After a very long absence from this blog, I am back. Life has been filled
with ups and downs for me in the past two years. I had a life threatening
illness, followed by cancer and all of the treatment that arises from that
dreadful disease. During my cancer, my weight went down to 78 pounds.
People often talk about the difficulty of losing weight, but for those who
become so frightfully thin, the struggle to gain weight lost is very real.
The doctors advised me to eat, eat everything, and so I did. No one was
concerned about the type of food I was consuming, just that I consume
lots of it.
In hindsight, I wish I would have more carefully monitored my diet,
but I did not. In fact, it was unusual for me to eat a diet so rich in
calorie laden, fat filled foods, but alas, I did it.
Also during the height of my cancer battle, the Covid pandemic hit,
and because my husband was employed in the oil and gas industry,
when the price of oil dropped to $0 per barrel, he was laid off from
his job. This was very stressful for me. We were facing an unknown
future on all fronts, so it seemed. The co-pays for my cancer
infusions were staggering. My beloved little Yorkie Bentley had died
at age 14. In my mind, things could not get any worse.
In typical fashion, I covered up my heartache. I did my best to be upbeat.
I didn't fully convey the heartache and anger I felt about the cards I
had been dealt.
On October 5th, just three weeks ago, I learned that there didn't
appear to be any hope of my husband returning to his former job.
I was devastated. We had given up everything back in Idaho to
move down to Texas expressly for this job. Now it was over and
we are stuck in a small city with few good job opportunities. I was
angry and afraid. I started to sob. The kind of heart wrenching
sobs one gets when it appears that all hope is gone. I went to
sit down in a chair in our bedroom. That's when it hit me, a
stroke that left me paralyzed on my left side. I went to the
emergency room by ambulance. I was given the clot buster
drug, and then air lifted to Houston for treatment at the University
of Texas Medical Hospital's stroke unit. I recovered and could
return home. I'm on meds and a very heart healthy diet. I was
one of the lucky ones. Now I have choices to make. Where does
life lead me now? Having faced death twice within two years,
it is a very important decision to make
Love,
Susan and Oliver
