Dom's Trauma

 Dom's father was taken to emergency after it was discovered that he had symptoms of a stroke.   His father has a physical therapist that comes out every week and it so happened the therapist was the one who noticed the symptoms.   Dom's sister Marie called my cell on May 9th to let me know since Dom was at school at the time.    I waited till Dom was home and somewhat calm from his crazy day and then I told him.   

Dom immediately thought something happened to his younger sister Marina.   She unfortunately was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer.    When she was diagnosed months back they said it was stage 1.    Marina suffered from Lupus all her life and had various health ailments due to it.   Her family was told that she wouldn't live to 18.   But she made it to 51 and also defied the odds by having two lovely daughters.   Marina is in hospice now and unfortunately she may not have much time left.

Dom did note that his father was slowly declining.   So he wasn't too shocked by what had happened.   He was able to reach his mother who was at their local hospital with one of Marina's daughters who drove her.   It ended up his father had 100% blockage in one artery and high blockage in several other arteries.   He unfortunately has thin veins and was deemed too weak to have surgery.

At the urging of Marie, his father was taken to a facility not far from where she lived in Bloomington.   He stayed there for two weeks before requesting to come back home.    He wanted to be home to be near his wife and also Marina.

It's been a stressful time for Dom with the thought of losing both his father and sister, not to mention his own health issues.   One of the discoveries made on his father was that his pancreas had more than 100 lesions.   Dom himself has pancreas issues and has to take an enzyme for the rest of his life every time he eats a meal.   So he is worried that he too may have pancreatic cancer as well.   He has several appointments in June that he's hoping will give him some answers into what's going on with me.

Marina's daugther Ava has been working hard being the only able bodied family member having to take care of both Dom's father and her mother.    Dom and I have visited twice in the last month (they live a little over 2 hours from us) to try and alleviate the family.    In fact we're in the area this weekend.   We've bought some food for them and plan to get a few grocery items for them in the morning.   They also had some extended family help with yard work which has made a difference.

I'm definitely praying for my extended family and also for Dom to get some relief from everything he's been experiencing.   It's a lot to deal with and I feel especially for Ava since she's alone handling the day-by-day.

Getting Physical

 I scheduled a doctor's appointment finally with a new primary care physician for 05/09.   It'll be my first physical in over 3 years.   I didn't have health insurance for a couple years prior to my new job last year.  So I'm definitely overdue.

My health has been on a rollercoaster.   I've been dealing with blood pressure issues for years and have been trying various methods to try and get it under control with mixed results.   I've managed to dodge blood pressure meds for the longest but fear now that I'm on the other side of 50, I may not have a choice. I had my issue with kidney stones a while back.   My knees seem to ache at random times.   Some days I can feel my whole body aching.   As Dom would say, welcome to the 50's.

I am looking forward to getting a physical done.   For better or worse, I need to know what's going on with me health wise.  I'll also be wanting to do some bloodwork, including testing for HIV and other STDs.   Even though I haven't had an active sex life (I do wish Dom was interested in sex), I did have that hot unprotected session back in March with Lansing Bae that I need to consider.    I also need to schedule a colonoscopy which I'm hoping I can get a referral from the new PCP.    I want to look into getting an anal pap smear since my last one was in 2017 during the tail end of my bout with HPV.   Not to mention a dental appointment and eye exam.   In short, I'm a hot mess!

It's nice to have health insurance again.   It's a necessary evil.

I also took the day off work to take care of my car as well.   It hit the 150K mile club a week or so back which means it's time for tire rotation (got new tires last year) and oil change.    I want to get the car tuned up for my road trip to visit Mitch that's coming up in another 12 days.   Though I'm debating if I should rent a car like I did the last time I visited Mitch.