Health Update (Patreon)

I’ve had a few health-related issues lately that I wanted to update everyone on. Nothing really bad or life threatening fortunately. But it will disrupt my work somewhat until I can get through everything. I’ve known these things were coming for some time now but wanted to wait until I had more definite info to give out before making an announcement.

Surgery

The big one is that I’ll be having surgery on my leg on March 1st. 

I broke my leg really badly 15 years ago and had multiple surgeries to fix it. I’ve got a plate and a bunch of screws in there from that. Over time this hardware has been causing me additional problems including arthritis and nerve pain. So we’ve decided to remove most of it.

The doctor said I’ll be able to walk pretty much immediately after the surgery, although obviously I’m going to be on pain meds for a while. But she also said that if I have the means to, I should take at least one week off from work. I suspect I might not be much in the mood to work anyway. So I’ll be off the week of March 4 and maybe the week of March 11 too depending on how I’m feeling.

Allergies

For the past 2 years or so I’ve been struggling with a bizarre food allergy that I haven’t been able to pin down. Despite eliminating different foods from my diet, changing toothpaste, getting a water filter, etc, I haven’t been able to figure out what it is.

I finally went to an allergist for testing. The test came back inconclusive because I was allergic to the test itself. More specifically, I have such a high histamine count in my body from this persistent allergic reaction that any scratch or poke on my skin would cause it to immediately swell up. So when they did the test they couldn’t tell the difference between any allergic reactions and the reaction to the pokes.

To fix this, I’m on a really restricted diet along with a heavy course of antihistamines. Fortunately I only have to take the medication for 20 days, and it tapers off. Unfortunately what I’ve been taking so far has made me really drowsy. (And it’s also killed my libido :c ) My work might be a bit slower over the next week or two as well until I get through the heaviest dosages. But the good thing is that afterwards I should have a more definite answer as to why I’ve been having so much trouble with food lately and I’ll know what to avoid, which should hopefully improve my well-being overall.

Once again thanks for your patience as I deal with some of this stuff. Once I get through it, things should be better for a while! :>