Since I last posted, and that means there's a LOT to catch you up on. I had stopped posting because I wasn't sure if anyone was still reading the blog, but I logged on today and saw that there were twenty-nine people who checked the blog out just last month, so here I am. I'm back. Can't leave you guys hanging, right?
Let me start with saying that I am doing just fine. I had a routine appointment up in St. Louis just before Christmas, where we were told again that my heart hasn't gotten any worse, but it hasn't gotten any better, either. I'd been going to cardiac rehab, which is usually something patients do immediately following their heart attack, so that I could exercise whilst being monitored in a stable environment. I had finished the week before my appointment, and was under the impression that I was done, but the doctors decided to send me back. The exercise is definitely nothing like a workout you would expect from a healthy person, but it's just enough to help me get back in shape, and though I'm not a big fan of walking on a treadmill three times a week for half an hour, hopefully it'll be helpful for me in the long run.
If you read my last few posts, then you might remember that my pacemaker seemed to move around quite often. It's finally decided to sit in one spot, and now it only moves occasionally-- For instance: If I sleep on my left side, the pacemaker will move closer to the left-- which is great, and a lot less painless than it used to be. I still can't move my left arm too much... definitely not over my head, which means no fantastic stretches when I wake up, and I can't carry too much with my left hand or I'll feel it pull near my pacemaker and I'll be sore later.
The battery life on a pacemaker generally lasts an average of seven years, but with my being 100% dependant on it, I've cut my battery life nearly in half. I'll have to have the battery replaced this year, most likely during the summer, as well as my yearly catheterization, so maybe they'll just do them both at once and I won't have to come back! A girl can hope, right?
As for the non-medical things, Dad's job has taken us back to Chicago (But not for much longer!) so rehab is done up here, and when the weather is decent, we come home on the weekends. We are currently snowed in. Guess we won't be going anywhere for a while... though Target is having a 20% off all books sale....
In way of writing, I've successfully finished my first novel, which is part one in a Young Adult urban fantasy series. I'm currently more than halfway through my Young Adult contemporary novel, as well as halfway through a YA Dystopian. I've been working more steadily on the contemporary, though, and according to my calculations, I'll have it finished within the next two weeks. I also started a book blog about a year ago, so I encourage you to check out the Book Blogging tab and see what that's all about!
And in case you're wondering, the crew is still together. Almost all of our group have stuck together, and the four of us are together almost every time we come back home. If we're still together in a year, we will have defied the odds and stuck together all the way through not only middle school, but high school as well. And then it's on to college.
Crazy, right? To think that college is already coming up for us? It's definitely something that's always on our minds. Most of us know where we're going, or at least where we'd like to go and what we're shooting for, but there are always those who haven't quite found their niche yet. I tell them not to worry.. it'll come to them. As for me, I've known for a few years now that I want to attend Southwest Baptist University, and I've already got the tshirts and hoodies to represent my future college. I'll major in marketing, so that I can be my own publicist/agent after I graduate (But that doesn't mean I won't be querying and trying to get my book published before then!), as well as minor in Youth Pastoring. That's what my school future holds. Unless something dramatically, and boy do I mean dramatically, changes in the next year.
As always, feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments, or get in touch with me via any of the options under the Get In Touch Tab.
Much love.
Jolly, out!
