2018, Hopefully
Jan. 1st, 2018 10:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jcfialaSo, 2018 finally.
Personally, 2017 was an improvement over 2016 in that my wife didn't collapse to the floor of the hospital, but otherwise it was rough. It started off with me being laid off on the first Friday after returning from my holiday, which wasn't auspicious. Happily, my wife's insurance for her cancer treatments wasn't based off of my job, and even more happily I managed to land a new job before two weeks went past. For once, the new job wasn't using Drupal, the CMS I've been working with for nearly 15 years now, but was a general PHP job with a marketing company named Monigle. The job's been interesting and not too difficult, and I'm looking forward to returning to it tomorrow. It was a little sad to step away from Drupal, but with various events happening in the Drupal community and with me no longer able to attend any Drupal-related events, it's kind of been nice to step away from it all.
Health-wise, we've been 2 for 3 throughout the year. My happy little daughter Rose has been healthy throughout the year, with only one day home from school for being sick this year. I've also been mostly healthy, although I had a nasty stomach bug (picked up from work) and a nasty case of hemorrhoids (which, I suspect technically I got from sitting too much at work). Nothing terrible there. Of course, my wife's battle with Leukemia has kept us busy during the year. Early in the spring she had a blood marrow transplant, which involves using chemo to try and kill off the patient's bone marrow, then injecting bone marrow stem cells from a donor, which then grow in the marrow to produce healthy blood. (In this case, since the donor is one of my wife's brothers, her blood is genetically male.) The procedure itself is a pain. Having to stay in the hospital for at least 20 days is a pain. And then once you get out, there's an additional 80 days of not being allowed to be alone along with constant checkups. Happily, my wife's family and my own stepped up, flying into town and spending a serious amount of time in hotels to help keep an eye on my wife so I could continue working.
And then, once it was done and everything looked good, suddenly her leukemia showed up again and Tammy had to go back into the hospital two times, once for a few months of chemo to get the Leukemia under control, and a second time for a second bone marrow transplant (from her other brother this time) which we're still recovering from. This time they really hit her hard with the chemo, and it was much rougher on my wife. This now makes two years in a row where she got to celebrate her birthday in the hospital, which we agreed we're really tired of. Hopefully, this will be the end of it.
On the positive side, a number of good things happened. My daughter's on the Honor Roll at school, which is nice. I'm enjoying my new job more than I was the old one. I've spent a lot more time with my family than I normally would. And although my wife's health has been a big source of stress this year, I can't point to anything else that's been a problem - money hasn't been a problem thanks to my wife's good insurance, for instance, the house hasn't fallen apart, the cars have been working fine... and so on. Indeed, we've managed to pay off all of our debts aside from the mortgage.
So, it's been a stressful year personally. With my wife needing a constant presence, I haven't really been able to game much this year, aside from one campaign (for Dungeon Crawl Classics) which has suffered from inconsistant attendance. I've also discovered that my wife being in the hospital causes me to go into a frenzy of game-buying, which means that we've got piles of games around the house which haven't been played yet. Hopefully she can stay out of the hospital to prevent this from happening again. I also haven't been able to do much miniature painting this year, although I continue to buy up minis and supplies from time to time. Hopefully in 2018 I can get more time for myself.
So, 2018. Hopefully a better year than the last two.
Personally, 2017 was an improvement over 2016 in that my wife didn't collapse to the floor of the hospital, but otherwise it was rough. It started off with me being laid off on the first Friday after returning from my holiday, which wasn't auspicious. Happily, my wife's insurance for her cancer treatments wasn't based off of my job, and even more happily I managed to land a new job before two weeks went past. For once, the new job wasn't using Drupal, the CMS I've been working with for nearly 15 years now, but was a general PHP job with a marketing company named Monigle. The job's been interesting and not too difficult, and I'm looking forward to returning to it tomorrow. It was a little sad to step away from Drupal, but with various events happening in the Drupal community and with me no longer able to attend any Drupal-related events, it's kind of been nice to step away from it all.
Health-wise, we've been 2 for 3 throughout the year. My happy little daughter Rose has been healthy throughout the year, with only one day home from school for being sick this year. I've also been mostly healthy, although I had a nasty stomach bug (picked up from work) and a nasty case of hemorrhoids (which, I suspect technically I got from sitting too much at work). Nothing terrible there. Of course, my wife's battle with Leukemia has kept us busy during the year. Early in the spring she had a blood marrow transplant, which involves using chemo to try and kill off the patient's bone marrow, then injecting bone marrow stem cells from a donor, which then grow in the marrow to produce healthy blood. (In this case, since the donor is one of my wife's brothers, her blood is genetically male.) The procedure itself is a pain. Having to stay in the hospital for at least 20 days is a pain. And then once you get out, there's an additional 80 days of not being allowed to be alone along with constant checkups. Happily, my wife's family and my own stepped up, flying into town and spending a serious amount of time in hotels to help keep an eye on my wife so I could continue working.
And then, once it was done and everything looked good, suddenly her leukemia showed up again and Tammy had to go back into the hospital two times, once for a few months of chemo to get the Leukemia under control, and a second time for a second bone marrow transplant (from her other brother this time) which we're still recovering from. This time they really hit her hard with the chemo, and it was much rougher on my wife. This now makes two years in a row where she got to celebrate her birthday in the hospital, which we agreed we're really tired of. Hopefully, this will be the end of it.
On the positive side, a number of good things happened. My daughter's on the Honor Roll at school, which is nice. I'm enjoying my new job more than I was the old one. I've spent a lot more time with my family than I normally would. And although my wife's health has been a big source of stress this year, I can't point to anything else that's been a problem - money hasn't been a problem thanks to my wife's good insurance, for instance, the house hasn't fallen apart, the cars have been working fine... and so on. Indeed, we've managed to pay off all of our debts aside from the mortgage.
So, it's been a stressful year personally. With my wife needing a constant presence, I haven't really been able to game much this year, aside from one campaign (for Dungeon Crawl Classics) which has suffered from inconsistant attendance. I've also discovered that my wife being in the hospital causes me to go into a frenzy of game-buying, which means that we've got piles of games around the house which haven't been played yet. Hopefully she can stay out of the hospital to prevent this from happening again. I also haven't been able to do much miniature painting this year, although I continue to buy up minis and supplies from time to time. Hopefully in 2018 I can get more time for myself.
So, 2018. Hopefully a better year than the last two.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-02 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-02 03:48 pm (UTC)Fingers crossed, and I hope your sister does well as well.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-02 05:49 am (UTC)