So, here’s the writing year in review: What a shit year. What a seriously shit year.
The big news was an apparent heart attack in July, which turned out not to be a heart attack. Instead it was compression and distortion of cervical vertebra, followed by months of excruciating pain that did not respond to medication, and the more months of reduced pain under heavy medication that did work. Prognosis? Waiting on referrals. Taking physiotherapy and meds and hoping to get better. Late November and early December, there’s been some improvement, but I have months to look forward to. Just a fucking nightmare.
In hindsight, this condition was building up over several previous months. Since at least spring, I recall experiencing increasingly frequent episodes of pain, poor sleep, chronic exhaustion and depression. I just refused to pay attention, dismissing it repeatedly as just a bad day and forgetting about it. But there were more and more bad days and fewer good days, I was unconsciously triaging my life, reducing or cutting more and more things back, focusing on maintaining critical activities like work, but even there slowing down when I could. Even activities I enjoyed like Improv I was disengaging, reacting less, arriving last minute, leaving early as possible, avoiding socializing. My life just kept getting narrower.
What a fucking year.