicular street. It happened extremely fast, and I had thought I blew a stop sign (which I haden't) but the whole event left me shocked, scared, and my chest hurt pretty badly from the airbag and seatbelt. Their car was almost certainly totaled. and my car took extensive damage to the front right side, taking out the bumper and dealing damage to the engine. I've been working on getting the car released from the impound, and have no means to get around since my parents no longer trust me driving even though the accident wasn't my fault. That means (since my father is traveling for work and my mother leaves her car at the train station everyday, and tells me she doesn't trust me enough to drop her off and use the car while she's away) that I have no way to go to any of my doctor's appointments, get to my therapy sessions which are twice a week, pick up groceries if I need to, or go anywhere.
I attended Camp Mak-A-Dream, which is a camp for brain tumor/cancer survivors for 4 days in mid-August in Montana. It was an amazing experience, I made a TON of great friends (unfortunately all but 1 live out of state and quite a distance away) which unfortunately mad it all the more difficult to leave after having met them such a short time ago and after forming such strong connections.
I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Fibrosis of the liver due to non-alcoholic steatohepatisis (a.k.a NASH or fatty liver disease) several months ago. To make the explanation of how they found it short, some blood work showed elevated liver enzymes which caused the doctors to have a liver biopsy done, which caused the diagnosis. My "previous" liver doctor had told me I had to lose weight in order to avoid my liver reaching Cirrhosis. Once I had decided on Gastric Bypass that there wasn't any rush to get the surgery done. Thinking that may not have been the best advice, I decided that I would take the rest of the current semester (back in spring) off of college, as well as the Fall semester and get my health on track (including having gastric bypass). I successfully underwent surgery on July 15, and although the surgeon did an amazing job, the care at the hospital by the medical students was "less than satisfactory", as they screwed up my medication, and didn't fix it until being informed three times myself. Thank goodness that I was aware enough even with all the morphine to notice the issue. Since the surgery I've lost a whopping 65 pounds (approximately). Unfortunately, the second biopsy they took during the Gastric Bypass showed that my liver had in fact reached the beginning stages of Cirrhosis (but luckily all that means is we have to keep an eye on it to make sure it does not progress, and there's still hope that the damage can reverse itself).
The decision to drop my classes in Spring and take the Fall semester have come at a cost. Financially, we lost almost all the tuition we paid that semseter to Loyola (which is not an inexpensive college to attend). In leaving Loyola, I have also lost almost any sort of interaction between my friends (all of which are VERY close) from school, and there pretty much the only ones I have. Living at home with my parents is also difficult, as we constantly at butting heads for one reason or another, which I absolutely hate. My parents seem to expect me to do whatever they ask whenever I ask (which I'm very happy to help out around the house), but when I ask a simple request, or have a suggestion on something, they 99% of the time flat out refuse or shut me down. For instance, yesterday I went to lunch with some friends I met at a concert (they are in their late 40's) they say they don't feel like it, and spent the rest of the day watching TV or messing around on their computers. And the second I try to politely tell them that it's important to me, in this or any other situation, I get attacked saying I'm talking back to them, or just them saying my name in a loud, angry, and frustrated tone. I feel so insignficant, and worthless at home, and as a result in general.
I'm looking for volunteer oppurtunites so I can get out of the house, and maybe do some good as well. Hopefully something will work out, although I'm finding that many volunteer oppurtunites simply don't have any more room for additional volunteers.
Anyway, that's basically what I've been dealing with.
