TheBanyanTree: Death by a Thousand Strokes

[Pam James]

I find all of this so scary sounding, but you handle it so gracefully, and
then write entertainly about it!  you're my hero!!

On Sun, Jan 20, 2019 at 12:58 AM Monique Colver <monique.colver at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Or not. Who the hell knows? I didn't know I was having strokes when I had
> them before, though looking back I can pinpoint one when my vision went and
> I couldn't walk straight and etc., but I had no insurance and slept it off.
> I've been delaying my vascular test because there's a whole new deductible
> to meet, though we lowered it for this year, and I've been working as much
> as I can. In my business, January is when everyone who can works long hours
> and weekends. That isn't me anymore, but I'm still working as much as I can.
>
> I'm going to have to pay that deductible and I've still got a big copay
> from my last MRI to deal with (which was totally unsatisfactory, as my
> white space has increased).
>
> Then again, I am a hypochondriac, so maybe I'm fine. Yesterday I was
> feeling like I had cold. Feverish, then cold, sniffly, stuff like that.
> Tired, but I'm usually tired. I worked some, then did a few minor chores
> around the house because I'm trying to be a Person Who Does Things still.
> And then I had such massive pain I felt like I couldn't and shouldn't move.
> A couple of pain pills and a few hours later I started to feel more human.
> I avoid the pain pills, so it's gotta be bad for two. Figured it was just
> fibro. Or Parkinson's.
>
> This morning I noticed my right leg was sore and not working as well as
> the other. No big. That's pretty common. My neck hurts on the right side,
> but it has for awhile. Then later today Andrew went shopping. He eats very
> healthy, and I try to keep up, but when I'm sick and nauseous there's
> nothing like Pringles in the green can. He bought two. I picked up one in
> each hand and said, "Hey, someone's already opened this one," by which I
> meant the one in my right hand.
>
> "I didn't open it," he said. I handed him the cans and said, "Isn't one a
> lot lighter?"
>
> He switched the cans from hand to hand and said they were the same. I took
> them back and switched them from hand to hand and he was right. They were
> the same. That's when I realized my entire right side was off today.
>
> Oops. Well, I didn't realize I'd had an embolism a couple of months ago
> when my eyesight went out temporarily either. I slept it off. I do love me
> some sleep. But now I suspect I've had another of those little strokes that
> pop up to fry my brain matter so it turns from gray to white, dead space
> inside in ever expanding circles.
>
> We have vascular issues in my family. My mom and her only son. Years ago
> my brother had brain surgery to fix something, and he once had an embolism
> at work  that had him sent to the ER. Hard to say, because he doesn't want
> anyone to know and won't tell anyone - his wife told me and and swore me to
> secrecy. His daughters don't know. Me, I tell everyone. We're opposites,
> but I'm not sure which one of us is the evil twin. Probably me.
>
> Last week I did a 2015 1040 with a schedule c and an Idaho return. Then I
> did a 2016 corporate return with an Idaho corporate return and a 1040 with
> an Idaho return. That was the easy part. First I had to reconstruct 2015
> and 2016 from paper statements. That took weeks because I have other things
> to do. I can still think, most days. Some days I'm either lazy or one of my
> maladies isn't cooperating.
>
> Death by a thousand strokes. That's funny. I'm going to schedule my
> vascular test Monday though. And I can never remember if it's nauseous or
> nauseated so that's not a sign of anything except laziness. I mean, I could
> look it up.
>
>
> Monique
> Sent from my iPad