All about why my family left me and how I handle it

             Hi everyone, so this blog isn't going to be as cheery as all the other ones. I am writing about why my family left while I was in a coma and in the hospital for 30+ days. In yesterdays blog I wrote about my family leaving me while I was in a coma. So as you know I have a few different chronic illnesses that dictate how I should live and what I should do with my life. When I suffered my TBI it added another burden to my family. They were already planning on leaving Australia at the time and so then this happened and they all just had to get the "hell outta dodge". Them leaving to a very large toll on my family. I was disappointed when I came home and hurt. I felt betrayed. I didn't know what to do. they had always been there when I needed someone. Now they are all in a different country. I didn't reach out to my family until recently. I was ready to get some answers. Over the years I got letters about where they lived and what their numbers were. They didn't try to reach out to me more then just to get me their numbers. I called them and talked to each of them. I told them that they broke my heart and that I didn't trust them anymore. I asked them why they left. this is what they said. After years of dealing with my chronic illnesses they had enough. It was putting to much strain on them. They had lives to. They figured that they would leave first and make amends later. I was mad. what kind of a person does that. certainly not family. But they did. My family left me and there was nothing I could do about it. I sold the house that I was living in with them and moved into a smaller wheelchair accessible house. I was done relying on them. I began doing everything on my own. I have a boyfriend who is really supportive of me. The only really disappointing thing about me doing things on my own is that when I need to go to the ER then I have to call an ambulance or have my boyfriend take me. My family isn't interested in moving back even now that I don't rely on them. that's all for now.

Best wishes

~Addie

All about my traumatic brain injury

             Hi everyone, this blog is all about my traumatic brain injury. 6 months ago I passed out due to my POTS. I was standing next to the hearth in my house. I suddenly passed out. I hit my head very hard on the corner of the hearth. I was unconscious when the ambulance arrived. My family told the ambulance attendants that I had POTS. There was a gash on my head that was bleeding a lot they took me to the emergency room. The doctors and nurses put 25 stitches in the gash that was on my head. I had not regained consciousness yet. They did a CT scan and found a hematoma. I was unconscious for 30 days. After I regained consciousness I was told that I had a severe traumatic brain injury. my family had left. I was all alone. I was sent home and when I got there I found out that they all had moved on with their lives. They had  moved to the USA. I still live in Australia all alone. I have had to learn to live with my symptoms and figure out how to live alone. Sure there have been challenges but it is amazing how much I have been able to learn to do all by myself. I am working on getting a service dog so that this doesn't happen again. But for now I have to be very careful. I moved out of the house that I lived in and moved into a smaller one and one that is safer for me if I have any more syncope episodes unannounced. I have been on an amazing journey learning how to embrace my new self. living within my limitations and knowing that I have power over how I act. Well that's all for now.

Best wishes,

Addie

All about Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)

              POTS when you hear that word you might think or pots and pans. Things that you cook in. but for me I think of a very different thing. POTS or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is a malfunction of the ANS or Autonomic Nervous System.  The ANS controls our heart rate, blood pressure and other automatic functions of the nervous system. POTS causes not enough blood to return to the heart when you are in a standing position. POTS can cause fainting, dizziness or lightheadedness when standing from a reclined position. The reduced blood flow to the heart causes the heart to beat faster. POTS is a type of orthostatic intolerance (OI). OI describes a  condition in which an excessively reduced volume of blood returns to the heart after you stand up from a lying down position. Because POTS causes fainting it can be extremely difficult for the person who has it to function how they used to. POTS is very difficult to manage for me but each case is different. You can have POTS and it can be easy to manage and not as bad as mine is.

Best wishes to all

~Addie

All about my faliure to post yesterday.

Hi everyone! So today I am addressing why I didn't post anything yesterday. Well here is why, Yesterday morning I was rushed to the emergency room because I couldn't move I was in so much pain. I had a busy day full of doctors and nurses checking on me. My blood pressure was extremely low, I kept passing out. They had me on fluids and my feeding tube. Well low and behold my tube kinked last night while I was sleeping. I stayed overnight in the hospital and I am still there right now. Well thanks for viewing.

Best wishes

~Addie

All about symptom management.

            Hi everyone, so this blog is about how I manage my symptoms. Symptom management is very important part of living with a chronic illness. my symptoms have a large range of what they are. They can be anything. My symptoms change from day to day. On some days I can have a really good day and have little to no symptoms. On other days I can have so many symptoms that I don't move. What I use to manage my symptoms may not work for others. I am not a medical professional. DO NOT use any of these without consulting with a medical professional first.  For my headaches, my headaches vary in pain from severe to just a dull throb. For severe days I can take medication for them. I take tramadol for my chronic pain as often as I need. I have to make sure that what I take for my headache is not going to mess with the tramadol if I take them on the same day. I tend to take Advil or Tylenol for my headaches. Vomiting, there really isn't anything I can do once this starts. so to avoid this I try to avoid doing things that can irritate my stomach. I am allowed to eat very little. Therefore I rely on my feeding tube to give me the nutrition I need. If my feeding tube kinks or has any problems and I'm not getting proper nourishment then this can cause me to dry heave quite often. Fainting, I really can't manage this symptom. I avoid moving from a laying position to a standing position as much as possible. I also sleep in an adjustable bed to help with when I wake up in the morning and when I get up throughout the night. Getting really sick, this is something that is hard to control. In my blog a little later I will talk about what I use to clean so that I don't get as sick when I'm at my house living with my family. When I go out in public I can be seen either wearing a vog mask or wearing your standard ear loop mask that you can find in hospitals and doctors offices. This helps cut down on the germs that I can catch from others and the ones that you may be able to catch from me. I hope this helps. If you have any questions write them in the comments and I will do what I can to answer them.

Best wishes

~Addie  

All about me and my medical problems

            Hi everyone so I am very new at this but my goal is to post something everyday. We will see how that goes. First off my name is Addie. I have POTS and have an immunodeficiency along with having a Traumatic Brain Injury and Gastroparesis. I will post individual posts that explain each of these a little more in depth but this is how is effects me. I am unable to work due to POTS. my POTS causes me to pass out for a period of time. I am working on getting a service dog who can alert to that but haven't been able to get one yet. My immunodeficiency makes it to where I cannot go out in public without wearing a mask otherwise I get very sick and most of the time end up in the hospital. My gastroparesis makes it to where I can't eat very well. because of this I am tube fed. What this does is one part of my tube vents my stomach and the other one gives me nutrition that I need. Also because of this I throw up and get dehydrated very easily. My Traumatic Brain injury was caused by my POTS. I passed out and this caused me to hit my head very hard on the edge of my fireplace. This caused a hematoma also known as bleeding on the brain. Therefore putting Traumatic brain injury on my list of medical problems.

Best wishes

~Addie

P.S. If you read this tell me what you think. I want to get better at this. feel free to criticize.