What is wrong with Ron?

I don't mean mentally, but I'm sure some of you wonder about his physical issues, so I'll share it.

Ron was already blind when we met, totally and completely blind.  In the mid-90's, he was tested and found to have pretty severe nerve deafness - it's inherited.  So, he's about 50% deaf in addition to 100% blind.

If he'd fathered children, they, also would have had nerve deafness in addition to being blind.  People really wonder why he got fixed?

It bugs me no end when people think he has super senses.

He had back problems, so bad he had to delay his graduation from high school.  Fortunately they don't aggravate him, probably because he is sedentary.

Then the accident.  In very short order, he had a collapsed lung, a lacerated kidney (a really common injury in trauma ICU), a badly broken leg that required surgery,  and a ruptured subclavian artery.  He required emergency open heart surgery on the artery.  He also had an "Extremely Severe" head injury.

About the only good thing you can say about the head injury, his brains are still in his head.  He had intra-cranial hemorrhages - basically 3 "bleeding" strokes - in his brain.  He also had a DAI, a diffuse axonal injury - basically the whole brain twisted, breaking millions of little wires, at the time of impact. He remained in a coma with a very low coma score for 3 weeks.  He took months to recover "normal" thinking, and was pretty slow for about a year.

As a result of the stroke, or as Ron says "A stroke on my right side", his right side is hemiparetic.  Essentially, it is very weak and feels numb to him, "like it fell asleep" on his entire right side.  He is not considered to be severe, but if I had to guess it's more of a moderate-to-severe.   His right side is also far colder than his left.  He has a terrible lean to the left when walking, which makes him sway alarmingly, terrifying everyone and making them shout at me to "help".  He's been getting around like that for 10 years, and he doesn't want the help.   They don't believe me, get up and help him, and he says no thank you.  Then they get it.

He could walk about 1/4 mile after his accident, with difficulty, and hanging onto me as kind of a living walker/balance.  I'd help keep him level and provide support.  It's a good thing I'm in good shape and 20 years younger.

A little after this, he developed a spectacular hernia and had that fixed with a mesh.  He also developed blood clots in his bad leg which put him in the hospital and got him a clot filter to prevent a deadly clot.  Fun, fun.  One reason I do try to get him to "walk" as much as he can.  He probably spends less than half an hour upright at home, every day.    He moves around a little more at work, but not much, and normally in the wheelchair.

His left hand had ongoing arthritic issues.  It wasn't a problem because Ron was right-handed.  Until the stroke.  As a new lefty, he started using the hand a lot more.  He's had 2 surgeries on the left hand, trying to keep it functional.  

So, I think I'm pretty caught up.

Ever wonder about my health issues?  Well, not much, thank God, other than being crazy.

I started getting migraines when I was a little girl.  I tend to get severe, vomiting ones for 12-48 hours at a time.  The only thing that helps is phenergan.  That helps me rest and get over it.

I had severe reactions to tripitans, the usual drug.  I can't take them at all, and when I did I had such horrible chest pain I decided I'd never do that again.

As long as I have my trusty 5 gallon bucket and a place to lie down, I do OK.

I also got a lot of bladder infections when I got together with Ron.  Happily those are pretty much gone.  I am just very careful.  I had one this year, and it was miserable.  Because I have the chronic dry mouth I'm always drinking a lot of water.

Back in 2000-2001, I developed a very nasty, bleeding cyst on my right ovary.  When they took it out it was about half a centimeter.  I have a dermoid cyst on my left ovary, last I heard about 2 mm.  They couldn't find it during surgery, and "We did a lot of cutting".  Good thing I didn't want kids!  So, I still have the ovary and the cyst.  It has a very small chance, 2%, of becoming malignant one day, but I don't worry about stuff like this.

I ride the Houston freeways during rush hour.  That's how I'll die!

My blood pressure and blood sugars are all good.  My last blood test showed all the organs were working fine.

Happily for everyone, I enjoy being physically active.