Weekly Update

How are you doing my beautiful people?
I know I said I'd do this on Monday... but I might as well do it now.

This update will be a bit different than my usual affair. This is just me telling you what happened to me in the last 3 weeks. I’ve been asked a few times in private, so here’s the full story.

Just know one thing first… In my best of times, my perception of time is subjective at best… So you can imagine that, in my state, the last three weeks are mostly a big blur of events. I'll probably forget a ton of things and the timeline might be a bit confusing :P

Five or six years ago, I injured both my ankles while training for a dance competition… and since there was no one to take my place, and since I didn’t want to let the troupe down, I forced myself to keep going until the championship. That was a HUGE mistake. Afterward, I’ve been months barely able to walk. I gained a ton of weight and my back simply gave up.

After a few months failing to get back into shape (the back pain was unbearable) I put myself on the waiting list for a bariatric surgery. Covid slowing down everything, I ended up waiting five year. During that time, as you know, I lost my father, my favorite uncle, my best friend went to jail and I went through a long depression.

Thanks to you guys, I managed to keep working on my own pace. And three years ago I started training, in the hope to get back on my feet. For three years I took short walks 3 times a day… it was slow work, but by the end I went from barely being able to walk 50 meters to 6 kilometers.

On September 21th, I finally got the date of my surgery. Went 4 weeks on a liquid diet and finally presented myself on October 17 for my surgery. I was supposed to spend one night in the hospital… I ended up staying 15 days.

As soon as I woke up from surgery, I knew something was wrong. I tried to explain it to the doctors, but it felt on deaf ears. I could feel in my belly that something was blocking everything. They kept telling me that is was gas, and I tried to believe them, but I knew it wasn’t it. It felt solid. I could barely breathe.

On the first day, they kept telling me I had to walk. To let the gas circulate and get out of my belly. But I was too much in pain to do it. I couldn’t even pee by myself. They ended up installing a urinary catheter.

It took them two days to acknowledge that something was wrong. I went through a scan and they found that I had internal bleeding and sent me to a second surgery to install a drain. When I woke up from that second surgery, the oxygen they where feeding me through my nose smelled like mushrooms. I ended up ripping up the tube off my face, since I knew this wasn’t normal. That night I had my first fit of fever.

Still, draining this blood pocket allowed me to start walking and finally let the gas through. Even if I could still feel that “solid” blockage I had mentioned on the first day, things were looking up.

The next day I was diagnosed with Pneumonia.

One day after that, after more scans, they realized that I had a second blood pocket next to my stomach (that was the blockage I mentioned before). They sent me through a third surgery to install a second drain. There they realized that this pocket was full of pus which meant I had been infected somehow. They also found a second infection in my guts. So they started to fill me up with antibiotics as well as give me a blood transfusion.

At this point, in between all the meds I was feed through and all the blood tests, my veins started to give up. And they decided to install a "picc line", which is a plastic tube in my vein going from my arm to my heart. A fairly simple procedure that usually take 15 to 20 minutes; It took them 6 hours and 7 try to get it in place. But once it was in, everything became so much easier for me.

That day, they removed the first drain and the urinary catheter. The blood pocket out of the way I was back on my feet and being able to do my own thing once again. But they decided to keep me in house several more days to be on the safe side. The rest of my hospitalization was simply waiting for the different infections to resolves themselves. Finally, after 15 days, the doctor woke me up to tell me that he would remove the last drain and "picc line" that day so that I could go home. That was the longest day ever :P 12 hours later I was finally out of there.

Since then, I am here, in my own place. Things are going fine. I’m healing nicely. I have a ton of pills so take (mostly vitamins). I’m still tired, but as I start getting more solid food inside me, things should get better.

Working is still a bit too demanding for me in term of concentration… Heck, I tried to play the new Spider-man of PS5 and even that was a bit too much to ask. I can play, but I feel no enjoyment out of it. So I’m watching series waiting for my mojo to get back. But I’m not saying on my ass. Every day, I go out and walk as much as I can and feel better every time.

So, this is my story. I’m sorry, I know it wasn’t the most interesting tell. I’m still a bit out of it.

As I mentioned earlyer, This week I aim to release at least one pinup… but I will let my body dictate the pace until things are back to normal.

Thank you guys so much for your support. I would be lost without you!
See you guys soon!
Alx